Between The Devil & The Deep Blue Sea

review by Andrew Webster

It sounded like the last thing someone hears before they die in a horror movie. Last night’s Program in Jordan hall was very strange and very exciting at the same time. Jordan hall was originally built in 1903, then renovated in 1995, where it has pretty much stayed untouched. The performance space itself was very elegant and old fashioned. While it was quite hard to get in between seats and get to bathrooms, the space was designed with sound in mind. The acoustics of the space were quite amazing, frankly producing some of the better sounds I’ve ever heard from a performance hall. The sounds I heard came back at me very strong and very full, as if the sounds had been played right next to me. 

The concert itself was divided based on artists and the years in which they were active, with pieces being played by composers like Robert Schumann, George Crumb and Atonin Dvorak. While all these sections were mesmerizing, George Crumb’s Vox Balaenae (otherwise knows as “Voice of the Whale”) was definitely a part of the show that stuck out from the other parts. The Blue lighting was what instantly set it apart in the beginning. During this piece, the hall had all lights apart from the exit signs turned off, while a big blue spotlight was used as the only lighting source in the theatre. The contrast between the dark hall and blue spotlight really makes you feel like you’ve been thrown into the ocean, creating a very eerie and somewhat frightening setting.

George Crumb was apparently inspired by the sounds whales made underwater but to me it sounded more like a shark attack waiting to happen. The piece was made for a flute, piano and a cello. However, each instrument had effects or modifications added to them, creating a very strange yet interesting piece of music. For instance, the piano was specially modified so the musician could play the inside strings of the piano like a guitar. The effect this produced wasn’t quite as clean as a normal piano pitch, but came out as rougher and with a lot more tension behind the sound.

            The flute also produced eerie sounds. This flute had a special microphone on it, so that in certain instances the musician could make the flute whistle and even make human-like sounds. I distinctly remember the flute making “cha” sounds very frequently during the second half.  The whistling of the flute along with the sliding cello parts didn’t sound very pretty, which may or may not have been George’s purpose. For the most part. The flute sounds were very strange, and for most of the piece I couldn’t figure out where the flute fit together with the music.

            The reason I say the performance sounded like the wind up to a horror movie kill was because the instruments didn’t all mix well. I’m not sure what George Crumb wanted to convey with this piece, I think he wanted people to see the ocean as a place where every second could mean life or death, where danger is literally around every corner. The piece always seemed very dark and scary, never really shifting in any other direction. Not cheerful, not depressing, just downright creepy.

            In total, while the piece didn’t sound like music sometimes, the energy that was produced from the lighting choices and musical instruments were too abnormal not to grab my attention.  I don’t think I have ever heard anything quite like it before, and I really had a hard time seeing how the composer took inspiration from whales and their noises.