Makrokosmos is a series of four volumes of pieces for piano by American composer George Crumb. The name alludes to Mikrokosmos, a set of piano pieces by Béla Bartók, one of Crumb's favorite 20th-century composers. The first volume of the set was composed in 1972, while the last was completed in early 1979; the first performance of all four volumes in sequence was given by Yvar Mikhashoff, Aki Takahashi, Stephen Manes, Freida Manes, Jan Williams and Lynn Harbold, in Buffalo, New York, on 12 June 1980.
Makrokosmos is a series of four volumes of pieces for piano by American composer George Crumb. The name alludes to Mikrokosmos, a set of piano pieces by Béla Bartók, one of Crumb's favorite 20th-century composers. The first volume of the set was composed in 1972, while the last was completed in early 1979; the first performance of all four volumes in sequence was given by Yvar Mikhashoff, Aki Takahashi, Stephen Manes, Freida Manes, Jan Williams and Lynn Harbold, in Buffalo, New York, on 12 June 1980.
==Volume I== Makrokosmos, Volume I was composed in 1972 for pianist and friend David Burge (who previously commissioned and premiered Crumb's Five Pieces for Piano (1962)). The collection is subtitled Twelve Fantasy-Pieces after the Zodiac and is scored for amplified piano. Its contents are as follows: Part 1: Primeval Sounds (Genesis I) (Cancer) Proteus (Pisces) Pastorale (from the Kingdom of Atlantis, ca. 10,000 B.C.) (Taurus) Crucifixus [SYMBOL] (Capricorn) Part 2: The Phantom Gondolier (Scorpio) Night-Spell I (Sagittarius) Music of Shadows (for Aeolian Harp) (Libra) The Magic Circle of Infinity (Moto Perpetuo) [SYMBOL] (Leo) Part 3: The Abyss of Time (Virgo) Spring-Fire (Aries) Dream Images (Love-Death Music) (Gemini) Spiral Galaxy [SYMBOL] (Aquarius) The last piece of each part is notated in such a way that the score forms an image: a cross (piece 4), a circle (piece 8), and a spiral (piece 12). Burge premiered Volume I at Colorado College, Colorado Springs, on 8 February 1973.
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