Джордж Крам

Биография

Учился в музыкальном колледже Чарльстона (закончил его в 1950), затем в Университете Иллинойса и в Мичиганском университете, который закончил в 1959. Много лет преподавал музыку — в колледже в Виргинии, в Университете Колорадо, в Пенсильванском университете, где среди его учеников были Дженнифер Хигдон и Освальдо Голихов. Отошёл от преподавания в 1992.

Его сын Дейвид Крам (1962) — тоже композитор, дочь Энн Крам — актриса и певица.

Творчество

В начале пути испытал сильное влияние А.Веберна, позднее — Бартока и Дебюсси. Музыка Крама тяготеет к сценическим формам представления — но не к сложившимся, "отвердевшим" жанрам театрального спектакля, а к превращению самого процесса создания и извлечения музыки в своеобразное зрелище. Оособенно много работал и продолжает работать над вокальными сочинениями. Его произведения исполняли Д. Де Гаэтани, Кронос-квартет.

Произведения

Оркестровые

• Gethsemane (1947), for small orchestra
• Diptych (1955)
• Variazioni (1959), for large orchestra
• Echoes of Time and the River (Echoes II) (1967)
• A Haunted Landscape (1984)

Для голоса, хора и оркестра

• Star-Child (1977), for soprano, antiphonal children’s voices, male speaking choir, bell ringers, and large orchestra

Камерно-инструментальные

• Two Duos (1944), for flute and clarinet
• Four Pieces (1945), for violin and piano
• Violin Sonata (1949)
• String Trio (1952)
• Three Pastoral Pieces (1952), for oboe and piano
• Viola Sonata (1953)
• String Quartet (1954)
• Sonata for Solo Cello (1955)
• Four Nocturnes (Night Music II) (1964), for violin and piano
• Eleven Echoes of Autumn (Echoes I) (1966), for violin, alto flute, clarinet, and piano
• Black Angels (Images I) (1970), for electric string quartet
• Vox Balaenae (1971), for electric flute, electric cello, and amplified piano
• Music for a Summer Evening (Makrokosmos III) (1974), for two amplified pianos and percussion (two players)
• Dream Sequence (Images II) (1976), for violin, cello, piano, percussion (one player), and off-stage glass harmonica (two players)
• String Trio (1982)
• Pastoral Drone (1982), for organ
• An Idyll for the Misbegotten (Images III) (1986), for amplified flute and percussion (three players).
• Easter Dawning (1991), for carillon
• Quest (1994), for guitar, soprano saxophone, harp, double bass, and percussion (two players)
• Mundus Canis (1998), for guitar and percussion

Фортепианные

• Piano Sonata (1945)
• Prelude and Toccata (1951)
• Five Pieces (1962)
• Makrokosmos, Volume I (1972), for amplified piano
• Makrokosmos, Volume II (1973), for amplified piano
• Celestial Mechanics (Makrokosmos IV) (1979), for amplified piano (four hands)
• A Little Suite for Christmas, A.D. 1979 (1980)
• Gnomic Variations (1981)
• Processional (1983)
• Zeitgeist (1988), for two amplified pianos
• Eine Kleine Mitternachtmusik (2002)
• Otherworldly Resonances (2003), for two pianos

Вокальные

• Four Songs (1945), for voice, clarinet and piano
• Seven Songs (1946), for voice and piano
• Three Early Songs (1947), for voice and piano
• A Cycle of Greek Lyrics (1950), for voice and piano
• Night Music I (1963), for soprano, piano/celeste, and two percussionists
• Madrigals, Books I (1965), for soprano, vibraphone, and double bass
• Madrigals, Books II (1965), for soprano, flute/alto flute/piccolo, and percussion
• Songs, Drones, and Refrains of Death (1968), for baritone, electric guitar, electric double bass, amplified piano/electric harpsichord, and two percussionists
• Night of the Four Moons (1969), for alto, alto flute/piccolo, banjo, electric cello, and percussion
• Madrigals, Books III (1969), for soprano, harp, and percussion
• Madrigals, Books IV (1969), for soprano, flute/alto flute/piccolo, harp, double bass, and percussion
• AncientVoicers of Children (1970), for mezzo-soprano, boy soprano, oboe, mandolin, harp, amplified piano (and toy piano), and percussion (three players)
• Lux Aeterna (1971) for soprano, bass flute/soprano recorder, sitar, and percussion (two players)
• Apparition (1979), for soprano and amplified piano
• The Sleeper (1984), for soprano and piano
• Federico’s Little Songs for Children (1986), for soprano, flute/piccolo/alto flute/bass flute, and harp
• Unto the Hills (2001), for soprano, percussion quartet and piano
• A Journey Beyond Time (2003), for soprano, percussion quartet and piano
• River of Life (2003), for soprano, percussion quartet and piano
• Winds of Destiny (2004), for soprano, percussion quartet and piano
• American Songbook I: The River of Life (2003), for soprano, percussion quartet and piano
• American Songbook II: A Journey Beyond Time (2003), for soprano, percussion quartet and piano
• American Songbook III: Unto the Hills (2001), for soprano, percussion quartet and piano
• American Songbook IV: Winds of Destiny (2004), for soprano, percussion quartet and piano
• American Songbook V: Voices from a Forgotten World (2007), for soprano, baritone, percussion quartet and piano
• American Songbook VI: Voices from the Morning of the Earth (2008), for soprano, baritone, percussion quartet and piano

Хоровые

• Alleluja (1948), for unaccompanied chorus

Признание

Лауреат Пулитцеровской премии (1968), Премии Грэмми (2001) и др.