Neither of these attractive
scores will do any damage to your knowledge
of Glass. Each is in character, deploying
the DNA identifiers by which you will
have come to love or loathe him. In
fairness the second movement of the
symphony represents a centripetal departure
before centrifugal forces draw the style
back to True North. It does not drift
far from home, even then.
The Light is
part of an ambitious Sibelian symphonic
triptych (1987-89) alongside the later
The Canyon and Itaipu.
This is a storming piece in which his
insistent ostinato cells ripple, flow,
fall and return. I thought several times
of the gripping troika-figure in Sibelius’s
Nightride and Sunrise. This however
has grander intentions having been inspired
by the Michelson-Morley experiment confirming
the uniform speed of light. Memorable
are its lapping-sighing-flaming woodwind
and string figure so much akin to Bernard
Herrmann chase music as in North
by North-West. There is a typically
visceral pounding and thudding tempest
of a climax before the music falls away
into something more contemplative.
Glass the writer of
symphonies is clearly one of the Naxos
preoccupations. Two years ago I reviewed
the same forces’ recording of the Symphonies
2 and 3. Now we can hear the Fourth
Symphony.
Glass has been remarkably
productive when it comes to symphonies
- witness the following:-
Symphony No. 1 Low
(1992)
Symphony
No. 2 (1994)
Symphony
No. 3 (1995)
Symphony No. 4 Heroes
Symphony (1996)
Symphony No. 5 Choral
(1999)
Symphony
No. 6 Plutonian Ode (2001)
Symphony No. 7 A
Toltec Symphony (2004)
Symphony No. 8 (2005)
The Heroes Symphony
traces its origins to two albums on
which the composer collaborated with
David Bowie in Berlin: Heroes (1977)
and Lodger (1979). The six movements
of the symphony are: Heroes;
Abdulmajid; Sense of Doubt;
Sons of the Silent Age; Neuköln;
V2 Schneider. I wish I knew what
these titles meant. The second movement
is a fragile and enchanting with its
North African repetitive understatement
recalling Holst’s In the Street of
Ouled Nails movement from Beni
Mora. At times I also heard intimations
from de Falla (the ostinatos El Amor
Brujo) and Copland (the 1940s pastoral
scores). One can also catch the ‘look
and feel’ of Handel and Purcell – the
latter two also emulated in scores by
Glass’s fellow minimalist, Michael Nyman
in Where the Bee Dances and Prospero’s
Books.
This is a generous
disc and although Glass stays firmly
in accustomed tracks the musical experience
engages and draws you in. His potent
way with hypno-rhythmic tonal writing
continues visceral and in full spate.
Rob Barnett
Naxos American Classics page
Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra/Marin Alsop
