Makrokosmos
Makrokosmos is a series of four volumes of pieces for piano by American composer George Crumb. The name alludes to "Mikrokosmos", a set of piano pieces by Béla Bartók, one of Crumb's favorite 20th-century composers. The first volume of the set was composed in 1972, while the last was completed in early 1979; the first performance of all four volumes in sequence was given by Yvar Mikhashoff, Aki Takahashi, Stephen Manes, Freida Manes, Jan Williams and Lynn Harbold, in Buffalo, New York, on 12 June 1980. Volume I. "Makrokosmos, Volume I" was composed in 1972 for pianist  and friend David Burge (who previously commissioned and premiered Crumb's "Five Pieces for Piano" (1962)). The collection is subtitled "Twelve Fantasy-Pieces after the Zodiac" and is scored for amplified piano. Its contents are as follows: The last piece of each part is notated in such a way that the score forms an image: a cross (piece 4), a circle (piece 8), and a spiral (piece 12). Burge premiered "Volume I" at Colorado College, Colorado Springs, on 8 February 1973. Volume II. The second volume of "Makrokosmos" was completed in 1973. It largely follows the organizational scheme of the  first volume, bears the same subtitle (i.e. "Twelve Fantasy-Pieces after the Zodiac") and is also scored for amplified piano. Crumb has stated that the two volumes form a sequence of 24 fantasy-pieces. "Volume II" comprises the following works: Similarly to "Volume I", the last piece of each part is notated so that the score forms an image: two circles (piece 4), a cowrie-like shape (piece 8), and the peace sign (piece 12). The collection was premiered by Robert Miller at the Alice Tully Hall, New York City, on 12 November 1974. Volume III. A collection of five  pieces completed in 1974 and titled "Music for a Summer Evening" forms the third volume of "Makrokosmos". It departs considerably from the previous two. Commissioned by the Fromm Music Foundation for Swarthmore College, the work is scored for two amplified pianos and percussion (two players), contains fewer pieces, and does not associate any of the pieces with Zodiac signs. The contents are as follows: Three of the pieces bear an epigraph: piece 1 from Salvatore Quasimodo's poem "Ulysses' Isle", piece 3 from Pascal, and piece 5 from Rilke. "Music for a Summer Evening" was premiered by Gilbert Kalish and  James Freeman (piano), Raymond DesRoches and Richard Fitz (percussion) at Swarthmore College, Pennsylvania, on 30 March 1974. John Keillor has written, “It is a work so successful and openhearted that Makrokosmos III is among the most frequently performed avant-garde chamber works from the second half of the twentieth century.” Volume IV. The collection that forms the fourth instance of "Makrokosmos" is titled "Celestial Mechanics", and subtitled "Cosmic Dances for Amplified Piano, Four Hands". It was completed in April 1979. The cycle was premiered by Gilbert Kalish and Paul Jacobs at the Alice Tully Hall, New York City, on 18  November 1979.