Philip Glass: Classic or Dud? Search and Destroy

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