Trigger warnings: Crumb critique mixed in with admiration; use of an anachronistic word that is not recommended for current use, but that is felt to be essential to the understanding of historical states of mind:
I’ll confess that as a student I kind of detested Crumb's music as sissy, precious, and corny. I loved rhythm and his music seemed to be all fermatas. I felt like notation was a sort of necessary evil and should be as efficient as possible, his scores were self-indulgent and drew attention away from the music’s deficiencies. (I had other issues I won’t go into.) Of course, my attitude softened (as I did) with time and I began to admire many things about him and his music. I particularly came to admire the fact that he did all of his highly original work while working as a music professor (at first, I believe, in group piano classes). But I also came to enjoy the way he played with the concepts of movements of various lengths (including very short) within a larger composition, something I did a lot of, possibly influenced by him. I also came to admire his exquisite sense of tonal envelope, of decay, especially regarding the piano. I think there were three post Debussy 20th century classical composers who seemed to understand the piano, and he was one of them. Principally, he understood and utilized the incredible phenomena of extended decay and sympathetic resonance that make the piano a miraculous invention. I have since come to enjoy the humor and audacity in his titles, narratives, literary/etc. references. And, in the era of computer notation, his scores are, of course, works of art in themselves. I sat directly behind him at an 8 hour Crumb marathon at Symphony Space in ’89 or ’90. I wasn’t totally over my issues with his music, but the Space was a block from my apartment and it was, like, $7 or something. The music got a little samey, and the corniness a little more evident after a few hours, but I watched Crumb the whole time and was touched by his humility, graciousness, etc. Just a very nice, modest, thoughtful person who was really enjoying the music and the people, complimenting the performers, talking with and taking interest in whoever approached him. Onward and upward, GC!
