George Crumb’s Black Angels, subtitled ’13 Pictures from the Darkish Land’ is a piece for electrical string quartet written in 1970. Composed over the course of a 12 months, the date “Friday the Thirteenth, March 1970 (in tempore belli)” as written on the rating, the Latin phrase being a reference to the Vietnam Battle going down on the time when Black Angels was composed. Notoriously demanding, musicians are instructed to chant in overseas languages, play devices the wrong way up, incessantly faucet strings with thimbles and glass rods, scream, shout, beat, depend and pray.
Touring throughout the UK from 16-24 March 2023, the Manchester Collective is presenting Black Angels, a programme for quartet and reside electronics which options Crumb’s iconic work alongside a brand new fee by Los Angeles-based hip-hop artist, activist, poet and composer Moor Mom (Camae Ayewa).
A self-taught musician, Moor Mom is one half of the artwork collective Black Quantum Futurism (together with Rasheedah Phillips) and is understood for her experimental music work, mixing in influences from jazz, blues, hip-hop and different Black classical traditions. Her new work, DREAM CULTURE, is the artist’s first chamber fee.
Additionally within the programme is the sluggish motion of Schubert’s Demise and the Maiden quartet, the work that impressed Crumb’s piece, plus Edmund Finnis’ String Quartet No. 2 and Gabriella Smith’s Carrot Revolution. The performers are Rakhi Singh – Music Director, violin, Emily Nebel – Violin, Alex Mitchell – Viola, Hannah Roberts – Cello and Joe Reiser – Dwell electronics, with performances in The White Resort, Salford, Future Yard, Birkenhead, Howard Meeting Room, Leeds, Unusual Brew, Bristol, Lakeside Arts, Nottingham, and Kings Place, London.
Full particulars from the Manchester Collective web site.
