Philip Glass: Classic or Dud? Search and Destroy

Destroy: Powanaquatsi (the film as a whole... the soundtrack is, eh, decent).

Search: His quartets.

Destroy: Solo piano works.

you're combining it with reich's "music for eighteen musicians"

Hm, I didn't know Willis was at Juillard back in the day. But I know what you mean. I have a ton of stuff by Glass, back when I was way into him, but I don't find myself listening to it all that much, except for Low Symphony, Glassworks, Koyaanisqatsi, and Music for 12 Musicians. The first three probably being more of his accessible stuff.

I noticed the mistake in the earlier post, too, then made it myself. Long day featuring Bio Midterm can be the blame for that one.

Search: Glassworks, Dancepieces, North Star, Thin Blue Line, remix of Aphex Twin's "Icct Hedral", his appearance with Mark Moore and Paul Morley on The Late Show in 1989.

Destroy: 1000 Airplanes On The Roof (unlike North Star this remains unredeemed in the neglected parental-home vinyl collection), Powaqqatsi (strangely distressing to hear chunks of this in The Truman Show) and all the other film work, 1990 onwards.

also you are fun to read, which it has been proved enlarges the reader's brain even when they actually want it ensmallened like me

"...f______ paragraph breaks..."? Tossing naughty language hither thither isn't very nice. For shame. Besides, I read a phonebook the other day, and it didn't have very many paragraph breaks.

Yes, Mister Rogers is an actual composer, among other good things, but whether or not HE'S a classic or a dud isn't really the issue at hand (classic). This question answering and exploring forum is supposedly about Glass in particular, and it just seemed to me that the thickness of his praise was making the criticism lean towards the thin, so I thought I'd make a few critical observations on behalf of those of us who may believe that he's not overly remarkable. Now I realize that I may be going out on a limb with such an edgy thesis, but what's life without risk? Meaningless and not very fun to boot, that's what. Sure, I could be waxing poetic on the subject of erotic scrimshaw, and I often do, but that would be all too easy. As a music lover and fighter, what I really had a hankerin' for was a knock-down drag-out no-holds-barred Glass-tussle. So thank you very much and may the debate rage on (or, as the case may be, drone monotonously on and on and on not unlike Glass's music) ad infinitum. Woof!

It would be an improvement, but only in the relative sense.

"...stuck-up kids in highschool..."? The poeple who are the quickest to accuse others of being arrogant are truly a dull and predictable lot. And again, nothing to do with Glass. Although their are some people who have not unreasonably observed that Glass's work tends to be dull and predictable.

But anyway, the "you're stuck-up" finger pointing people's anti- intellectual attitude and antics, um, how shall I put it, "belie" their thin veneer of sophistication. Very thin. My guess is that they tend to be 'Glass = classic' people more often than not, and, on the whole are well educated in the well-certified and degreed sense yet possessing only nominal measurable native intelligence. Near-do- wells... Why else would such people immediately and aggressively take the mere mention of the concept of intelligence so personally. Their insecurity is painfully obvious.

Now there's an intriguing question. Is the music of Philip Glass anti-intellectual in some way? Could be. It does seem to be pretending to be intelligent, even though there are good reasons to suspect that it isn't particularly. But than again, the folks who make it painfully obvious that they are too emotional to engage in reasonable discourse yet really REALLY want to pretend to be oh so sophisticated would likely avoid that idea like bubonic plague. Huh? What was the question? I CAN'T HEAR YOU. And the next question is... It smells like religion. "Don't you be questionin' MY God, you evil heathen..." Highly predictable indeed, and maybe even a tad anti-intellectual.

And how could such a potentially interesting discussion be so lacking? Perhaps there are too many little ponds with big fish and too few big ponds with little fish. Oh well, maybe the situation will improve.

Why does glass need to be "intellectual" to be good? Can't he just make me happy, or calm, or produce things which are relaxing while I'm reading or working? What if he produced things that were good for screwing to? Wouldn't that be classic? Or what if he produced things that were great when you had something else to do/look at, ambient for operas? Because, in a way, he does. Cf. Einstein On The Beach & Au Revoir... (which I saw in the first run, and d-d-damn!)

I find some of his works to be quite pleasant. I would agree that much of his material from the mid-seventies through the early eighties has merit -- especially the works that ultimately let him reach folks beyond the inner circles. And writing movie soundtracks is a good choice for any composer who wouldn't mind expanding an audience. For a while, his sound was somewhat novel, though there were other folks doing similar things. But why did he appear to purposefully arrest his own artistic development? What the heck happened?

Here's a theory: Before his art was his living, he seemed to be trying harder and having it pay off artistically, but after his art became his living, I think he began to be less inventive. His approach became more and more self-limiting. I mean, he began writing music as if he were making clothing from only several or possibly only two bolts of cloth. Want a 'new' composition? Maybe an opera? Grab a bolt, pin the pattern down, and cut around the pattern. Frankly, he's not really as prolific as he seems. It's not that different from what many composers do, but he's drawing from such narrow sources, it just seems overly and un-artistically synthetic and contrived.

And this choice of artistic direction is suspiciously like that of the 'stripe' painters of approximately the same period and their ilk, or of various other one-trick pony types from many artistic disciplines. Like so many others, in an age of briefer than ever attention spans and soundbite mentalities (its a cliche, but its true), he found that if he stuck to those peculiarly narrow 'bolts of cloth', he could be accepted, and make a decent living.

It's not all that far-fetched. And, who knows, perhaps he'll create some new material someday that defies those observations. I'm only suggesting that success had a negative effect on his art. If it hadn't, maybe Glass WOULD be a classic. But success never spoils true classics.

A certain amount of frission has been lost since then, as the landscape shifted under his feet -- I'd characterize Glass' career since roughly Einstein as trying to rediscover an alternate spiritualism outside of the western cannon, with varying degrees of success depending on both his incorporative ability and the extent to which that which he seeks to incorporate is total crap.

In some ways, the most important thing to recognize about glass IS his range, because it isn't restricted to the canon, but trying to redefine it -- witness his Bowie symphonies, his collabs with bryne and vega, the euro-12-tone touches which he treated with the SAME attitude in Les Infants... &c.

But he's so astoundingly easy to imitate and even counterfit -- a strange but useful and fun musical game often played by the musically agile. All sneakiness and legal issues aside (he's a celeb, and this was 'satire'), I once witnessed a 'premier' of 'his' work that was entirely convincing, and the attending fans loved its pants off quite gushingly. It was kind of sad. But it was a fascinating social experiment if nothing else. Thus I can't help feeling that his style is terribly lacking in true and subtle idiosyncracies. And that, to varying degrees, his fans are strangely nondiscriminating. Is the emperor wearing no clothes? I see it as a distinct possibility.

And does that lack of subtle idiosyncracies (ones that are not as easy to parrot or extrapolate by people who have the ears to 'see' EXACTLY what Glass is doing) put his music into the 'dehumanizing' camp? Yes, quite. And that's a legitimate artistic motivation. Many of the 12-tone composers coming out and away from the pointlessness of world war I were exploring a similar creative impulse. And whether one enjoys listening to 12-tone music or not, it can be safely said that it was radical and not commercial. Glass is not a radical. And I don't believe that he ever was. Well, not lately anyway. Glass's music is extremely conservative.

Later.

'Einstein' sure is remarkable though, the main themes are totally beautiful (far more angular and weird than the dippy schubert mode he went for later) and the shifting rhythms keep knocking you off guard, it's not background music, it demands active listening... I wonder what his reputation would be like these days if he'd stopped at that exact point, but hey then he'd probably still be a starving cab driver, wouldn't be fair to him.

There's still some rhythmic variation in 'Satyagraha' but a lot of it goes for straight toe-tapping pulsation. By 'Glassworks' the stacks of rhythm have gone entirely missing, it's nothing but those doodley doodley arpeggios, and bingo: commercial breakthrough, and no looking back. Since the 80's, less pounding, increasingly smoothed out, simple bland loveliness. Almost too easy to criticize.

No one should write off Glass entirely before hearing 'Einstein on the Beach', it's still incredible. The original '79 Sony recording is still better, the 90's re-recording has better production values and tighter, faster performances but loses too much, nothing can touch the farfisa organ arrangements or the vocal performances on the original. I think 'North Star' is still lovely. Of the 80's stuff, I still love the soundtrack to 'Mishima', especially the sections for string quartet. It was 'Solo Piano' that convinced me to stop buying the stuff and the few things I've heard since then make me kind of angry.

He didn't do the soundtrack for mulholland drive! Angelo Badalamenti always does Lynch's soundtracks.

what what

Anything he can do Reich can do better.

Although I actually really like Einstein on the Beach.

me too, my favorite of his by far.

I personally love his "Concerto For Saxophone Quartet ". Nice and melodic and not remotely 'minimal' in my eyes. It came out in 1998 on Nonesuch.

I’ve been thinking about Philip Glass a lot this week, perhaps influenced by that New Yorker piece that also goes into reexamining him. While he’s certainly been important in my understanding of music, very few recordings hold up.

Out of the 40 or so discs I own only Einstein on Beach, Etudes for Piano, Music in Twelve Parts, Solo Piano, Violin Concertos and Symphony No. 8 seem relevant.

I don't need much of Glass beyond Glassworks. "Closing" is to me his perfect track.

Anything he can do Reich can do better.

yeah this really isn't the case. I've never heard Reich do anything like Einstein on the Beach, or the songs on North Star, or Music in 12 Parts for that matter. Glass was doing mostly melodic variation, where Reich was all about groove, about rhythmic phasing and (fairly conventionally jazzy) harmonic progression. I think there was some point in the late 70s where Glass must have realized that he could continue doing his melodic variation stuff but tone it down to a point that non-art gallery attendees and PBS subscribers could appreciate, and his rep (and compositional rigor) got kind of trashed -- it's a shame, because there are still a lot of people who don't remember how awesome and unparalleled his best stuff was

Sesame Street Glass

newish recording of Music in 12 Parts, this one was apparently a live recording, and sounds less lush, brighter than the 1996 Nonesuch release. http://www.philipglass.com/music/recordings/musicin12parts.php

http://www.philipglass.com/img/covers/225/MUSIC-in-12-Parts-225.jpg

wichita vortex sutra btw

steffen schleiermacher 'early keyboard music' = really unique recording of the early pieces and well worth investigating

http://www.philipglass.com/img/covers/225/early-keyboard-music_225.jpg

'Knee 3' is still so transcendent.

His work on the Candyman soundtrack is very nice and creepy/gorgeous.

I mostly went off Philip Glass a long time again, but over the past year I've occasionally heard bits of "Einstein on the Beach" on the radio (UNM's station) and it's almost been exciting me as much as it did when I was a young teenager. I think I need to get a copy of it again one of these days. (I made the mistake of buying a cassette copy years ago, which probably didn't help me to continute to love it.) So I think I need to rehabilitate him a little. "Einstein on the Beach," especially, remains pretty mind-blowing. I hesitate to say it, but I think it sounds like nothing else that came before. (I'm sure you can break it down and say this bit of melody sounds like this past composer or whatever, but overall it sounds like nothing else.

I think part of it was not knowing that "Einstein on the Beach" was going to come on, being caught unawares by the radio.

("Unawares": is that right? It sounds so weird.)

north star is really good!

special offer on amazon.com today (as seen on lifehacker)

The Orange Mountain Music Philip Glass Sampler Vol.I by Philip Glass

Price: FREE

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B002QZ53OK/ref=nosim/0sil8

An interesting note from the producer on the organ used to record Glass Organ Works (from the review section of the Discogs listing of the cd (http://www.discogs.com/Philip-Glass-Donald-Joyce-Glass-Organ-Works-Music-Of-Philip-Glass/release/854995):

I produced this recording and need to correct one thing and also tell a bit about its creation.

The "Genre" that is listed here on Discogs whether selected by Discogs, BMG/RCA/Catalyst or any other entity that provided information about this CD, is wrong. It is labeled "electronic". It is completely the opposite. The music as played is based on 17th century mechanical technology. That was the point of using the organ that I will describe to the reader now.

I had thought that we would be using one of New York City's better organs; something that thundered and snarled. But once I had read the music and spoken to the organist Donald Joyce, I knew that just the opposite type of organ was required. There were only a few real "trackers" that is, fully mechanical organs, that could be found anywhere in New York State that also had the right accoustics surrounding it. I never expected to find our treasure in, of all places, a small town in Tennessee named Collegedale. It is located about 40 miles N/E of Chatanooga, TN, if that helps. Donald found our tracker in the Collegedale Church after getting a tip from a friend. Six months had passed before the discovery was made. It was the "Heiller Memorial Organ" made by Brombaugh. This instrument was hand built and required 48,000 man hours to complete both in the Brombaugh shop and the church itself. This tracker is a fully mechanical organ. It contains 4,861 pipes, 70 completely manual (mechanical) stops. The "stops" are 10 inch long pieces of 1 inch square wood with a handle attached that is located on the outside of the organ; one pulls or pushes them out or in to open or close a diffent set of selected pipes and ranks of pipes through which the air flows. The actual pitches are controlled from four (yes four) 56 note mechanical keyboards (also called manuals), and lastly there is a mechanical 30 pedal board for the lowest notes. Electricity is only used to power a blower that fills two wedge shaped bellows. So one can easily see this is about as far from an electronic instrument or sound as one can achieve from an organ.

During the recording in the Spring of 1993 we "set up" for two days prior to actually recording anything for posterity (I did keep all the practice hours on tape just in case, but they were never needed.) Getting all the requisite sounds from the organ meant that we all worked from 10PM to 6AM as the sun rose. While this was ultimately a bit exhausting, it paid off because we were far off in the woods, and no external noises interfered with our work. We used David Hewitt's large soundtruck with a full 32 track Neve mixing board. (His company, Remote Recordings is credited in many live TV events as well as CD recordings.)However, we used only 3 microphones throughout the entire process. The recording method was actually that of the early days of stereo when 3 tracks were all that could be lain down at any one time. Left, Middle, Right. We chose six newly refurbished Neumann M-50 microphones which gave us a very clear "sonic picture" of the organ, (no more than 3 were ever in use, the others were for backup purposes and were turned on at all times in case we had to suddenly "change out" a faulty main mic. We recorded from about 70 feet away from the organ at a height of approximately 30 feet.

Balances between the various registrations took a very long time to choose and to integrate into a whole and each change was compared to the previous one by having everyone listen back after we had recorded a few variations. This alone took a day and a half to coax out the sounds that we felt were best at each point in a given piece. We then recorded for three days. We rarely deviated from our previously chosen settings and thus those first two days were vital to having smooth sessions later on.

In post production we added nothing. There was very little editing needed. I will end this long saga by saying that this recording is not for every musical palate, that's certain. But speaking only for myself, I can now say because of the relatively recent resurrection of the 17th century tracker organ, we achieved true 21st century effects that are as engaging to the attentive listener as any other good music.

AG

Does anybody know if he has an interest in mathematics? Obviously he is playing around with ratios between the left-hand and right-hand parts on his piano pieces and the various parts in his orchestral arrangements, but is this directly related to an interest in mathematics on his part? Sorry if this is a bit of a naive question...

yes, i recall he studied math in college..and wikipedia confirms, studied mathematics at univ of chicago when he was admitted there at 15 years old

Cool, thanks. That's fascinating to hear.

whoa that IS fascinating. huh.

http://pomegranatearts.com/project-einstein/tour.html

JANUARY 2012 (Preview dates to be announced)
Einstein on the Beach
Presented by: University Musical Society of the University of Michigan
Venue: The Power Center
ANN ARBOR, MI

MARCH 16, 2012 (Preview)
MARCH 17-18, 2012 (World Premiere)
Einstein on the Beach
Presented by: Opéra et Orchestre National de Montpellier Languedoc-Roussillon
Venue: Opera Berlioz Le Corum
MONTPELLIER, FRANCE

MAY 2012 (Performance dates to be announced)
Einstein on the Beach
Presented by: The Barbican
Venue: The Barbican Theatre
LONDON, ENGLAND

JUNE 2012 (Performance dates to be announced)
Einstein on the Beach
Presented by: Luminato, Toronto Festival of Arts and Creativity
Venue: Sony Center for the Performing Arts
TORONTO, CANADA

SEPTEMBER 2012 (Performance dates to be announced)
Einstein on the Beach
Presented by: Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM)
Venue: Opera House
BROOKLYN, NY

OCTOBER 2012 (Performance dates to be announced)
Einstein on the Beach
Presented by: Cal Performances University of California
Venue: Zellerbach Hall
BERKELEY, CA

JANUARY 2013 (Performance dates to be announced)
Einstein on the Beach
Presented by: De Nederlandse Opera/The Amsterdam Music Theatre
Venue: Het Muziektheater
AMERSTERDAM, NETHERLANDS

in

January 2013, check.

The dates of the 'Einstein' revival tour are now confirmed (same link as above). I am so there, never thought I'd see this one in my lifetime. Been scouring Youtube for live footage of the original production but there doesn't seem to be any, which in a way is good. It's like the whole thing exists in some kind of dreamworld.

bought tickets to Zellerbach

ha ha: doors open 5:30 show starts at 6

bought a ticket to the Zellerbach Saturday performance, will be flying up from LA for this one

I am heading to Ann Arbor for the "preview" shows this weekend. Stoked.

Any London PG fans with £100+ to spare, I can recommend the Einstein On The Beach production currently at the Barbican. This was a real gateway record for me as a teenager, Floyd->Tangerine Dream->Philip Glass->all sorts of weirdo shit, great to finally see it with the visuals at last.

oh man, did I never post after attending the Ann Arbor performance...

just ... wow. Just, wow. I really honestly haven't stopped thinking about it ever since. It is so much fun. It is so beautiful. One of the greatest experiences of my entire life. If you can, go, go, GO!!!!

shit i might need to road trip to Brooklyn or Berk to experience again, if they aren't sold out

here's PG afterward

http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5343/7151276527_b55255e051_b.jpg

it was honestly life-changing. hasn't left me, four months on

oh that sounds great, love Einstein so much.

hey Stormy I have yr Dead LP! email - sleeve at kittymail d0t c0m

hey sleeve -- sorry for delay, i'm on it !

no problem man, and that concert ... jeez, so jealous! I saw a live version of "1000 Airplanes" in the 80's that was pretty good, but Einstein is one of the all time greats.

the Ann Arbor performances were billed as "dry run" or whatever, but from my space it was flawless

sorry, 'preview' i guess is the industry term. Still ruled from start to finish -- flawless

Saw this on Saturday, thought it was absolutely phenomenal - one of the best things I've ever seen. Might be worth seeing if the Barbican has returns rather than paying 100 quid for the few tickets left - we only paid 28 quid for our tickets, admittedly over a year ago.

Really changed how I think of certain parts of the opera, too - e.g. the prematurely air conditioned supermarket bit was amazing, but I've never noticed it that much on record.

I was there on Saturday as well, amazing experience. Thought it was a bit odd that PG and RW weren't there to take a bow at the end though, they are in London after all.

Was there yesterday too, seriously thinking about going again this Sunday.

for some reason i'm having trouble finding concrete dates/locations for this. did it already happen at Brooklyn Academy of Music? If not, when is it? Are there tickets? I really want to see this!

Oh wait, finally found it:

http://www.bam.org/einstein

Sep 14 & 15, 19—22, 2012 at 7pm
Sep 16 & 23, 2012 at 3pm

How difficult will it be to get tickets, for those in the know? Is this going to be some Kraftwerk shit where I hate myself all week again?

full list of tour dates here:

http://pomegranatearts.com/project-einstein/tour.html

Crazy to think that the Berkeley dates will be an effective West Coast premiere.

Any comments on the 10 CD "Glass Box"? Is it a good career overview or does it give long pieces short shrift?

Fair overview but the long pieces are truncated; which is always a crime, but especially with minimal music imho.

I think I just got the last ticket to the Berkeley shows.

super interesting thing upthread about glass organ works

I'm finally at a place where I can enjoy some glassworks & later stuff but glass is like...his early work is so convulsive & inventive & important & relentlessly focused and then suddenly he's not about phase & different conceptions of composition any more: he's a Composer for whom the singular focus of his earlier work yielded some melodic and strategic tools. still hard for me to deal with, the gulf between the Tomato records stuff and the almost pastoral, accessible stuff that came later. saw him twice back in the day, once at Dorothy Chandler and once at the Roxy, which was nuts - the early stuff he played at the Roxy, some selections from Einstein, had an effect comparable to a really loud metal band firing on all cylinders. Whereas the Glassworks stuff...is nice.

I have less against "nice" than I used to so it's cool, but it's weird to me that this real seismic shift in his strategies seems to be an asked-and-answered thing.

I like the weird sort of New Brucknerism he's come to on things like Symphony No. 8. Yes, it's worlds away from Music in 12 or even Koyaanisqatsi but there's something about it. You can really bask in this shit.

Glass played the Roxy? On Sunset? Wild. What year?

music with changing parts is one of the dopest things ever made

xpost

So when do folks suggest this shift in his strategies begins?

I see Glassworks as the turning point. (More on this later.)

Glass played the Roxy? On Sunset? Wild. What year?

I think '82 or '83? It was right after Glassworks came out. It's a tiny stage, I've played it myself; the sound in that room when they got into the Einstein stuff was fucking amazing

I like the weird sort of New Brucknerism he's come to on things like Symphony No. 8. Yes, it's worlds away from Music in 12 or even Koyaanisqatsi but there's something about it. You can really bask in this shit.

pretty interested by this by the way. the last time I was paying any attention to Glass he hadn't written any symphonies at all, so I should really check this out.

should I take acid before I go see Einstein on the Beach? I am leaning toward yes.

xpost Sym 8 is def my fave so far, though I haven't heard every one of them. The first couple of them were the Bowie-Eno-derived ones.

The first couple of them were the Bowie-Eno-derived ones.

see and that is sort of where my inattention to Glass since The Photographer felt justified to me. I love Bowie & Eno, think they're great, but as sources for symphonies? That feels gimmicky in the worst please-pay-attention-to-us-we're-the-classical-world way: and I say this as a guy presently doing work in that same rock-meets-elsewhere world. But I don't know - I feel like there's a certain way of doing it (Kronos on Hendrix, I fear, which I feel guilty saying, but) where it's just kinda sad.

I know I know without actually having listened to them I'm just being a grouch, but it just looked like Glass's careerism at its worst. Can't begrudge a guy trying to get the loft paid off but still.

Total trainspotter Philip Glass question : in the credits to Koyaaniqatsi it says something like "additional music by Michael Hoenig", who I guess is the Agitation Free / Tangerine Dream guy. So does this mean Glass didn't actually write all the score? Something like this track doean't really sound like him, for the first couple of minutes at least :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o64zjJeXClw

The first couple of them were the Bowie-Eno-derived ones.

see and that is sort of where my inattention to Glass since The Photographer felt justified to me. I love Bowie & Eno, think they're great, but as sources for symphonies? That feels gimmicky in the worst please-pay-attention-to-us-we're-the-classical-world way: and I say this as a guy presently doing work in that same rock-meets-elsewhere world. But I don't know - I feel like there's a certain way of doing it (Kronos on Hendrix, I fear, which I feel guilty saying, but) where it's just kinda sad.

I know I know without actually having listened to them I'm just being a grouch, but it just looked like Glass's careerism at its worst. Can't begrudge a guy trying to get the loft paid off but still.

Oh i totally agree with you, it turned me off big time. But I think he's got to a more interesting 'nothing particular to prove' zone with his symphonies now and I really dig it. Do try #8.

There was a two month period in 1999 where I could listen to nothing but The Photographer

The Photographer is FAR and away my favorite thing he's ever done. it reminds me of Lindstrom for some reason.

In 92 I was a junior in high school and I took the photographer LP out from the library and taped it. I'd drive around town with my windows down totally blasting it. I don't love a lot of his stuff just before or since but definately have a soft spot for it.

Checked BAM for tickets today and can't tell if I missed them or the general tix aren't for sale yet. I know a guy touring as part of the tech crew so maybe he can help.

Just got tickets to Einstein on the Beach for Sat, Sept 22nd! :) Waaaaay back in the balcony, but I am so, so pumped to finally see this!

They just went on sale about 15 minutes ago for non-BAM members:

http://www.bam.org/einstein
http://commerce.bam.org/tickets/production.aspx?pid=6637

It's so great, I'm sure you won't be disappointed. Matt#2 and I were so taken with it we're going to go see it again in Holland next year.

I'm going wed night. Balcony.

My seats are pretty fucking terrible for the small fortune that i'm paying for them

When i was considering whether or not I would last the full 5 hours (or my ass would) I tweeted Alex Ross to ask when would be a good time to bail for 5 mins (he had been tweeting about how great it was) he suggested somewhere in the middle of Night Train.

Philip Glass is coming to the Seattle area in October, but he's not performing Einstein On The Beach. Instead it's PG and Foday Musa Suso performing music from a soundtrack to “Powaqatsi” -- $65
*shrug*

I'd seen a handful of Glass-composed pieces performed here and there over the years, but seeing Glass w/ his band play for two solid hours outside near Battery Park earlier this summer was probably the most spellbinding thing I've seen this year. Wanted to run up to all the players and give them a big ol hug just for the physical / mental endurance it must take to pull off a lot of these pieces. To watch a performance of Act III from The Photographer, especially the vocal section, is just ... ugh.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOU0koRXNcU

Dan, you've been? What did you think?

I'm going in two weeks.

Good god, the Knee Plays -- I was in tears by the fourth one. Glass doesn't compose much else that's got this pre-Renaissance (polyphonic?) choral thing, does he? But more to the point, WHY DOES IT AFFECT ME SO?

i was re-listening to Music in Twelve Parts the other day, for the first time since seeing Einstein. am i correct in thinking that one of the Music in Twelve Parts songs was featured in Einstein (near the end)?

Everything Glass has done up to Einstein was a case study and all these things combined let to Einstein. So yes, there us Music in Twelve parts in there, and the several different 'a different look at harmony's' are in there, among other pieces.

This guy's got a bunch of surprisingly good quality audience videos from multiple stops on the 2012 Einstein tour.

(He's also got a bunch of Captain Beefheart TV appearances, the complete Live from the Met: Nixon in China film, and a terrible looking-and-sounding video boot of a complete Laurie Anderson show from 1986.)

Total trainspotter Philip Glass question : in the credits to Koyaaniqatsi it says something like "additional music by Michael Hoenig", who I guess is the Agitation Free / Tangerine Dream guy. So does this mean Glass didn't actually write all the score? Something like this track doean't really sound like him, for the first couple of minutes at least :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o64zjJeXClw&feature=plcp

― don't slip in mud (Matt #2), Thursday, July 19, 2012 1:41 PM (3 months ago)

You're right about the music in that YouTube clip. I found a playlist online from a 2004 performance by Michael Koenig which includes this:

- Koyaanisqatsi, Clouds & buildings, Michael Hoenig, Michael Hoenig, Gema
- Koyaanisqatsi, Slow people, Michael Hoenig, Michael Hoenig, Gema
- Koyaanisqatsi, Microchip, Michael Hoenig, Michael Hoenig, Gema

"Slow People" and "Microchip" are both drone pieces that bridge between segments of the film ("Clouds & Buildings" probably is too, but I'm not remembering the sequence off the top of my head). Hoenig was also credited as Music Supervisor for the film, and with Glass having composed a lot of the score while they were shooting rather than in post-production, I'm guessing Hoenig filled in a couple of gaps in the score once they got down to editing.

I saw Einstein at Berkeley Saturday night and it was AMAZING. there were many cool parts but my favorite was the opening - basically they just let Knee cycle for a while until the audience collectively (and without instruction as far as I could tell) quieted down and let things start. this was also my first time hearing Glass performed live so I was kind of knocked out by the sheer stamina on display by the musicians; this was four and a half of non-stop no-intermission painstakingly incremental action action action.

also I cannot imagine how mortifying it must be to be That Guy at the Philip Glass opera who has to use the bathroom midway through and force the whole row to get up & break the trance. or, god forbid, That Guy whose phone goes off.

I say use the bathroom during the Trial sequences.

XP - Yea, they did that in London too, it was lovely to come in and have the players cycling away already.

I had the same worries about coming and going but PG has said that it's fine to do so, I tweeted Alex Ross for his opinion on the best time to have a break and he said in the middle of Night Train, which I agree with.

no way...I think Night Train is the most beautiful segment musically...the least happens physically but its such a beautiful image/sound!

I agree with dan, the trial sequences seemed like the least essential part of the whole thing for me.

The part that really floored me was the Building section, with that phenomenal sax solo. Not at all what I expected to hear at a PG concert but it provided a welcome contrast to all those pounding arpeggios (which I also love, of course).

I just hope I get to see the whole production again sometime.

I hear that, knowing the chances of hearing it again, at least in PG's lifetime were slim I'm going to see it in Amsterdam early next year.

I wasnt as into the sax solo. I appreciate the improv nature of it, but the solo I'm used to from the 90s nonesuch recording was much more sustained/droney, whereas what I heard at Bam was a bit more "jazzy". Still great, but I preferred the 90s one.

I loved the jazzy nature of it! Added a whole extra dimension to the piece for me.

each new version has to switch things up a little, but the original 'Building' sax solo is the overt tip of the hat to Young & Riley post-Coltrane sheets-of-sound style minimalism, so it really stings when they mess with it. I nearly gave in to this guy's super-soulful bluesy solo as he built to the high note but when he didn't hit the high note and went for skronk, my patience ran out

I also initially fought the unusually saucy take on 'prematurely air-conditioned supermarket' during 'Trial/Prison', really vamping it up, but by the end I was completely won over, she made it hers

I struggled a bit while watching, as you do with something you've been listening to since freshman year of high school, but... what a piece this is, I now wish I had gone twice

let me rephrase that last post

oh my god you guys the faces the numbers the twirling I can't even believe it YAY

What do the Glass aficionados think of Beck's 20-minute piece interpolating a large number of Glass' works?

http://soundcloud.com/dunvagenmusic/nyc-73-78

if he did a 20 minute piece based on Charles Ives or Scott Joplin and put it out with his Glass & Harry Partch pieces, it'd be my favorite album of his since Mellow Gold

Ha! I had almost that exact thought--was thinking Reich or Riley, but Ives would be *perfect*. Yeah, it would be an incredible album. Going to by the "Reworked" thing, but I'd really rather have this piece on its own. Nothing else on there comes close to the grandeur, grace, or beauty of Beck's.

If I can rephrase my original post, is there something particularly liturgical (or even holy?!) about the music of the knee plays? The second the first one started, I was already beginning to get overwhelmed with emotion.

Also, any plans for a recording of the current tour?

Nothing else on there comes close to the grandeur, grace, or beauty of Beck's.

Yeah, agreed. The rest of the pieces are nice enough, but Beck's really wowed me.

Hm, this is pretty nice.

Question for those who saw the 2012 tour: Did the bed get a round of applause then it reached vertical? I saw it in 1984 and 1992, and the audience gave it a hand both times.

Philip Ass.

I like the more lively bit from 14.20 to 15.50... Anyone now where the sample is from?

Hideous Lamp -- I don't think so. That I have a hard time remembering anything notable about it suggests that it definitely didn't receive applause.

There was no applause during the entire four hour performance in Ann Arbor. Only at the end.

The dance sequences were applauded in London, don't remember if the bed was or not.

EOTB in Amsterdam on Friday, first time in the city too, yay.

Bring food! The theater I saw it in ran out.

Ha yes, I saw it in London last year, so I'll be sure to buy some Poffertjes.

Thanks for that tip! :)
I'll be going on saturday. Psyched!

Kalamazoooooooooooo

Which Satyagraha recording is better, Sony or CBS?

Aren't they the same one? I thought Sony owned CBS now. The only recording I can find is by the New York City Opera Orchestra under Christopher Keene.

I thought so too, they recorded/overdubbed the tricky parts of it in a studio way back in the early digital days.

Jon Gibson solo records often slept on.

http://www.discogs.com/artist/Jon+Gibson+(2)

In Good Company is very fine: has a Terry Jennings comp. with LMY jamming away. Earlier LPs live up to their collector hype somehow.

Ah, assumed that choices were similar to Einstein.

I also initially fought the unusually saucy take on 'prematurely air-conditioned supermarket' during 'Trial/Prison', really vamping it up, but by the end I was completely won over, she made it hers

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lN2L6lVbKW0

BTW, does Orbital's "Out There Somewhere?" cop some of the "Spaceship" steez?

Some details of the Philip Glass Ensemble's setup (synths used and screenshots of patches from the Bidule system they were replaced with):
http://www.plogue.com/philipglassensemble/

tbh despite dabbling with software for years the list of synths is more interesting than what they're currently doing, but it's interesting to see that apart from the number of connections there's nothing that far beyond what a bedroom producer might use

I'm seeing it again in October when it comes to the LA Opera House!!! I got orchestra-level seats in the sixth row reasonably close to the center!!! exclamation points!!!

(it = Einstein, in case that wasn't obvious)

Great! My friend and I are working on seeing EOTB in Paris early next year, we saw it in London and in Amsterdam.

seeing it in LA too! wish i had your seats though

when i saw it in SF last year i wasted ... too much time leaving the theater to get food. won't make that mistake again.

pumped!

Lukas, that was my exact experience, too! Except it was Berkeley for me.

Seeing Music In 12 Parts this week, stoked for that.

Oh god yeah, not SF, sorry

We may have gone to the same showing! When did you go out for food? I left during "Train" and "Knee Play 3.

10/26 - left a couple times but couldn't tell you when

Just got back! TRIP REPORT:

- My seat was so good it affected my experience; I knew they were close t the stage but it turned out I was sitting maybe 15 feet away from the orchestra. I could hear individual singers' voices, see all the activity in the chorus & orchestra, all that shit. Jack Nicholson was there and I had a better view than he did ffs.

- The opening was a little less badass than it was in Berkeley, mostly because the music was cycling but the vocals weren't. Also unlike in Berkeley the LA crowd had to shush each other, which was less cool than everyone just suddenly and collectively deciding to shut the fuck up and let everything start. At any rate, the opening is still an absolute highlight, and Train 1 is too.

- I realized this time that although I still have no earthly idea what the plot of EOTB is, what it's ABOUT is endurance - an audience member staying put for like four solid hours, cast members having to sing these eternal repetitions and doing these insanely meticulous choreographed routines (THE FIELD SEGMENTS!!!!), that kind of stuff. Every single act just blew me away with the extent of the performers' preparation; I'd notice what I thought were human failures like the kid on the bridge adjusting the light-cube, only to realize over time that it was happening identically and on a schedule. Just staggering stuff.

- The part where Einstein sticks "his" tongue out is eye-rollingly embarassing, but it's followed in short order by that one lady's aria which was fucking INSANE. INSANE INSANE INSANE. Best aria in a Glass opera outside of the one at the end of Satyagraha, maybe? (Am I even using the term right?)

- The Trial segments were far and away the worst - Trial 1 moreso than Trial 2, although Train 2 was worse than either of them.

- The end was absolutely riveting; I didn't remember it nearly as fondly from the Berkeley performance but it absolutely wrecked me.

Overall A+++++ mega-classic even with the boring-ass Trial segments (and Train 2). I still think The Photographer is Glass' best work (followed by his soundtracks for Mishima, Koyaanisqatsi, and Candyman) but I've seen Einstein twice now and both times it's knocked my dick in the dirt.

With EOTB being such an unyielding work the main thing I noticed second time around was the audience's reactions and behaviour and not my own reactions to the music.

First time was London, second Amsterdam and the London crowd were (unusually) quiet, patient and willing to go the distance. Amsterdam however were an older more traditionally opera going audience and by halfway through the first Trial section there was a very palpable shifting in seats, glancing at watches and a couple of sneak outs. I sensed a lot of bored partners wondering wtf they had been dragged to. They were also hella noisy when getting seated which spoiled the intro section a little.

After a time though everything settled down and apart from a few more walk outs here and there, it was cool.

Kinda want to go and see it again in Paris next year but I have to save money, hope to god they document it before it's over.

some scattered thoughts i posted on facebook late last night...

"Einstein On The Beach" = a life-changing experience. I'd heard the music but never saw it staged before tonight. It's exhilarating and delirium-inducing, a total sensory overload while at the same time being quite meditative. It works both as surface-level absurdism and as a survey of 20th century art forms, from the Bolshoi ballet to Dada and Futurism and sound poetry to mid-century experimental theater and Warhol's marathon-viewing "Empire" to jazz to minimalist contemporaries like Terry Riley and Charlemagne Palestine. Andre and I both sat through all 4-plus hours without getting up to use the bathroom or stretch our legs.

Someone over on ILM said it's about *endurance*, which works not only in the sense of the audience's threshold for sitting still and shutting up, and not only in the sense of the performers' intense stamina/dedication/concentration, but in a very American, Horatio Alger bootstrappy way. The American myth with the European sensibilities splashing up against it from the shores of said "beach."

The audience was terrible -- a lot of walkouts, a lot of talking and coughing. Those who made it to the end were really appreciative, though.

i was in the back with the cheapskates, who were a combination of hipsters like me and older suburbanites who probably didn't know what they were getting into.

Terrible cell phone pic but this was my vantage point:

http://31.media.tumblr.com/ab672da42200cfdc0918585daed61088/tumblr_mumf1iFMhh1qjuy9xo1_500.jpg

Could we get the wind for the sailboat

1234
123
1234

what it's ABOUT is endurance - an audience member staying put for like four solid hours, cast members having to sing these eternal repetitions and doing these insanely meticulous choreographed routines (THE FIELD SEGMENTS!!!!), that kind of stuff.

And doesn't it create a bridge of empathy between performers and audience? Like, the dancers are doing an endless number of coupes jetes en tournant, so many that I started thinking they were doing it for me, which cuts through a lot of aesthetic expectations and gets to some more emotionally primal place.

James, which aria are you talking about, i.e. when does it happen? "Night Train"?

It's the one after Bed 2, performed by the lady who keeps picking up the conch shell.

And doesn't it create a bridge of empathy between performers and audience? Like, the dancers are doing an endless number of coupes jetes en tournant, so many that I started thinking they were doing it for me, which cuts through a lot of aesthetic expectations and gets to some more emotionally primal place.

Oh god it totally engaged the shit out of me; the dance sequences reminded me of NASCAR races since the slightest error in judgment would have resulted in everyone crashing into each other. OTOH when it's a mass scene with lots of different action going on I just get absorbed by digging up the intricacy of the choreography and end up missing something happening elsewhere on the stage (Train 1 is my favorite example; I'd be watching the one lady march back and forth across the stage and then all of a sudden, a paper airplane). I dunno if that necessarily qualifies as empathy but it sure was fun as hell to watch. Reminded me a lot of Playtime.

was floored by this at the BAM. Grew up listening to this and other glass (much more than I do these days), and the Field Dances were the two things I could never have imagined or anticipated from the scores and stage directions and clips I'd seen in the past. Coming after the oppressiveness of certain other very deliberate sections there was just this massive, overwhelming euphoria when they arrived. "Wonder" I guess is the word.

disagree about "endurance" btw. Its more about maybe prolonged meditation and insight, or the process of thought. You think about simple things slowly, carefully, paring away the inessential, and eventually an enormous complex pattern pops into focus.

seconding get bent's comments - i'm still picking up pieces of my brain off the floor from seeing this last night

unfortunately she was also right about the audience although i guess i can't blame ppl for getting squirmy during a 4.5-hour opera with no actual intermission (i used the bathroom during the beginning of the 2nd trial scene and passed an older woman complaining about how 'monotonous' it was)

i don't even know where to begin talking about what i loved about it. the field dances (i felt like they were happening in slow motion, total heart-stopping moment), the knee plays (esp. the fourth(?) one where they're writhing on the glass gurneys), the entire night train scene, the tableau vivant of all of the performers in the building scene, the sheer intensity and concentration in the violinist's performance, all those bits of absurdist humor strewn throughout (the chorus making tooth-brushing gestures, etc) - just, gah!

using actual toothbrushes too!

ahh, couldn't tell from my vantage point

maybe not so much endurance as 'dedication', 'singlemindedness', 'craft', 'obsession' and also, conversely, transcendence.

normally i find these theme's of glass' too spiritual, infused with lots of silly mysticism. but here i see them as relating to, on some level, the scientific process.

Music in Twelve Parts this weekend in London, can't wait!

Yep. Saw it in the Czech Republic this summer, an amazing experience.

P. Glass is in the ensemble too, hope he can keep going for 4 hours

He's certainly looking a bit frail these days it's true. Seemed to manage OK the time I saw it though.

should I go see Satyagraha y/n

Beautiful music + giant puppets == yes! (Nb. I have not seen the opera.)

Saw it, was good. Still in atp recovery mode so my attention kinda wandered in places but it was p damn gorgeous. And I'm usually way more of a Reich guy by disposition but this & Einstein have really impressed me in performance. Kinda h8 the whole going to the opera experience tho

I was impressed that a musical about emancipation could ironically create an enslaved state for performers and audience members.

Four nights of Einstein in Berlin announced:

http://www.berlinerfestspiele.de/de/aktuell/festivals/einzelveranstaltungen/einzel_programm/einzel_veranstaltungsdetail_84630.php

That's interesting, judging by their website I had assumed that the tour was winding down, it's in Paris in Jan too. I am so tempted.

'einstein on the beach' live-streaming from paris RIGHT NOW

http://culturebox.francetvinfo.fr/einstein-on-the-beach-au-theatre-du-chatelet-146813

Watching it but hope someone is capturing it so I can watch it at my leisure later. So good.

Holy crap!!

bizarre to watch it with quick cuts & close-ups. initially seems to go against the grain of the whole experience but the longer you watch, the deeper it sinks

hope this comes out

Oh I hope so

All I could find is a documentary - http://www.filmlinc.com/films/on-sale/preserving-a-legacy-einstein-on-the-beach

*phew*

Q - Will "Einstein" live on without you and Bob?

A - Part of the idea was to set a performance standard for the piece, and now the whole thing has been filmed -- this production. We had felt that would have to be done in order to present the piece in the future. So now, in principle, I think it can be done.

http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_21854639/philip-glass-talks-about-his-breakthrough-work-einstein

the stenographers have shopping bags because it's time for the supermarket

FOURTH OF JULY PLUMES.

lagging, gah

playing this in two tabs that are slightly out of sync

Some eyelashes!

i forgot about the screams in this part

Just noticed that site has a link to the full libretto.

Have basically written off my evening, Yay French arts websites

Were the transitions between scenes always this quick?

yay the dancers

these and the spaceship are my favourite parts

XP - On this tour you mean? Yes, possibly not on others

They do seem to be cracking through it at a fair old pace though, the site says durée 3'20" which is odd, when I saw it it was at least four hours long.

What's killing me is how it's the same people now who have been touring this for what, nearly 2 years? What does their head sound like when they go to bed at night, that poor kid.

It's already been on for close to 3 hours

We still have New Age Sax Terror, Radio Ga-Ga Vid and Driving Miss Daisy (on a train) to go

don't forget Dan Flavin Space Aria

Haha, currently watching Levitating Polo Mint V3.

Had to turn off, don't want "Knee 4" to leave me a wreck while at w3rk.

it's gonna be available on the site for a while, I think

OH THANK GLASS.

Dan Flavin Space Aria. Awesome.

Hai-Ting Chinn bloody rules

Yeah this is so beautiful

HERE WE GO

That organ transition gives me goosebumps

*weeps silently*

RETRANSMISSION DU SPECTACLE

stream is repeating for those who want to begin at the beginning again

says it's available until may 7th

Fuckin' A!

oh sweet

The kid keeps a blog -

http://theboyofeob.wordpress.com/

I wonder how his skateboarding skills are coming along! When I saw the NY show I kinda laughed because he seemed unsteady. I'd imagine after X amount of performances he'd be doing ollie's off the stage by now.

Anyone got a link to a download of this? Would rather not stream it...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9TeVdW8sYA

Trial 2: Prison (Supermarket) @ 2:36:15

have watched twice since the stream went up

Wonder if this will actually be any good (the 1968 recording, not the fucking didgeridoo thing)

http://philipglass.typepad.com/glass_notes/2014/01/two-new-omm-releases-philip-glass-debut-concert-1968-voices-for-didgeridoo-organ.html

Wonder if this will actually be any good (the 1968 recording, not the fucking didgeridoo thing)

I actually really want to hear the fucking didgeridoo thing, but only out of morbid curiosity.

Attempted to listen to the fucking didgeridoo thing on Youtube. Interminable. Your suspicions were correct.

Glass up until Einstein <<<<<<<<<< Glass from Einstein through the Dance pieces >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Glass ever since. the only outliers are Music For Twelve Musicians and the Candyman soundtrack, both of which kick much ass.

thought he died when saw thread bump, imagined him cold with a needle in his arm

Saw a documentary about him. Watched him cook and do tai chi. He will outlive us all.

Music For Twelve Musicians

what is this?

It's sorta like Music For Eighteen Parts

So half of them are pulling double-duty?

jamescobo u got some inequality sign issues here breh

Originally it was a collaboration with Steve Reich called Music for 30 Musicians but they got into a big fight and everybody took sides.

music for COOL PEOPLE ONLY (parts I-XXIV)

I like La Belle et le Bete, Symphony no 8, and The Illusionist a lot out of later Glass stuff.

Glass up until Einstein <<<<<<<<<< Glass from Einstein through the Dance pieces >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Glass ever since. the only outliers are Music For Twelve Musicians and the Candyman soundtrack, both of which kick much ass.

this is completely otm though I find the lesser post-Dance stuff more interesting/listenable than I used to.

I rly like the 3rd Qatsi score too... can't remember if that's Naqoy or Powwa. Basically the first and third Qatsi scores are great and the middle one sucks.

The new Reggio one, Visitors, was interesting enough on first listen to warrant a second. Will say more later.

I def recognize that what he has to contribute at this stage is not unique or epoch making in the way he once was but it also just pleases me on an animal level.

This was new to me:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ch-R1aIM-C0

Visitors: the album is about 2x too long but there is some really moving stuff here. Recommend paring it down to tracks 1,4,5 and 6.

uh how come nobody mentioned that UCLA is putting on three days of Glass pieces in early May

5/2: Beauty and the Beast: http://cap.ucla.edu/calendar/event_detail.asp?id=398
5/3: Music In Twelve Parts (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!): http://cap.ucla.edu/calendar/event_detail.asp?id=399
5/4: some new thing called Etudes: http://cap.ucla.edu/calendar/event_detail.asp?id=400

I bought a ticket dead center for Twelve Parts. this means that in the last calendar year I will have seen Einstein on the Beach, Music In Twelve Parts, Music For 18 Musicians, and Drumming all performed live. now I just need to see performances of The Photographer and Bryars' Sinking of the Titanic and I can go ahead and leave the planet. hard to believe anything's going to top Drumming though.

sometimes i think part one of 12 parts is the most sublime ambient piece ever composed

it pisses me off so much that they're sticking an intermission in the middle of it. fuk the wusses who can't handle the whole thing in one go. then again I saw Einstein twice without ever getting up to go to the bathroom so maybe my kidneys just appreciate minimalism.

hahaha p glass should compose potty break music

just looking at Music in 12 Parts on iTunes and am confused. There are two releases, both on Orange Mountain Music, sort of. One is from 2013 and is a single 25 dollar release. The other is 12 separate 19 or so minute releases, each labeled by which part it is. I'm too lazy to preview now to see if they're the same. Anybody know if they're the same recording?

wait, it's more confusing than that.

There's this:

http://philipglass.com/music/recordings/twelve_parts.php

Then there's this live version from 2008:

http://www.philipglass.com/music/recordings/musicin12parts.php

and I think the split up version comes from that.

Yes, the split up version comes from this one:

http://www.philipglass.com/img/covers/225/MUSIC-in-12-Parts-225.jpg

This one was recorded in 1993 and originally released on Nonesuch in 1996:

http://www.philipglass.com/img/covers/225/music-in-12-parts_225.jpg

However, this 3-CD set from Virgin Records in 1989 was the first release of all 12 parts. Parts 1 - 6 were recorded in 1975 (1 & 2 released on a LP at the time), parts 7 - 12 recorded in 1987. This version isn't listed on the philipglass.com website, which probably means it's out of print:

http://s.pixogs.com/image/R-917837-1172643543.jpeg

Personally I would go for the Nonesuch version

I saw them do it in the Czech Republic last summer and was definitely glad of the intermission

Also saw it in London in 2007 with Leonard Cohen sitting in the row behind me

I was trying to find a blog post by Nico Muhly where he recommends checking out the first version of 12 Parts because there's a bunch of mistakes and the organ sounds are a bit graunchy and seventies.

They factored in 2 intermissions in London last year and I was initially a bit 'Hey I sat through Einstein you wusses!!' But I can see why as it's much more overwhelming I guess because of the lack of visual stimulus. It becomes *so* relentless, especially 2/3 of the way in. It really feels superhuman, watching those blurry hands. But damn, it was so great.

there is also a box set released by Venture overseas in 1988

http://www.discogs.com/Philip-Glass-Music-In-Twelve-Parts/release/1289386

at the risk of being that guy this is the version I have. it's great! totally worth getting up all those times to flip the record (the element of the live performance I am looking forward to most [not having to walk like ten whole feet to the record player and back]), although admittedly I only do this the whole way through once a year or so. I will say that there are fewer facepalm-inducing moments in 12 Parts than in any of Glass' "I am dedicating some significant time to listening to this whole thing in one sitting" works; it contains fewer heart-wrenchingly gorgeous moments than, say, "Knee Play 5" or the Douglas Perry aria at the end of Satyagraha.

this is part of the reason why I love The Photographer above and beyond everything else in Glass' discography - it takes you on a truly glorious journey and you only have to get up once. the only comparable work in his discography is the OST to Mishima and the pieces that compose that work don't get enough space to sprawl out and explore every avenue the composition offers (which is literally the work's only flaw, both the soundtrack and the movie are utterly riveting in every other way. I love the 'Qatsi trilogy all-encompassingly too as both a film series and a set of scores, but Mishima absolutely slaughters it). I heard Glass & Riesman scored The Photogrpaher as a much longer piece; that, Bryars' The Sinking of the Titanic, and Budd's Pavilion of Dreams are the last three items on my contemporary composition bucket list.

I enjoy the graunchy imperfections of it; those are always the moments in the live performances of minimalist pieces where I'm most hyper-aware of the performance. the rest of the time I'm just locked in paying attention.

also I just watched Reich's Drumming performed last weekend without any visual stimulus and it was basically the greatest thing I've ever seen in my entire life so I remain part of the INTERMISSION BOO HISS crowd. I am unimaginably stoked to see this though; Glass is my favorite of the minimalists.

whenever I listen 12 Parts, it's the 1975/1987 Virgin CD set -- I had the 90's Nonesuch for a while and sold it. like the 90's rerecording of Einstein, the 90's version has impressively precise playing but also 90's digital synths in place of the cheesy farfisas. mileage may vary.

haven't heard the 2008 live recording but I imagine it's good. saw the Ensemble play parts 11 & 12 a few years ago and it was emotional.

Anyone else think that the webcast of Einstein, illuminating as it is, doesn't quite have the live magic and is kind of a sterile experience?

The recording of EOTB from Paris is getting repeated on Sky Arts quite a bit over the next few days.

A Brief History of Time score is finally getting a release (on Orange Mountain).

Is there a download or a t0rrent of the Paris Einstein anywhere?

I got mine off P1rat3bay, about a year back, there were two running, one big, one smaller.

look on youtube

I recently thought of his work "well shit, if he is going to write things like that, anyone can do anything!" kind of like cremaster cycle

He's on his book tour now. Wife just saw him chatting onstage with NPR's Bob Boilen about his book, growing up in Baltimore, mutual love of bagels and some things that don't start with a "b"

Anagram, had a quick peek on PB, they're both still going.

yeah thanks MN, I found them, loaded up the large one but it's d/ling at a crawl so could be a while

I've just flicked through the book so far, main revelation is that he once picked up Salvador Dali when working as a cab driver.

"I've just flicked through the book so far, main revelation is that he once picked up Salvador Dali when working as a cab driver."

I wonder who was in the glove box

The book is great. Really chatty, interesting and full of insights. Definitely a memoir rather than a full-blown autobiography and very selective as to what he puts in and what he leaves out. But I love the stuff about him being a working musician who very quickly got to grips with the economics of survival in 1970s New York, not just with his day jobs but through touring with his ensemble, playing his own music just like a rock band.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUu6U7m_2IU

And incase anybody missed it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BuVOBmWC0RU

anyone ever seen Akhnaten performed live? I just pulled the trigger on a ticket to see it in late November since seeing Einstein was a transformative event in my music-seeing life and I've owned and loved the LP set for years, but I have no idea what kind of experience to expect.

Yeah I saw it in London earlier this year, the same production as the one you'll see in LA. Should have posted about it at the time, it was totally spectacular and wonderful. And the jugglers!

holy wow, Akhnaten was stupid great; I may have liked it more than Einstein. the juggling was indeed jaw-dropping but the coolest bit to me was the alligator people (possibly because I was sitting in the upper balcony looking down, which was probably the optimal perspective). I really regret only going once.

Should be noted that his score for the recent The Crucible Bway revival was amazing and made me wish more plays had that kind of constant background scoring.

So the score for Glass' Music In Eight Parts (1970) sold at Christie's recently, it was never recorded and was abandoned by Glass pretty much at once as he moved on to different systems of working that resulted in Music In Twelve Parts, it remained unseen until Christie's put scans of it up on their website for the auction and this (slightly crude) rendering has just appeared on Youtube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VgdMDTagcNA

http://www.christies.com/lotfinder/Books-Manuscripts/glass-phillip-autograph-music-manuscript-signed-6098304-details.aspx?lid=1&from=relatedlot&intobjectid=6098304

https://www.medici.tv/en/concerts/philip-glass-ensemble-music-changing-parts/

"Music with changing parts" (1970) from Carnegie Hall last Friday. Available to watch until May 17.

Off to see Satyagraha at the ENO next week.

I saw that last weekend, I wasn't sure if three hours of Glass would work for me but both visually and musically it's never less than transfixing.

This is probably a long shot but does someone out there have a rip of the Virgin Records 'Music In Twelve Parts' that I could have?

I think it's just the first couple of parts that actually are on the rekkid.

Seconded. I only have the re-recording and have always wanted to hear the original. It’s definitely been on CD but not in print these days

Einstein touring Europe from Nov and into 2019, in a somewhat compressed format with no staging and Suzanne Vega reciting -

https://www.ictus.be/einstein

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8c_UksiIbC0

Saw him play solo a week ago and debut a new piece made for the Third Coast Percussion Ensemble (recording coming out in a few months).

During the onstage Q&A, he talked about how playing in and composing for his high-school marching band had a big effect on his work.

XXP to myself and Jon - this went up on youtube today.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKJ_5m8TasM

first two parts of 12 parts are some of my favorite pieces of music ever.

damn i'm too late - removed by user.

But... there is a (complete for the time? About 2CD length) live 1981 performance out there which I downloaded and am listening to now and though the sound quality is definitely a B it slays

hella cool:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2WsCpkLUqM

Anthony Roth Costanzo, "Liquid Days", dancer Ron "Myles Yachts" Myles

another cool glass piece from NPR's 100 eoy tracks
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmEpJh9u_0w

So nice.

I love some of his early '70s stuff - Music with Changing Parts, Music in 12 Parts, etc. - but I'm beginning to think he's largely full of shit.

In what sense?

In that his stuff isn't really that interesting, mostly coasting on pretty simple ideas, and that he doesn't seem particularly interested in challenging himself or his listeners. I don't know, maybe I'm not qualified enough to say.

Freelance reviewer Joe Banno liked Glass' latest effort live:

Philip Glass continues to intrigue. Glass’s Symphony No. 12 — which received its world-premiere performance by the Los Angeles Philharmonic at Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles on Thursday — possesses all of the composer’s trademark noodling arpeggios, hiccupping syncopations and hieratic brass fanfares. But the symphony form has always inspired Glass to transcend these minimalist formulas and find thrilling worlds of orchestral (and, as here, vocal) color.

With its prominent organ part — the Disney Hall pipe organ sounding splendid in James McVinnie’s hands — the work’s scoring suggests the sound of the 1970s-era Philip Glass Ensemble blown up into a full-scale French organ concerto: part rollicking fairground calliope, part Grand Guignol spectacle. The Los Angeles Philharmonic, which commissioned the piece, was conducted with dedicated warmth by John Adams and played this work as if the musicians had known it all their lives.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/philip-glass-continues-to-intrigue-with-world-premiere-of-his-thrilling-twelfth-symphony/2019/01/12/23c5082c-167d-11e9-90a8-136fa44b80ba_story.html?utm_term=.98c1afd8ca50

Symphony No. 12 is Glass’s third symphony based on material from David Bowie and Brian Eno’s “Berlin Trilogy” of albums. But unlike the purely orchestral “Low” and “Heroes” symphonies, based on Bowie’s melodies, Glass resets Bowie’s elusive, stream-of-consciousness lyrics from the “Lodger” album to music of his own devising, in something akin to a symphonic song cycle. Glass’s lyric setting has often felt straitjacketed by attempts to wedge words into his repetitive musical patterns. In Symphony No. 12, Glass creates a freer, more expressive singing line and, rather than employing an operatic soloist as usual, has given the vocal part to West African pop star Angélique Kidjo.

Those are fair criticisms imo, Josh. I'm not even sure if he would claim that he has wanted to challenge himself or his listeners in decades.

He's a solid songwriter and has a knack for pathos-laden melodies. Whether that's enough is debatable, but I happen to like it every now and then.

I must admit, I've never really thought of Glass as a songwriter, Songs from Liquid Days (a comparatively minor work) apart. As for simple ideas, I would say that Akhnaten and Satyagraha are as multi-faceted as 20th century opera gets, and aren't exactly unchallenging given that they are sung in (mostly) ancient Egyptian and Sanskrit respectively.

Those are from 1979 and 1983. He definitely did challenging things back then but I think he has been largely coasting for a long time at this point, which, OK, can work at times.

Sorry, I should have specified that I was thinking of his output from the 1980s and beyond. His Bowie symphonies also reflect this more song-oriented approach (very broadly speaking, of course – it's the melodies that strike me as systematically songful in his later years) or his fifth string quartet, which I very much enjoy. It's just a hunch, though.

Funny, I think it was hearing about a return to the Bowie/Eno stuff that set me off, more or less. The first time he did it it really felt like piggybacking on their names (iirc, they were even on the album cover with him). Then I thought, more of that? Do we need that? I guess he's been pretty busy, but I've not really encountered much of his stuff that was anything more than pleasant. As opposed to his erstwhile rival Steve Reich, whose stuff has imo always been edgier and more challenging. But again, I'm not going to pretend to be qualified, there's a lot of music that I've missed. Most of it, probably. I don't know, Philip Glass always reminded me of someone like Salman Rushdie, rightly lauded early on but then kind of coasting once he crossed over to the broader pop culture.

I agree he has not been surprising in a long time but I think he just has this zone he carved out which he now inhabits and which gives him pleasure to inhabit and which frequently gives me pleasure, sometimes deeply so, to hear, and I don’t nec need it to be on him to be the guy pushing the front of the wedge at this point. He writes too much and too consistently, yes, but his stuff still sounds thoroughly personal to me.

I prefer him and Riley to Reich. (I’d say i like to hear Reich-influenced music more than I like to hear Glass-influenced music but when it comes to the original articles I like glass more).

Symphony 8, several of the concerto series, and his film work have all been high water marks of his last couple decades imo. Have barely listened to the Berlin ones, will try to revisit.

I agree he has not been surprising in a long time but I think he just has this zone he carved out which he now inhabits and which gives him pleasure to inhabit and which frequently gives me pleasure, sometimes deeply so, to hear, and I don’t nec need it to be on him to be the guy pushing the front of the wedge at this point.

Exactly. There are plenty of composers out there if you want to be "challenged" all the time. When I want to listen to Philip Glass-style music, I am glad to know that there's a vast library of it available to choose from.

That's interesting, pomenitul. I had assumed you were being cheeky. Not only do I not think of him as a songwriter, for the most part, but I've never thought of melody as his strong suit. I'd probably like more of his later work if I felt like there were more captivating melodic lines. Maybe I should listen to the 5th string quartet.

I do think some of his scores work well as film music, btw, esp The Hours. I still love Reich's work, and I like other artists who mostly keep working their own niche, so I'd probably need to work to articulate what it is that gets me to rmde about Glass at times. I think part of it is just the "writes too much and too consistently" thing.

the hours, the illusionist, taking lives, and (parts of) visitors are glass film scores that have kicked ass in the post-Kundun era imo

(visitors album really too long though)

Speaking of The Hours, 'The Poet Acts' is almost Schubertian in its melancholy. Likewise the violin concerto's second movement. More to the point, I also have fond memories of his Songs and Poems for solo cello.

dud, i was at a concert in the early eighties and his minimal euphony music really got on my nerves. concerning minimal music i prefer steve reich.

And is it just me or does the 'Opening' of Glassworks sound better under Jeroen van Veen's fingers?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ys0DULorvms

Steve Reich is the 'prestigious' pick among the trinity (take that, La Monte Young) of American minimalists and I can definitely hear why. But I still prefer Glass's neo-Romantic sappiness, at least when he gets it right.

I'd also like to briefly hijack this thread and remind everyone that if you're a fan of minimal piano pieces then you need Hans Otte's Das Buch der Klänge in your life:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwIxpa6OTIE&list=PLmba6uZehumsDtOObBvOqC7CvF8RX9u9I

The link appears to be broken, perhaps because it refers to a playlist. Just search 'hans otte das buch der klänge henck' on YT and it should come up (Herbert Henck's recording surpasses Hans Otte's own imho).

there's a recording on naxos of that right

Not to my knowledge. The Henck recording is on ECM, whereas Otte's own is on Kuckuck and Celestial Harmonies.

Glass sometimes teeters on the brink of self-parody/kitsch to me, possibly because of the weak/easy melodies, possibly because his music does often work better as a backdrop for movies and documentaries. I'll try to explore some of his more recent stuff, since I'm so out of touch. Curious that Reich, Adams et al. never got into Hollywood, to the best of my knowledge. Who are Glass's other crossover peers, Gorecki? Part?

I guess so, yeah. And precisely for the reasons you describe. I do think Pärt is a far more interesting composer than his supposed peers, though. Aside from the famous 3rd symphony, I find Górecki insufferable both as ear candy and as a Bearer of Grave News.

It's back! (many XPs to Jon)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7cSo6FaqyX0

Premiering the Lodger Symphony with Angelique Kidjo on the South Bank tonight, wish I could be there.

Yes, I was looking at the page for it this morning thinking just the same.

The new piece with Third Coast Ensemble (on Spotify, etc.) is definitely worth a listen. His first all-percussion composition.

Oh cool - I dig the way he has used percussion in his symphonies

realized I haven't stanned my piano crush Víkingur Ólafsson's Glass album in here

https://dg.lnk.to/vikingur_glass_pianoworks

And today, the whole ten yards -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTXIQZQtZS8

I like this, it's a little starker than the Nonsuch version.

https://vimeo.com/193274320

If that were in slow motion and three hours long it would make a good Godfrey Reggio film.

Saw something recently where he said that he'd tried to get away from his signature sound, but couldn't. Seemed unhappy about it, or at least humbled.
His new music for Lodger lyrics couldn't be any worse than the original album, which I always found frustrating after Heroes and Low, not to mention most of Bowie's others up to that point.
North Star is a good soundtrack from the 70s---haven't played it since then, but did later see the film, a documentary about the artist Mark de Suvero, and thought it worked well both ways, as accompaniment or stand-alone record. The doc starts with the artist, swimming to the surface of a lake and gradually emerging, looking like an ancient statue of a hero or god--but then he lurches up onto the land and starts scuttling uphill before reaching his balance. He was injured in his loft studio's freight elevator, but he's adjusting, and his own sculptures, which at first look precarious, have their own sense of symmetry.
Same with the music, although it's not grand or heroic; as I recall, each track develops one fairly distinctive theme from small segments, riffs even. instrumental and/or vocal, and it all fits. Didn't seem compelling---I was more into punk, Funkadelic, Miles at the time---but refreshingly different for my '77.

Xgau recommended it to Eno fans, which is why I bought it (also because somebody else related it to Ray Manzarek, and later Glass said he enjoyed the Doors' Fillmore East shows, also produced Manzarek's album of Carmina Burana).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PuY82p6MSag

Just posting this here because I have a slight obsession with this composition and I've seen it get zero love so far on the thread:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WCvhAAJwdtY

Since this thread is live again, and I've got it in my clipboard from the Beck poll thread:

https://soundcloud.com/dunvagenmusic/nyc-73-78

Been seven years now, and this still just takes my breath away.

Oh wow @ complete Music in 12 Parts. Sometimes I forget how good that early stuff can be.

A recording of the MI12P Barbican concert in 2017 (which I saw) went up on D!me@dozen the other day.

I've been enjoying this transcription for piano of the Mishima score http://www.makinamekawa.com/mishima/

Saw him and the Ensemble in Dublin on Saturday doing Music in Twelve Parts. The concert was great but he did not look well. He didn't take part in the following evening's performance of Koyaanisqatsi and won't be at the Barbican tomorrow night for Music with Changing Parts (the Ensemble will play without him). Hope he gets well soon.

some kind of drama in the audience yesterday too

What a show. Unreal after all these years. Hope #philipglass is better tomorrow. We had a wonderful night apart from dramatics at the end. Get in the bloody ambulance

— Twatter a right dump (@C1ust3r) October 27, 2019

Phelim McDermott's production of Akhnaten looked even more gorgeous at the Met in New York earlier this month than when I saw it at the ENO a few years back. Not that I saw it live but I saw the live broadcast in cinemas:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSn_UAquOfw

There's an audio stream up on the BBC Radio 3 website for another three weeks or so.

Wonder how he's doing, it's always at the back of my mind now when I see these thread revives.

I think he's OK at the moment following his illness in Europe, he was out and about for the final performance of Akhnaten the other week.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aD7961Hp99A

A previously unrecorded piece from 1970, Music in Eight Parts, hit streaming services today. I reviewed it.

Oh nice, I think I found a midi file of this a while back and made a little version in ProTools, was it an unfinished manuscript or something that someone found on his publisher's archive? I can't quite recall.

Ah, the answers lie therein :)

Hey I went to college with Peter Hess! Oberlin Jazz major, really nice dude.

The oberlin -> Glass and related projects runs deep.

Just a heads up that the Met website is streaming the recent productions of Akhnaten and Satyagraha this week. Not 100% convinced by the staging of Satyagraha but the Akhnaten is a total masterpiece:

https://www.metopera.org/user-information/nightly-met-opera-streams/week-14/opera-streams-weekly-guide/

The last concert I went to before quarantine and everything started was a performance of Music in Twelve Parts, on February 29 at the Annenberg Center in Philly. It was pretty amazing.

Yeah, I saw about Eight Parts in The New Yorker recently, want to hear that.
Posted about xpost Twelve Parts on Rolling Reissues (label has a bunch of others on bandcamp, incl full streams of their recent Morricone and Pharoah Sanders reissues):
https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a0913454654_10.jpg
Music in Twelve Parts. Concert à Paris​,​1975
by Philip Glass
Lost PHILIP GLASS Recording from 1975 (1h10).

ORTF Recordings by the Philip Glass Sextet,
live at Studio 104, Maison de la Radio, Paris.

Also included a very rare Philip Glass interview from 1974 in his NYC loft during the rehearsals of this piece, produced for the french radio by Daniel Caux.
Remastered from the orginal master tapes (ORTF).
he newly discovered and unreleased concert from 1975 recorded by the Philip Glass Sextet at La Maison de Radio, Paris.
The sextet is composed of Philip Glass, Jon Gibson, Dickie Landry,
Michael Riesman, Joan La Barbara and Richard Peck.

Music in Twelve Parts is a set of twelve pieces written between 1971 and 1974. This performance in France includes part 1, 2, 3, 11 and 12 on a double LP.(+ download code)
© INA 1974-1975
℗ 2019 Transversales Disques
credits
released April 24, 2020
full album streamhttps://transversales.bandcamp.com/album/music-in-twelve-parts-concert-paris-1975

That label's unwillingness to sell their releases digitally unless you buy the vinyl is annoying to me.

Yeah, plus it was originally sold out at source so I bought it from a distributor, but those copies didn't even come with a download code. wtf.

They may have vinyl rights but not digital rights.

I'm sure that's right, but in that case how can they give digital copies away with sales of the vinyl?

Yeah, I'll just listen on bandcamp for now.

Thought revive was about two operas streaming over the weekend.

it was

i watched most of the Doctor Atomic performance last night. filmed plays are strange to watch, with actors/singers making facial expressions intended for the last row, seen close up

Must have missed that post(/zing) the same way I missed most of both those operas. Maybe I can listen and look at photos or videos. I like Doctor Atomic, saw it at the Met, but didn’t watch the stream.

Spotted on the official Glass Twitter account:

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Eja2E-mWkAARtcc.jpg

Escalators of Death!

Met website is streaming Akhnaten this evening.

https://www.metopera.org/user-information/nightly-met-opera-streams/week-35/program-notes/akhnaten/

I came here to post just that. I love a good spectacle, watching it now.

Seems to be in the on demand library now as well

I think that's right, but at least for right now it is free, which is the big appeal.

I thought this was beautiful, ridiculous and amazing. I'm glad I put in the time.

I'm still so happy they filmed the last full production of Einstein and made it available, it's wonderful.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G7Io2Jta1Nc

wow, thanks. this is great.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DczFkofRtuA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQgj2kv8QxE

Music with Changing Parts at Carnegie Hall in 2018.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsKPL35s89I

Excellent, thanks so much!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=swYXuGYFmXE

Wow, so I guess the Chicago Symphony Orchestra performed a Glass symphony last night *for the first time ever*? Not a premiere, apparently literally the first time a Glass symphony has ever been performed by the CSO. Wild. He was there, too:

https://preview.redd.it/l76gc1pqgti81.jpg?width=960&crop=smart&auto=webp&s=392d3b46d2b32c975298118212bcd898d930b454

There was a nice posting on his FB page.

"While a student at the University of Chicago in the 1950’s, Philip Glass would spend Friday afternoons at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. This weekend, Philip has the great joy of attending Symphony No. 11 conducted by Maestro Riccardo Muti"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkIPQUraD7c

East Village with friends, July 2022 pic.twitter.com/pB2pGSUvzY

— Philip Glass (@philipglass) July 27, 2022

So that's what happened to Mitch Pileggi of The X-Files. Unless that actually is Mitch Pileggi, in which case this joke doesn't work. I don't really care about Mitch Pileggi.

I have a Philip Glass anecdote. Many years ago I took the train to Montpellier, and in the foyer of the station was a big poster for a production of Einstein on the Beach at the local opera house. It struck me that the date was that day's date! I remember thinking "that's today's date". And the production was happening in about twenty minutes. So I went to the opera house and stood outside it. But I've never been to an opera and I have no idea of the etiquette. Can you just buy tickets at the door? I have no idea.

That is my Philip Glass anecdote. According to Google it was 16 March 2012. I remember thinking "I will never have this chance again because he must be in his seventies". Instead I walked around Montpellier and found a free exhibition of photographs by W Eugene Smith. Little tiny prints with red crop marks on them.

I remember he did a remix of a song by S'Express. Philip Glass, not W Eugene Smith. Of an S'Express song. Which made sense because I remember reading that he was an early adopter of samplers - EMU EMUlators - that he used as a compositional aid.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TiCH2WJ_lvY

Elbphilharmonie Hamburg "in concert" version of Einstein on the Beach with Suzanne Vega doing the spoken bits.

I never noticed the similarities between "Building" and Pink Floyd's "On the Run" before.

Great, thanks for sharing, I immediately scrolled forward to see if SV says 'Kalamazooooooo', sadly not :)

My local Regal cinema is showing Akhnaten on July 26 as part of The Met's summer encore series. Maybe they all are, not certain.

https://www.metopera.org/season/summer-events/live-in-hd-summer-encores

I'm going to try to go!

nice, its showing at a theater near me thank u regal cinema