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)).
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.
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.”[1] The collection that forms the fourth instance of Makrokosmos is titled Celestial Mechanics, and subtitled Cosmic Dances for Amplified Piano, Four Hands.
The pieces are all named after stars The cycle was premiered by Gilbert Kalish and Paul Jacobs at the Alice Tully Hall, New York City, on 18 November 1979.