Philip Glass: Classic or Dud? Search and Destroy

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.