GS: In 2008, the New York Times reviewed a Kronos Quartet performance of Black Angels, and commented that the piece inspired David Harrington, the Kronos Quartet violinist, to form the group. It was a pretty bleak period.Īnd that coincided with all of the protest movements around the country, which kind of led to a whole new kind of America. At a certain point, I realized that it was becoming a reflection of a lot of the anxiety and uncertainty of those days. There are many works throughout music history that are reactions to political events, but in this case it kind of crept up on me. I think that the upset in the world found its way into the music, which happens so frequently. As far as it relates to the Vietnam War, I had to discover that myself because I didn’t set up to write a political piece.
It’s more than 40 years old now, but I remember that it was a very difficult piece to write. George Crumb: Well, Black Angels was played to pieces, as you probably deduced.
Garrett Schumann: You describe Black Angels (1970) as a reaction to the Vietnam War, and I’m curious how the meaning of the piece to you has changed or persisted in the 43 years since you wrote it?
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