Crumb's "Makrokosmos"

[Robert B. Edwardsen]

This piece needs a 26 note bass.  Crumb composed it (according to a client who
is a friend of his) on a Steinway M.  I have a copy of the music (because I
like this shit) and the "gliss over str." work on my Mason&Hamlin A.

Rob Edwardsen, Rochester NY

fred s sturm wrote:

> 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