Impacted Crystal Cries
Bruce J. Taub
About this work:
Impacted Crystal Cries was commissioned by Ensemble 21 in honor of their fifth anniversary. The title is taken from the sixth line of a passage in Dante's Inferno that refers to the Ninth Circle:
"Tears in that cold place
prevent their weeping; grief lies
frozen on each face
in balls behind eyes:
tightening mask, ice agony,
impacted crystal cries."
In many ways, this piece is a sequel to my earlier piece entitled In That Cold Place (the first line of the same passage) and another piece, a sextet entitled Adrian's Dream (diabolus in musica) which is also "devilish!" - the title comes from the book Doctor Faustus (The Life of the German Composer Adrian Leverkuehn, as told by a friend) by Thomas Mann. The actual composer he had in mind was, of course, Arnold Schoenberg. All three pieces emphasize the interval of a tritone (diabolus in musica), especially B-natural (the "offending" pitch) to F (as well as G-sharp to D, completing the diminished seventh chord) and the number 12 (rhythm, durations, etc.). The piece is in four sections (a, b, a', b') followed by a brief coda. As an instrument, the violin has often been associated with the devil in music.
Impacted Crystal Cries was premiered by Gregor Kitzis, violin and Marilyn Nonken, piano. It is published by C.F. Peters Corporation.
Year composed: 1996
Duration: 00:10:00
Ensemble type: Chamber or Jazz Ensemble, Without Voice:Keyboard plus One Instrument
Instrumentation: 1 Piano, 1 Violin