George Crumb –
Makrokosmos I & II (DVD-Video)
Picture: C+
Sound: B Extras: C+ Main Program/Music: B-
With the DVD-Video format in upswing, it is nice to see
people still trying to push the limits of music on DVD-Video. Mode Records has taken George Crumb’s 1972-3
classical work Makrokosmos I & II and issued it in a varied version
that offers a taped performance accompaniment or stills section, depending on
what the viewer wants and sound format they choose. There are also three sound format versions to choose from
intended high fidelity sources, about the best that will fit on a DVD-Video.
The work at hand is based on the signs of the Zodiac and
offers “extended piano” possibilities in an age where Classical Music-laced
Progressive Rock was at its peak. With
that said, the work (complete here) holds up very well and is a good example of
contemporary Classical we can all appreciate.
Evans Chan directed the live footage, which is not bad, though nothing
spectacular, and Margaret Leng Tan is the pianist. Alex Nowitz supplies the whistles. The tracks are:
Volume I, Part One
1) Primeval
Sounds (Genesis I) Cancer
2) Proteus/Pisces
3) Pastorale
(from The Kingdom Of Atlantis, ca. 10,000 B.C.) Taurus
4) Crucifixus
[Symbol] Capricorn
Part Two
5) The
Phantom Gondolier/Scorpio
6) Night-Spell
I/Sagittarius
7) Music Of
Shadows (for Aeolian Harp) Libra
8) The
Magic Circle Of Infinity (Moto perpetuo) [Symbol] Leo
Part Three
9) The
Abyss Of Time/Virgo
10) Spring-Fire/Aries
11) Dream Images (Love-Death Music) Gemini
12) Spiral Galaxy [Symbol] Aquarius
Volume II, Part One
13) Morning Music (Genesis II) Cancer
14) The Mystic Chord/Sagittarius
15) Rain-Death Variations/Pisces
16) Twin Suns (Doppelganger aus der Ewigkeit)
[Symbol] Gemini
Part Two
17) Ghost-Nocturne: For The Druids Stonehenge
(Night-Spell II) Virgo
18) Gargoyles/Taurus
19) Tora! Tora! Tora! (Cadenza Apocalittica)
Scorpio
20) A Prophecy Of Nostradamus [Symbol] Aries
Part Three
21) Cosmic Wind/Libra
22) Voices From “Corona Borealis” Aquarius
23) Litany Of the Galactic Bells
24)
Agnus Dei
[Symbol] Capricorn
The music has its moments, but not as much of it stuck
with me as expected after the extensive work had finished playing. That is despite how very interesting it was
as I listened in. This is likely
because it has a more abstract sense than I was used to and would like to hear
other versions to see if I am right.
The work runs over an hour, which would put it up there with some of the
more extended Classical pieces in general and some of the extended works from
the aforementioned Progressive Rock era, reminding us all of how great music
can be when true talents go out of their way to make it. Makrokosmos I & II is more of a
success than failure and like all interesting Classical Music, it will surface
somewhere soon where we least expect it.
The sound options are more interesting than you usually
find on a DVD-Video, with 5.1 Dolby Digital and DTS mixes, plus an even better
PCM 2.0 96kHz/24Bit Stereo mix that tends to capture the sound in a more
natural way than the remixes. Whether
this is from a bad approach to doing the 5.1 or just a limit with the original
recoding master is unknown, but The DTS and Dolby are still not bad. The DTS is better than the Dolby. I just wondered how DTS 96/24 would have
been. Extras include Don Gillespie
interviewing Tan and George Crumb in a 45-minutes long piece, but that is it,
though that is enough considering all the space being taken up for the varied
version of the main work. Our previous
Mode DVD review was John Cage – From Zero, which also tried to be more
than just your typical music DVD. We
look forward to more ambitious DVDs form Mode Records and wish the major labels
would become as aggressive.
- Nicholas Sheffo
