George Crumb. Madrigals book IV.
Texts by Federico García Lorca
The four books of Madrigals were composed in pairs — Books I and II in 1965 (for Jan DeGaetani, on commission from the Koussevitzky Foundation) and Books III and IV in 1969 (for Elizabeth Suderburg). Like Night Music I, they are based upon the beautiful poetry of Federico García Lorca. Each book is scored for mezzo-soprano and two or more instruments, and the texts consist of from one to three short sentences which dwell upon the themes of life, death, love, earth, water, and rain. The settings of the texts are subtle, atmospheric, and intimate. Crumb does not strive for any large concerted tutti effects, but rather for a relatively large number of sonorous gradations within a small frame of reference. The choice of just a few accompanimental instruments, each with its own unique timbral and idiomatic characteristics, permits the composer to explore their interaction and contrapuntal combination with a meticulousness and refinement that is disarming in its simplicity.
Madrigals, Book IV
The first madrigal of Book IV contains retrograded passages between sections, within sections, and as part of the motivic ideas themselves. Thus the retrogrades exist on the macrostructural, sectional, and microstructural levels, simultaneously. When using these retrogrades, however, Crumb is careful to exchange material between the voice and the instruments in order to give the madrigal both a sense of growth and unity. The following madrigal is a freely set lament, with its single line of text not uttered until near the end of the piece; the soprano is instructed to sing on a glissando, and not to dwell on given pitches. The last song is a relentless and implacable setting of the text.
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