"Quiet and subtly enchanting, [Vox Balaenae] reveals Crumb’s discoveries of new instrumental resources at their most lyrical; this second hearing confirmed that it is not a mere assemblage of sound effects but a sustained and beautiful dream vision of the deep." (Andrew Porter, New Yorker, April 28, 1971).

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George Crumb’s iconic Vox Balaenae for Three Masked Players is a work for electric flute, electric cello, and electric piano. In 1971, the New York Camerata commissioned the work, and along with the request, sent the composer a recording of whale songs. Crumb, instead of directly quoting the whale songs, was inspired to recreate whale-like sounds with instrumentation and special, timbral effects. The composer’s “electric” designation means the players should be amplified with microphones.

 

Framed by an introduction and coda, Vox is constructed as a theme and variation form and takes on a “program” of the geologic ages. Each variation is titled a different geological age of the Earth. The introduction marks the beginning of time (“Vocalise”) and a coda for the end of time (a nocturne). The composer’s unpublished sketches reveal an original plan for seven variations that he later reduced to five.

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Crumb instructs the performers to wear black half-masks and the stage is illuminated with blue lights. In the composer's own words, “by effacing a sense of human projection, [the masks] will symbolize the powerful, impersonal faces of nature,” and the blue lighting  evokes the sea.