George Crumb's Makrokosmos I and II for amplified piano (1972-1973) have found a fairly secure place in the repertoire thanks to the important recordings by David Burge,
Robert Shannon,
Jeffrey Jacob, and
Margaret Leng Tan, among others, which have kept these pieces in the public ear. Add to this distinguished roster the name of
Toros Can, who has turned in another fine recording on the L'Empreinte Digitale label, following his award-winning recordings of keyboard music of György Ligeti,
Paul Hindemith, and somewhat unexpectedly, Henry Purcell.
Can is obviously adept in avant-garde music, since his reading of Crumb's arcane score is comfortable and spontaneous, and the peculiarities of the pieces -- the mysterious symbols, elaborate notation system, and ghostly quotations, along with the extended techniques of whistling, whispering, shouting, and playing inside the piano -- seem not to throw him. While listeners may have already formed preferences for the recordings they know best, there are many subtle ways that performances of Makrokosmos I and II can differ; though
Can's may not hold the mystique of Burge's premiere recording for Nonesuch, or claim the composer's supervision as with
Tan's recording on Mode, this performance is an honest attempt to get to the music's esoteric core, and
Can makes a convincing case for this cycle's artistic value, if not always for its mysticism. The reproduction is clear and most of the music is audible, but the volume needs to be turned up pretty high to catch the softest notes.