The music of Philip Glass can be captivating to some people and at the
same time infuriating to others. I am in the group who enjoy his music,
having examples of all the genres in which he has composed. That said, apart
from the piano piece I have not come across the music presented on this disc
before.
Phaedra was a commission from The Dallas Ballet. It was devised
and choreographed by Flemming Flindt and received its premiere on 18
February 1986 at the Dallas Majestic Theatre. Even before that Glass had
taken much of the music from the ballet and incorporated it into the score
of the 1985 film
Mishima by Paul Schrader, some of which made it
into his String Quartet No. 3. The remaining five sections, not utilised in
the film score, are recorded here for the first time. They are variously
scored for string trio, percussion and guitar and quite effective they are
too. They will delight any aficionado of Glass's music. This is the Glass of
Glassworks, a work which had only been composed a couple of years
before the ballet. Full of variety and excitement, it makes me want to hear
the ballet in its entirety.
Originally composed in 1977 for Constance DeJong's performance of
her novel
Modern Love which took place the following year, this
piano miniature is made up of repeated phrases. This has been
recorded on a number of occasions; this is
the longest recording I know. The piece was then offered to Robert Moran as
part of his 'Waltz Project', a collection of short piano
pieces by 25 composers. The performance here compares well with those of
Jeroen van Veen on
Brilliant and Jeremy Limb on Quartz, with Limb's performance
being just too quick.
When offered the piece for his 'Waltz Project', Robert
Moran, who is a composer in his own right with many compositions in most
genres to his name, was the director of the Northwestern University's New
Music Ensemble. He asked Glass if he could orchestrate the piece and the
composer agreed as long as the fragment was repeated an equal number of
times. I think the term 'arrangements' suits the pieces better than
'orchestrations', with each taking the same number of repeated fragments of
the original piano work. Each of the 21 orchestrations are exactly the same
length with the fragments overlaid with various instrumental ensembles. The
full list is set out below. The series begins with a simple version for
piano and two drummers. The sequence works its way through various
incarnations, the version for piano and 11 winds being quite attractive.
Finally you get to the last and most demanding version for piano, six
strings, eight keyboards, ten percussionists and eleven winds. These pieces
are mesmerising, although I can imagine some people would find them
monotonous. I have listened to them complete a few times now and they have
not lost their interest. The idea of sitting down and listening to, what is
ostensibly the same piece for 22 times and over an hour and a half might tax
even the most die-hard of Glass fan. It is for this reason that people new
to Glass might want to work up to this piece with other examples of his
music, maybe
Glassworks or
Music with Changing Parts.
However the result is both rewarding and exhilarating.
The performances throughout this single DVD Audio disc are excellent and
they are captured in crystal clear sound. To listen to it you either have to
play it through your DVD or Blu-ray player. You then listen either through
your TV or your sound system if it is connected to the DVD. In fact it also
sounds pretty good played through the computer.
The presentation of the disc leaves a lot to be desired however. It
arrives in a flimsy black plastic slim-line box, similar to a CD size DVD
box, with what looks like a badly photocopied cover. It was only when I
looked for the disc on-line that I realised that it depicted half of Philip
Glass's face. The notes are very meagre to say the least and no recording
information is provided. The company name only appears in tiny letters on
the disc itself with no disc number - the number above being a barcode
number. That said, none of the above detracts from the quality of the music
on this disc.
Stuart Sillitoe
Detailed Contents List
1. Phaedra: Scene 2 for string trio [5:21]
2. Phaedra: Scene 4 for percussion and string trio [4:25]
3. Phaedra: Scene 6 for guitar and string trio [1:05]
4. Phaedra: Scene 14 for guitar and string trio [5:05]
5. Phaedra: Scene 15a for percussion [4:47]
6. Modern Love Waltz for piano [5:21]
7. Modern Love Waltz for piano and 2 drummers [4:25]
8. Modern Love Waltz for piano and 3 marimbas [4:25]
9. Modern Love Waltz for piano and 5 vibraphones [4:25]
10. Modern Love Waltz for piano, 2 drummers and 3 marimbas [4:25]
11. Modern Love Waltz for piano and 6 strings [4:25]
12. Modern Love Waltz for piano, 2 drummers and 5 vibraphones [4:25]
13. Modern Love Waltz for piano, 3 marimbas and 5 vibraphones [4:25]
14. Modern Love Waltz for piano and 8 keyboards [4:25]
15. Modern Love Waltz for piano and 10 percussionists [4:25]
16. Modern Love Waltz for piano and 11 winds [4:25]
17. Modern Love Waltz for piano, 6 strings and 8 keyboards [4:25]
18. Modern Love Waltz for piano, 6 strings and 10 percussionists
[4:25]
19. Modern Love Waltz for piano, 6 strings and 11 winds [4:25]
20. Modern Love Waltz for piano, 8 keyboards and 10 percussionists
[4:25]
21. Modern Love Waltz for piano, 8 keyboards and 11 winds [4:25]
22. Modern Love Waltz for piano, 10 percussionists and 11 winds [4:25]
23. Modern Love Waltz for piano, 6 strings, 8 keyboards and 10
percussionists [4:25]
24. Modern Love Waltz for piano, 6 strings, 8 keyboards and 11 winds
[4:25]
25. Modern Love Waltz for piano, 6 strings, 10 percussionists and 11 winds
[4:25]
26. Modern Love Waltz for piano, 8 keyboards, 10 percussionists and 11
winds [4:25]
27. Modern Love Waltz for piano, 6 strings, 8 keyboards, 10 percussionists
and 11 winds [4:25]
