Philip Glass

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aukhawk

#240
New page - bah, I knew it.  :-X

Quote from: aukhawk on February 16, 2018, 02:58:11 AM
So is Namekawa an upgrade on Glass? She's a more proficient pianist, the recording is better, and the collection includes all 20 Etudes.  So, yes.  But they are very different approaches to the music and it's a matter of taste which you prefer.  Namekawa gives us a fractal landscape of nested loops, more or less a straight transliteration of the score.  Glass takes more liberties with his own music and and in the process humanises it, makes it more, well, musical. 

Continuing the survey of Glass Etudes 1-20 - in approximate order of release date.

Nicolas Horvath achieves the impossible by putting all 20 etudes on one (overstuffed, 83-minute) CD. This he does by a combination of fast tempi and cutting repeats.  I don't see any merit in this, repeats are fundamental to the construction of this music. If you disagree, look for this CD called "Glassworlds, Vol. 2".  Considering also a hint of heavy-handedness and a rather clangerous piano sound, I don't propose to give this too much more consideration.  Not a contender  :(  which is not to say that one or two of the Etudes (No.12 for example) aren't a thrilling wild ride.



Andrew Chubb is also a 1-disc offering, of Book 1 (1-10) only, so the main competition is the composer's own recording.  Classy cover photo by the way!!  :laugh:
I could be wrong, but this looks like a bit of a vanity project.  With this (pure speculation) in mind, it perhaps comes as no surprise that he favours slow tempi, in fact in the three Etudes I sampled (Nos 2,6 and 10) he comes in slowest of everyone in 6 and 10 and also very slow in No.2.  But at these speeds he is comfortable, articulate and clear.
In No.2 to my ears there is a hint of unease about how well the bottom octave is tuned - but that could easily be my brain playing tricks having assimilated the cover art!
He transforms No.6 into something slow and dreamy, and practically comes to a halt at times - not a disaster but just a total contrast to Olafsson or Horvath.  No.10, again he is 50% slower than the composer, and succeeds in turning this usually brutalist Etude into something lyrical (Van Veen does something similar) - I really like this, but I doubt if it's what the composer had in mind.
I don't know what instrument is used, but it's a pretty good recording with very full frequency range, just on the verge of uncomfortably close (the damper actions are clearly audible at times).
Compared with the composer's recording?  This is a much better piano recording, and Chubb certainly has something different to say, but this couldn't be a 1st or only choice.

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Bojan Gorisek.  Well now.  This must be the worst piano recording I've ever heard.  >:(  Drenched in bright reverberation, as though recorded in an empty swimming bath.  I should say that Book 2 is a lot better recorded than Book 1 - I think there was over a year's gap between the two projects - but even on its own merits, Book 2 is still problematic - with the reverb dialled back a bit it becomes apparent that someone has left a large brick on the sustain pedal and the pianist hasn't noticed!  Sorry, this is a disaster.   :(  I include the cover art here only because it makes a nice set of 3 with Chubb and Batagov.
[an edit, after more than 2 years - having lived with these recordings I have to say, 2 years on, that I really like the way Gorisek plays this music.  He is easily the most lyrical of all the interpreters here, he seems to find melodies where nobody else does.  He is generally on the quick side and he does omit a few repeats - and of course my serious reservations regarding the recording quality still stand.]
[edit - 2021 - over time I've come to like his playing more and more.  He really has a 'lateral thinking' approach to this music setting him apart from all others.  The reverberant recording of the 1st 10 especially still a problem of course.]
There is I think an album coming of just Book 2 combined with the Metamorphoses - that may be worth investigating if you're interested in Gorisek.


Roger Dretzler.  This is a part-set of 9, so that puts him in competition with Levingston and Olaffson mainly.  He plays Nos.1,2,5,6,9,11,16,17 and 20.  A bit like Chubb, this looks a bit like a one-off project.
In No.2 Dretzler is one of those (Horvath and Gorisek are the other two) who goes for a massive and abrupt change of pace partway through, for no good reason that I can see.  He manages to make it work though. In No.6 he is as quick as Olafsson but nowhere near as precise.
He doesn't play 12 or 19 so instead I'm listening to No.16 as I write this.  He plays this slow and with feeling - almost operatic in places - certainly a more interesting listen than Namekawa who just knocks this one off at some (unvarying, as ever) pace.
OK then - not bad, compared with Chubb he sounds more ambitious but doesn't always pull it off.  Compared with Olafsson he's quite similar in approach but can't compete, compared with Levingston it's a case of extrovert vs introvert.  He's another slightly heavy-handed pianist not helped by the rather bright recording.

Oh dear, this isn't going too well is it?  :-\

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Bruce Levingston.  A part-set of 10, he plays Nos.1,2,5,6,9,10,11,12,16 and 17, though not in that order. With some other material, on 2 CDs. To the very great credit of the production team, this is the first set I've surveyed to provide any kind of in-depth sleeve notes commentating on the music.  (Admittedly there are a few which I have only streamed or downloaded and don't have access to any hardcopy or pdf.)
No.2 - Levingston is (according to his sleevenotes) at the 'sensitive' end of the spectrum - he is the slowest of all and by some margin and, well, dreamy.  It works.
No.6 - he tries to match Olafsson's pace, but is palpably uncomfortable, so falls back on 'sensitive' again, introducing rubati whenever his fingers get in a twist.  Doesn't work.
No.12 - one of several pianists who take this one too slow - there should be a bouncing left hand and a hint of syncopation in the right, but at this pace there can be neither.  Namekawa plays this one better than anyone and takes 2m30 less over it - which is admittedly faster than the composer's marking of |=120.
The Steinway is recorded very well though I detect a hint of stress in the loudest passages - good but not in the top rank.  This collection is worth considering at the 'romantic' end of the spectrum - the  polar opposite of Namekawa or Olafsson.

Moving into the 2017 releases ...

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Vikingur Olafsson.  A part-set of 10, he plays Nos.2,3,5,6,9,13,14,15,18,20, though not in that order.  Upthread we're told this issue has appeared in 4 'Best of 2017' lists and I'm not at all surprisaed, this is storming pianism and top-notch recording.  Such a shame he hasn't included two of my favourites, Nos 12 and 19.
In No.2 he adopts a medium tempo (midway between Glass and Namekawa) and like the latter goes for 'hypnotic' with absolutely no change of pace at any time.
In No.6 he is quite simply peerless, fast, nimble, accurate.  Check him out on Youtube (where he does stumble a couple of times but even so).
In lieu of No.12 or No.19 I have sampled No.14 which similarly requires a swinging left hand, but it's not his finest hour, uncharacteristically he does use rubato here where Namekawa (slower) maintains discipline.
He is a straight-ahead player, not inclined to rubato, basically an upgrade on Namekawa with more agility, precision, a lighter touch and yet power on tap.  He has a sensitive side too - to finish his set he truly nails the sublime and very lyrical Etude No.20.  I simply can't imagine this music played better than this.
The recording is in the DG tradition going back at least as far as Wilhelm Kempff and via Gilels, Pollini, Pogorelich etc - crystalline in the upper registers - but with the more recent addition of rich bottom-end coverage as well. On balance probably the best recording of this bunch - though having regard to the particular needs of this specific music, see also Batagov below.  And I say all this having only streamed Olafsson through Spotify!  :o

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Jeroen Van Veen - this is a bargain-price set of 20 and fully competitive with the best.  And to the great credit of the production team at Brilliant, this is the ONLY set to document the key signatures of each Etude.
In No.2 (A minor) his tempo and general approach is very similar to Namekawa except that he uses far less legato/sustain, favouring a 'dry' delivery.  This is broadly true of No.6 (F minor) as well, though he is nearer the slow end of the spectrum.
No.12 (D minor) by my reckoning he is just about on tempo by the composer's marking - it's not bad but Namekawa taking it a bit quicker makes it work better.  In No.19 (C major) - nearly everyone (Whitwell excepted) adopts the same tempo giusto here, and he is actually more straight-ahead than even Namekawa - this is an excellent version.
The recording of the Yamaha is close and dry which accentuates his non-legato style.  It's all a bit ascetic, Glass in a hair-shirt, the nearest comparison is definitely Namekawa, who I find a bit easier on the ear. (See also Whitwell, below.) If you like the dry style, this is very recommendable, and arguably at the bargain price you can't go wrong if you want an alternative view.


Jenny Lin - I'm a big admirer of her Shostakovich recording which IMHO leads the field.  She's another pianist who claims a 'special' close association with the composer, and I would say of all the full sets on offer, this one seems closest to Glass' own style as revealed in his set of 10.
However I've been underwhelmed - in No.6 she sounds uncertain, in No.12 she matches Namekawa for pace but fails to swing, 2 and 19 are better.  The recording too (of a Steinway presumably) is just unremarkable, no sparkle, not much depth.  This issue is not the improvement on Namekawa that I hoped and expected it would be.


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Anton Batagov recorded this set of 20 live in Moscow - but you'd never know, the audience is silent throughout (or rather, the piano mics don't pick the audience up) and no applause until the very end.  Issued on the Orange Mountain label and produced by Michael Riesman, this is yet another 'special relationship' product.  No-one who has seen the Bach Partitas thread will be surprised to learn that Batagov inclines towards slow tempi - but be reassured, he keeps his excesses in check here, perhaps mindful of his audience's need to catch the last bus home!  :laugh:
All four tracks sampled are at the slow end of the spectrum (well, No.19 he adopts the same tempo giusto as everyone else) and he employs rubato thoughout, to a markedly greater degree than the composer does.  So this is the antithesis of Namekawa or Olafsson.  But hey, it works for me - I can swing both ways.  ;D
But what sets this set apart from the rest is the recording (using Batagov's Russian mics) - I have never, ever, heard a piano recorded like this before.  Come to that, I have never heard a piano where the bottom end is so evidently well set up - the tuning down at that subterranean A is immaculate, and that's quite an unusual thing in my experience.  And that bottom octave gets a real workout in these Etudes.  Where Namekawa's piano growls like a bear, and Olafsson's buzzes like a bumblebee, this Steinway just purrs.  A gentle pp stroke of lowest A sets in motion a sound almost like an organ pedal note.  Incidentally that note - played ppp - is the final note of the final Etude.  Listening to this is like drowning in a vat of dark chocolate.
There's a price to pay - the recording lacks the crystalline sparkle that DG give to Olafsson's piano - so on balance and in general terms, Olafsson's is the better recording - but, horses for courses here.
Needless to add this is my current go-to set of these Etudes.  But I wouldn't be without Olafsson either.


The most recent release as I write is Sally Whitwell, this produced by the Australian Broadcasting Corp.  She has a recent history of recording Nyman, Satie and other fragments of Glass, and there seems to be a bit of an Australian connection with the Etudes - several of them were commisioned in, and premiered in, Australia, including Namekawa's world premiere performance of all 20 in Perth in 2013.
She is slow - slower than Batagov in three of the four samples which is saying something - and devoid of any mannerisms, very straight-ahead playing, I would say matchless in this regard.  Unruffled, deliberate, plodding, hypnotic, sleep-inducing - choose your adjective.  Probably the closest comparison would be with Van Veen - but with more legato so less of the hair-shirt - and the recording is similar too, pleasant but unremarkable, maybe a bit close.  Not really a front-runner, I would still choose Namekawa over either Van Veen or Whitwell.
[Edit - 2021 - over time I've come to like Whitwell more and more - 'integrity' is a word I would use to encapsulate her playing.  As of 2021 she is one I most often turn to.]

[ Edit to add a brief note on the newest kid on the block, Jacopo Salvatori who has a full set of 20 issued later in 2018.  He is generally either very slow (most of the time) or very fast (occasionally).  Mostly the adjectives I used to describe Whitwell apply here too. Timings in three of the four samples are similar to Whitwell, but in No.6 he is very slow indeed, easily slower than anyone else mentioned here (his No.7 is also exceptionally slow, this is hardcore deconstructed minimalism).  Recording is pretty good, a bit light-toned.

[ Edit - August 2021 - to mention two more recent sets of the 20 that I've become aware of.  Nicholas Teague (2020) - the set subtitled The Perceptions of the Blind - this is very problematic and I can only suggest you sample this recording on Spotify or on YouTube before buying - even the 30-second samples on Amazon will be sufficient to illustrate the problem.  With the best will in the world, I can't find anything to recommend here. Avoid.   
Leslie Dala (2021) - this seems a rather 'middling' set in almost every way - somewhere on the spectrum between Namekawa and Whitwell, may be worth a listen if you want a straight-ahead version but don't like either of those two for some reason.

Bottom line, my personal picks from the 12 sets surveyed are Olafsson, Batagov and Namekawa - with the last-named only really included because the Olafsson set is incomplete.
[edit to add, the Batagov concert - same performance as the recording above - can be found on YouTube.  Olafsson can also be found on YouTube, but the performances are not the recorded ones.]

SurprisedByBeauty

Quote from: aukhawk on February 16, 2018, 02:58:11 AM
Philip Glass Etudes for piano, Nos 1-20.
Philip Glass turned 80 in January 2017 and this has sparked a spate of recordings of his piano Etudes, by my reckoning at least 7 sets since the start of 2016, with 3 just last autumn and the most recent being issued this month, February 2018.

Disregarding those piano collections containing just a handful of the Etudes - of which there are several -
in total we seem to have the following 12 sets at least - in approximate order of issue -


Thanks for this! Reading it with great interest.

TheGSMoeller

Quote from: aukhawk on February 17, 2018, 03:53:00 AM
Bottom line, my personal picks from the 12 sets surveyed are Olafsson, Batagov and Namekawa - with the last-named only really included because the Olafsson set is incomplete.

Thanks for the posts, aukhawk. Great work!

I can agree with your final assessment, I've been playing the Olafsson and Batagov the most out of these recordings. Although I still love the nostalgic feel of listening to the composer himself on the keyboard with his OMM release. Whitwell's I've also been appreciating, not as much as others, but hearing Glass' etudes at a more relaxed tempi and allowing the music to breath is welcomed as well.

Now I'd like to hear Batagov perform Mad Rush, I feel that would be a great one.

aukhawk

Quote from: TheGSMoeller on February 17, 2018, 07:58:08 AM
Now I'd like to hear Batagov perform Mad Rush, I feel that would be a great one.

Indeed.  I'd like him to have a go at the Shostakovich Preludes & Fugues.  He could even be the first to spread them over a 4-CD set  :laugh:

TheGSMoeller

Knee 5 from Einstein on the Beach from last night's Kennedy Center Honors show...

https://www.youtube.com/v/73fy4zaQ20Y

Brian

Symphony No. 12 premieres this weekend in LA. It's a song cycle from David Bowie lyrics, with African pop singer Angélique Kidjo. John Adams conducts LAPO.

TheGSMoeller

Quote from: Brian on January 10, 2019, 09:45:03 AM
Symphony No. 12 premieres this weekend in LA. It's a song cycle from David Bowie lyrics, with African pop singer Angélique Kidjo. John Adams conducts LAPO.

I've been following this develop, very excited to hear this new Symphony!
His 1st, "LOW" is great, "HEROES" is good, but not on the level as LOW, which is just my opinion. And even more perhaps because LOW is my favorite Bowie album.
I saw Angélique Kidjo perform Glass' Ifé: Three Yoruba Songs a few years ago at the 11th premiere, and she was phenomenal.

This below pic was tweeted earlier from Glass' account, taken from the LA Phil's gift shop...

relm1

Quote from: TheGSMoeller on January 10, 2019, 02:21:08 PM
I've been following this develop, very excited to hear this new Symphony!
His 1st, "LOW" is great, "HEROES" is good, but not on the level as LOW, which is just my opinion. And even more perhaps because LOW is my favorite Bowie album.
I saw Angélique Kidjo perform Glass' Ifé: Three Yoruba Songs a few years ago at the 11th premiere, and she was phenomenal.

This below pic was tweeted earlier from Glass' account, taken from the LA Phil's gift shop...

Can you explain these a bit because I'm confused by the concept.  Do they use melodies from Bowie/Eno's albums to create a symphonic movement or do they evoke a mood or what exactly are they?  I've never heard the albums they are based on, is that necessary?

TheGSMoeller

Quote from: relm1 on January 10, 2019, 03:49:02 PM
Can you explain these a bit because I'm confused by the concept.  Do they use melodies from Bowie/Eno's albums to create a symphonic movement or do they evoke a mood or what exactly are they?  I've never heard the albums they are based on, is that necessary?

It's not necessary to hear the Bowie albums first, you'll still be able to enjoy the symphonies. These works are still more Glass sounding than Bowie/Eno, he took the music from these albums, its themes and melodies and used them as influence.
In in his own words...


My approach was to treat the themes very much as if they were my own and allow their transformations to follow my own compositional bent when possible. In practice, however, Bowie and Eno's music certainly influenced how I worked, leading me to sometimes surprising musical conclusions. in the end I think I arrived at something of a real collaboration between my music and theirs.  Symphony No. 1 "Low"


Heroes, like the Low Symphony of several years ayo, is based on the work of Bowie and Eno. In a series of innovative recordings made in the late 70's, David and Brian combined influences from world music, experimental avant-garde, and rock and roll and thereby redefined the future of popular music.

The continuing influence of these works has secured their stature as part of the new "classics" of our time. Just as composers of the past have turned to music of their time to fashion new works, the work of Bowie and Eno became an inspiration and point of departure of symphonies of my own.
Symphony No. 4 "Heroes"

TheGSMoeller

Quote from: relm1 on January 10, 2019, 03:49:02 PM
Can you explain these a bit because I'm confused by the concept.  Do they use melodies from Bowie/Eno's albums to create a symphonic movement or do they evoke a mood or what exactly are they?  I've never heard the albums they are based on, is that necessary?


Heroes - Philip Glass "Heroes Symphony"

https://www.youtube.com/v/SiCqA7tzvPU

Rinaldo

I revisited Akhnaten recently, got blown to smithereens by its beauty again and then stumbled upon the upcoming revival at ENO – what are the odds?! Got a ticket right away, the last time I was in London for a classical event was an Arvo Pärt program at the Barbican. Can't believe I'll finally experience one of my favourite operas live!

https://www.youtube.com/v/WNtUC7oddNk

TheGSMoeller

Quote from: Rinaldo on January 25, 2019, 01:15:17 AM
I revisited Akhnaten recently, got blown to smithereens by its beauty again and then stumbled upon the upcoming revival at ENO – what are the odds?! Got a ticket right away, the last time I was in London for a classical event was an Arvo Pärt program at the Barbican. Can't believe I'll finally experience one of my favourite operas live!

https://www.youtube.com/v/WNtUC7oddNk


That's great, Rinaldo! I'm very envious. I hope you enjoy the performance and please let us know your thoughts afterwards.

Rinaldo

#252
Quote from: TheGSMoeller on January 25, 2019, 06:40:10 AMI hope you enjoy the performance and please let us know your thoughts afterwards.

Back from London. Quite an experience, especially Stansted after midnight! While I'd say do not walk, run to see this production (coming to New York this November), my feelings are mixed. Kamensek brought extra lyricism to the score which resulted in some passages lacking the sheer power I was hoping for. The stars didn't rain down and the constellations didn't stagger, if you know what I mean – and if you love this opera, you probably do.

Nonetheless, the singing was solid with hints of greatness during Akhnaten's duet with Nefertiti and in the epilogue. I also enjoyed Zachary James' dramatic performance as The Scribe, an unexpected highlight. Colourful stage design captivated me all the way through, moments of opulent beauty were intertwined with stark simplicity. The chameleon Sun in Act II was employed to a tremendous effect.

https://www.youtube.com/v/vkA3JzeGu38

And yeah, there was juggling. I'm on the fence on that one. Some of it worked very well, some of it didn't. The recurring presence of spheres paid off in the finale. To recap: I had a ball!

aukhawk

That production looks amazing.

Cato

From today's Wall Street JournalThe Glass Ceiling by Brian Wise

Quote

Overtures generally serve as peppy curtain-raisers that orchestras use to get patrons settled, rather than bold statements of artistic purpose. But when the New York Philharmonic opened its new season on Wednesday with the premiere of Philip Glass 's King Lear Overture, the event carried much symbolic weight. It was the first time the Philharmonic has commissioned a score by Mr. Glass, the 82-year-old giant of American music who has composed 12 symphonies and 13 concertos as part of his sprawling catalog that also includes operas and film scores, among other works. (Performances continue through Saturday.)

You might think of the Philharmonic as Mr. Glass's natural constituency, an uptown peer to his downtown-based art, which goes back to the 1960s. But it had not presented one of his concert works until 2017, when now-music director Jaap van Zweden conducted his Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra. Its only previous Glass offering was a 2011 live-to-film performance of "Koyaanisqatsi."

The Philharmonic's history had long mirrored that of several other leading American orchestras. Philadelphia's presented excerpts from two stage works in the summer of 1985, but has never performed him again. According to the notes for a 2016 boxed set of Mr. Glass's symphonies, Cleveland's musicians hissed at the composer at the 1987 premiere of "The Light," returning to his music only a few times in the 1987-88 season and again in 1994. San Francisco's main Glass foray was a July 2015 performance of "Ifè: Three Yorùbá Songs." And he has been mostly ignored by the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Only the Los Angeles Philharmonic has taken up his work with any regularity, recently giving the premiere of his Symphony No. 12 in January.

When Mr. Glass's Symphony No. 9 received its U.S. premiere in 2012 at Carnegie Hall by the American Composers Orchestra and conductor Dennis Russell Davies, a recording of the piece was released through iTunes on the same day and it sold a very respectable 15,000 copies in 28 hours. The substantial, 50-minute score went on to receive a West Coast premiere that year by the Los Angeles Philharmonic and a U.K. premiere in 2016 by Austria's Bruckner Orchestra Linz. But it has since disappeared from concert halls, and there is no record of any successive performances.

Mr. Glass's near-absence from major American orchestras' programs is more puzzling given how many theater companies, dance troupes and European orchestras embrace his music. The recent Broadway run of "King Lear" featured Glass's original incidental music (the King Lear Overture is based on new material). The Metropolitan Opera will mount "Akhnaten" in November, and Bruckner Orchestra Linz has attracted youthful crowds to Carnegie Hall with its performances of Mr. Glass's symphonies.

What explains Mr. Glass's low standing in American orchestral circles? It may be that, to the generation of musicians who first encountered his music on "Sesame Street" in the late 1970s, his musical language became almost too identifiable. Then when he turned to symphonic concert music a decade later, he was also busy in Hollywood, writing scores for "The Thin Blue Line" and "Candyman," a line of work still looked down upon in some musical circles. Finally, his Symphony No. 1 (1992) is based on tunes by David Bowie and Brian Eno —touchstones for rock fans but a red flag for cautious orchestra programmers. (Mr. Glass returned to Bowie themes in his Fourth and 12th Symphonies.)

Then there's the fact that at university music schools in the late 20th century—where many of today's arts administrators studied—the deceptive simplicity of Mr. Glass's slowly unfolding scores with their pulsating electronic keyboards led some to argue that anyone could write his type of music. And it didn't help that some string players worried that they would wear out their arms by sawing away at his oscillating patterns.

But as Mr. Glass's many imitators demonstrate, it is hardly easy to replicate the subtle tension that his best music achieves without falling into monotony. And Mr. Glass's solo piano études and string quartets have been widely recorded, dispelling the notion that his music is dangerous to your health.

The Glass symphonic cause might be helped by more recordings, such as the new two-CD set on Orange Mountain Music of the Symphony No. 5 by the ensembles of Trinity Wall Street, conducted by Julian Wachner. It shines a light on this 100-minute 1999 score for orchestra and chorus, a meditation on the commonalities among religions and the cyclical nature of life. If audiences become more familiar with this aspect of his oeuvre, they may start asking orchestras to perform it. Now there is only a single recorded version of each of the Symphonies Nos. 6 through 11 (all conducted by Mr. Davies) and several of the concertos face a similar recording deficit. Orchestras could also rethink subscription formats that cordon off minimalism, film music and pop-derived works from Mozart, Brahms or Strauss.


And while contemporary classical music in general does not constitute a high priority for many large orchestras, works by John Adams and Steve Reich —which share certain stylistic roots with those of Mr. Glass—are played with much greater frequency and little evidence of resistance.

Not only is there a substantial audience for Mr. Glass, but many who think they know his music would be pleasantly surprised. The beatific choruses of the Fifth Symphony; the martial, if slightly goofy, percussion pageantry of the 11th Symphony; or the neo-Baroque bravura of the Violin Concerto No. 2 ("The American Four Seasons") would show them that the symphony orchestra has brought out some of Mr. Glass's most vivid instincts.

—Mr. Wise is a radio producer and writes frequently about music.


(My emphasis above.)

https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-glass-ceiling-11569015457
"Meet Miss Ruth Sherwood, from Columbus, Ohio, the Middle of the Universe!"

- Brian Aherne introducing Rosalind Russell in  My Sister Eileen (1942)

Rinaldo

Saw Akhnaten again, this time on the big screen via The Met live in HD. Costanza was born to play the pharaoh. I hope this mesmerizing production brings Akhnaten to the forefront where it belongs. It truly is one of Glass' major accomplishments.

https://www.youtube.com/v/a8svkjBxNyA

Here's what OperaWire has to say:

Anthony Roth Costanzo, Zachary James Lead The Best Met Production of the Year

vers la flamme

I would like to get into the music of Philip Glass, or at least to check it out and see if it's for me. Are there some "essential" works for a newcomer to hear? He's written so much music...

I've heard and enjoyed the Violin Concerto somewhat recently. Perhaps more in that vein...?

Anyone else listening to Glass lately...?

Maestro267

I started with the Heroes Symphony (No. 4).

Rinaldo

Quote from: vers la flamme on March 29, 2020, 12:37:14 PMAre there some "essential" works for a newcomer to hear? He's written so much music...

The 'Bowie' symphonies (Heroes and Low) are very good entry points in a similar vein to the concertos, although more subdued, as they are derived from mostly static, ambient pieces. Koyaanisqatsi, the 'portrait trilogy' operas (Einstein on the Beach, Satyagraha, Akhnaten) and Music in Twelve Parts – those I consider essential.

https://www.youtube.com/v/GC8OvRMgBDI

Kaga2

The concertos. Glassworks. Mad Rush. Satyagraha. Symphony 8.