When Nonesuch released pianist David Burge's first recordings of George Crumb's Makrokosmos back in the early '70s, many enthusiasts of Crumb's music felt that Burge's performances were definitive. After all, the pieces were written for him and seemed to flow directly from Crumb's intentions, particularly if you had one of Crumb's large, exquisitely calligraphic scores at your disposal to check the recording against.
Three decades hence the favored Burge Nonesuch recordings seem to be indexed on a status of "permanently missing and never coming back," although he has recorded Makrokosmos anew for the impossible-to-find European label Classico. In the meantime a number of other pianists have had a crack at Makrokosmos with mixed results, but this has demonstrated the error in the "definitive" notion once held so dear -- Crumb's music stands up well to varying interpretations and the more, the merrier. This Bridge Records release of Makrokosmos features pianist Robert Shannon and is the ninth installment in Bridge's Complete Crumb Edition. It is splendidly well-recorded, and makes the listener feel as though inside the piano's interior along with Shannon. Unlike Burge, who tended to emphasize the dark, sinister resonances and abrupt contrasts in Crumb's music, Shannon delves more directly into the softer, impressionistic shades in Makrokosmos, to good effect. With such tender loving care paid to the soft music in Makrokosmos, the louder, more complex sections tend to pack more punch.
If there is any reservation to be had about this disc, it's that Shannon's vocal exhortations, required by the score, are weak, especially when compared to Burge's marvelous basso profundo. This is not such a crucial aspect of interpreting Makrokosmos that it in any way makes the performance fall on its proverbial sword. It's just momentarily distracting and makes clear that Shannon is a pianist, not an actor. Both volumes taken together of Makrokosmos last 66 minutes; under the circumstances one would hardly expect filler, but Bridge has found some in the form of the ten-minute, four-hand work Otherworldly Resonances (2002), played expertly by Quattro Mani. This Makrokosmos benefits from Bridge's intelligent and careful sequencing of tracks; the whole album, including the four-hand work, flows together seamlessly and plays through in seemingly no time at all.
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