George Crumb the Genius for Using Instruments
George Crumb is one of the significant American composers in the twentieth century. Although his early style was Serialism, he abandoned this in favor of a new style consisting of strange notations, and use of extraordinary ways to play the instruments (extended technique). ... The other important trait of Crumbs style is the use of musical quotation. ... His invention of the new scoring, the method of using instruments, and application to poetics into his works caused sensations between critics. ... A comparison of how different people have criticized Crumb geographically shows that the most substantial percentage of his critics are from the coasts, particularly the West. ... From the east coast papers, one says It could be objected that the oddly allusive kind of music that is associated with Crumb was only intermittently evident, but the hybrid score itself must be partly to blame for that *2(16)E Conversely, critics who have had positive reviews of his scores have called them hauntingly direct *3(44)E They recognize them as Scores that have commanded attention for their exotically sensual sound colors, their extravagantly mystical allusions and their impeccable craftsmanship *4(46) E In the west coast papers also criticized his notation.