This new double-album release features Japanese pianist Yoshiko Shimizu performing George Crumb’s Makrokosmos, Volume I, Volume II, and Music for a Summer Evening (Makrokosmos III) accompanied by Austrian percussionist Rupert Struber. The title Makrokosmos reflects Crumb’s admiration for Bartok’s piano series of the same name. Makrokosmost Volume I and Volume II are filled with references to the history of humankind, myths, Christianity, paganism, and occultism. In Music For a Summer Evening (Macrokosmos III) Crumb pays a tribute to poetic quotations of Quasimodo, Pascal and Rilke. The composer himself regards these three works as forming a trilogy. Yoshiko Shimizu was born in Ohta city, Gunma, Japan. She studied with Toshio Iwashita, MichikoChisaka, Yoshie Kohra, and David Burge, among others. She graduated from the Toho Gauken School of Music, and entered the Eastman School of Music in Rochester NY where she studied with David Burge and was very influenced by him. After receiving her master’s degree, she returned to Japan as a concertizing artist.