JUNE 2000 V.64, N. 6 

      From the sounds that filled the hills and valleys of his youth, renowned composer George Crumb has woven many of the twentieth-century masterpieces that make him one of West Virginia's celebrated artists. A Charleston native, Crumb has traveled the world for nearly 50 years creating a body of highly original works that have earned him such esteemed honors as the 1968 Pulitzer Prize. Yet the Mountain State has remained close to his heart and entwined in his music.

      Born in 1929, the son of accomplished musicians, Crumb began his musical training at home. Both of Crumb's parents performed with the West Virginia Symphony (then the Charleston Symphony) and exposed him to a wide range of music from Mozart to folk tunes. In addition to receiving clarinet, flute and piano lessons from his father, participating in orchestra rehearsals and concerts and playing chamber music at home with his family, Crumb taught himself to compose by studying his father's extensive library of published musical scores. He wrote his first pieces at the age of 10, and his high school years were dominated by his love of music. The budding composer earned a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Charleston (then Morris Harvey College) in 1950, married his high school sweetheart Elizabeth "Liz" Brown, and soon after departed for the graduate program at the University of Illinois. He also studied at the Hochshule fŸr Musik in Berlin and at the University of Michigan. He has been awarded no fewer than six honorary degrees including an honorary doctorate from the University of Charleston.

      George Crumb's West Virginia roots surface in his orchestral and chamber music compositions through his occasional use of Appalachian folk instruments like the hammer dulcimer and the banjo, as well as through the incorporation of Protestant harmonies recalled from his boyhood days of playing the piano in church and at revival meetings. Crumb fills his music with reverberating tones that suggest the echoing acoustics of the Kanawha River valley. The titles of certain pieces, such as A Haunted Landscape and Echoes of Time and the River, invoke images of the ancient, lore-steeped Appalachian mountains. In the latter, Crumb even weaves incantations of the state motto, "Montani sempre liberi," into the score. "I've always sought to emphasize my connection to West Virginia," says Crumb, a gentle man with a warm, lilting drawl, "because my deepest roots are here."

      On November 3, 1999, Crumb returned to his roots to join West Virginia Symphony conductor Thomas Conlin in unveiling the first-ever recording of his 40-minute-long Star-Child, a monumental "parable" for soprano and trombone soloists, adult and children's choruses, bell ringers and a very long orchestra. Star-Child's complexity and host of unusual instrumental and vocal effects rendered it "unrecordable" (according to New York Philharmonic conductor Pierre Boulez, who commissioned the piece in 1977) for more than 20 years, until Maestro Conlin, Bridge Records and the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra accepted the challenge to commit it to compact disc.

      Selected for his skill in conducting contemporary music and his familiarity with Crumb's works, Conlin traveled to Poland with the composer to embark on what he considers "one of the most rewarding but daunting conducting feats of my career!" In live performance, Star-Child requires four conductors as Crumb has divided the orchestra into quadrants, each having its own tempo, time frame and spatial relationship to the audience. For the recording, Conlin conducted each unit of the Warsaw Philharmonic separately. The final "mix" was accomplished, under Crumb's supervision, by David Starobin, President of Bridge Records and a team consisting of some of the most respected sound engineers in the classical field. "What was so wonderful about making this particular recording was having the composer Ð the music source Ð right there with me during all the sessions," said Conlin of the experience. "This incredible masterpiece is now documented exactly according to its creator's wishes."

      A haunting and beautiful composition, Star-Child is always received with awe by the audience and by critical acclaim. Conlin hopes that this difinitive recording will lead to many more live performances. Star-Child conveys a progression from darkness to light, a musical and emotional journey from despair to rapture. Crumb asserts, however, that he does not include specific religious or philosophical messages in his music. "He (Crumb) simply wants to create an engrossing and moving musical experience. His is an unique and brilliant mind," says Conlin, "and his sound-world is totally his own."

      The release of the Star-Child CD, which also includes a few of Crumb's shorter pieces, Mundus Canis and Three Early Songs (composed at the age of 17), coincides with the composer's 70th birthday. Governor Cecil Underwood hosted Crumb and Conlin in the West Virginia State Capitol to celebrate the CD's launch and the pair's contributions to West Virginia and the arts. Conlin, who has held numerous conducting assignments around the globe, like Crumb, holds an honorary doctorate from the University of Charleston. At the reception Governor Underwood hailed Crumb as "one of West Virginia's prized artistic treasures." Crumb accepted the Governor's praise with a quiet speech focused more on his excitement at being back in his home state than on his accomplishments.

Lucia K. Hyde is the author of West Virginia: the Land and Its People and a frequent contributor to "Wonderful West Virginia" magazine.