I’m quite intrigued by Glass, having caught some of his work on the radio, and I want to Learn More.
So I sauntered into Barnes & Noble, and found that the guy has quite a catalog.
Can anyone help me narrow it down?
I’m not particularly interested in his film scores. Althought I’m a huge soundtrack fan, but I think I’d rather get aquainted with some of his “serious” music. Would concertos be a good introduction? The snippets I’ve heard from Einstein on the Beach are incredible. Should I start there?
The best place to start would be the operas Akhnaten and Einstein on the Beach. The film scores, particularly those for the films of Godfrey Reggio, are also very good.
I just want to put in a plug for Steve Reich and John Adams. If you like minimalist music, both are IMHO better composers than Glass, just not as famous.
Another vote for Einstein on the Beach. It was my introduction, and is still my favourite. It makes me dizzy and ecstatic by turns.
The two recordings made by The Kronos Quartet are pretty accessible, too. (Company and String Quartets #2-5)
I’d recommend Steve Reich, as well, although in my opinion, Reich is only “almost as good” as Glass, and John Adams bores me. (I really, really wanted to like Nixon in China, too, especially since I paid so damn much for it. If it was just the storm sequence and the bit where the libretto is something “something-something-something-I’d-like-to-give-his-goddamn-neck-a-crack… Oh-dick…don’t-say-this,” I’d love it. I guess I just don’t ‘get’ the rest of it.) I have Shaker Loops and Phrygian Gates, too, neither of which are as ‘listenable’ as the least of Philip Glass’ works, for me, anyway. Different strokes, I guess.
There’s the song cycle: Liquid Days
Einstein on the Beach, Akhnaten, and 1000 Airplanes on the Roof
are good places to start. I think his vocal music is more accessable IMHO.
Philip Glass is a friend of Peter Schickele, the force behind P. D. Q. Bach. and in fact one of the places I heard Glass’s work is on “Schickele Mix,” which is a great radio show–if your public radio station carries it, I highly recommend it. Extremely eclectic and educational.
I wasn’t aware that Glass had collaborated on any PDQ Bach stuff, but it wouldn’t suprise me.
Thank you for the suggestions, everyone! I’m going to check out a copy of Einstein on the Beach from the library and give it a whirl.
Ooooh! You realized I wasn’t joking! I think both Glass and Reich were credited on an early PDQ Bach album–I’ll try digging it out over the weekend. They were all students together at Julliard.
Wife has been a longtime fan of the film short, “Oh Dem Watermelons” and thought the theme song was entirely by Stephen Foster. Turns out to be only partially “Massa’s in de Cold, Cold Ground,” the rest, including the “Oh dem watermelons” part being an early composition by Reich.
I’d say that some of the violin concertos and ‘1000 airplanes on the roof’ are good places to start.
Some of his music can be somewhat inaccessible, for instance ‘Music with changing parts’, which I’ve personally had to learn to appreciate.
Podkayne: Why do you think his soundtracks would not be ‘serious’ music? I find that the soundtracks for Koyaanisqatsi, Powaqqatsi and Naqoyqatsi are definitely as ‘serious’ as the rest of his music.
I really like the “Heroes” Symphony. It’s not really that far out there, and there are melodies in there you can still pick out, but it’s a good overall piece of music.
If you don’t have the patience to sit through the complete operas, you can get Songs from the Trilogy, which contains excerpts from Einstein on the Beach, Akehnaten, and Satyagraha, which is my personal favorite–I practically levitate during the opening trio between Gandhi, Arjuna, and Krishna.
IMO, Koyaannisqatsi and Glassworks are probably the gentlest introductions to Glass’s music. You might also want to check out his scores for the films Kundun, Candyman, and The Hours.
Reich and Adams are OK–I liked Different Trains and bits of Nixon in China–but Glass is, IMO, the best of the three.
PDQ Bach, eh? Hmm, I wonder if Glass had anything to do with Iphegenia in Brooklyn?
The Ravi Shankar/Philip Glass collaboration Passages tops my personal list in part for the additional breadth of influence. It’s quite lovely and not inaccessible at all IMHO, and the individual pieces stand alone quite well (unlike some operatic works).
One of the single funniest PDQ Bach moments for me has got to be either.
“Lo she found herself in a marketplace, and she spoke not, saying. . .”
OR
“I beg your pardon let me have my say, I thought she was a man, she talked that way, bearded girls don’t get proposed to everyday, O, Lord have mercy on my so-o-o-oooo-lo”
