Philip Glass: Classic or Dud? Search and Destroy

"...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.

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