Sony Classical has finally rereleased Philipp Glass’s opera, Akhnaten.
I had checked out the old (out of print) edition from the college library (abusing my faculty borrowing privileges for non-academic purposes, ha ha!) and listened to it constantly for the two-week borrowing period. I was utterly enthralled by it, and tried to track down a used version, but the price overwhelmed me. It was $60 for the 2-CD set, which came with an exhaustive booklet. For a while I wrestled with the thought of borrowing it from the library again and just ripping it to mp3, but that just didn’t feel right. Then again, paying $60 for it didn’t exactly feel right to my pocketbook.
A new version appeared on Amazon, and I was quite excited—except that they didn’t list hardly any details (running time, track names, etc.—didn’t even have the cover art!), and the low, low price suggested to me that it had to be an abridged version. If the original edition was $60, then for a $15.98 list price, this had to be just highlights or selections or something, right? I searched local music stores for a copy to inspect, without any luck.
Finally, a reviewer came to my rescue and posted that it was in fact the entire 1987 recording in a 2-CD set, identical to the older edition but without the detailed booklet, so I ordered it.
Unfortunately, I am Super Saver Shipping’s bitch—just can’t resist saving a few bucks—and it took almost two weeks to arrive. Agony!
But it is finally here! Hurrah! It is just as majestic and sublime as I remembered it. The booklet is bare-bones, sadly, but the text of the original booklet it is available online at glasspages.org.
Open are the double doors of the horizon
Unlocked are its bolts
Clouds darken the sky
The stars rain down
The constellations stagger
The bones of the hell hounds tremble
The porters are silent
When they see this king
Dawning as a soul.
[/sub]