Crumb's "Makrokosmos"

[fred s sturm]

Crumb's music definitely doesn't fall under the rubric of "crumby." There
certainly is a bunch of crap under the supposed category of serious music
for prepared piano, but George Crumb is head and shoulders above that
crowd. The Makrokosmos is a wonderful set, inspired and inspirational. I
agree with Swafford et al that there is very little potential for damage
to the instrument. I haven't performed it, but have worked on it and
intend to perform it in the fairly near future. 

I don't recall where the struts need to lie for Makrokosmos, but for Voice
of the Whale (which I did this past January), Steinway A through D don't
have nearly enough bass notes. I chose to use a Kawai 5' plus instead of a
concert grand. (A Baldwin M worked well for rehearsal). I believe this is
true of all Crumb's piano works. He worked with the piano in his teaching
studio, which was probably an M, or perhaps a Baldwin. For this reason,
the concert D is usually a bad choice
for the performer, and thus a good excuse to say it won't be used. 

I do hate to see percussionists banging around in there, find screws in
the action, tri-chords mangled, etc. This won't happen with Crumb. But
luckily there is another excuse not to use the concert instrument for
Crumb, so no evil precedent need be set. Talk to the performer to see
where the strut needs to be, then choose a fairly nice smaller piano.

Hope this helps.
Fred Sturm, RPT
University of New Mexico