Philip GlassRecensioni

A well-written account of an interesting life.

Where to start? An impressive book about an impressive life. Glass loves life and lives it positively. Astounding attitude. Never cares whether anyone likes his music. He thinks musically. This book helped me understand many of his works. It also let me know there are many many more works that I never knew about, and will begin to search out. I knew he had scored several movies. I had no idea it was more than 30 so far. This book shares a lot but leaves some obvious holes. He mentions having four kids but we only learn about the first two.

I learned a lot. Glass shows the importance of the various roles such as director, producer, scenic designer, composer, libretist, funder, etc, etc. I learned the complexity of the decisions needed to bring a new production to fruition. What was most suprising was the acceptance or even interest in seeing different takes that different directors bring to productions of the same work. Glass clearly has a deep appreciation of the scenic impact and what will have a dramatic impact on an audience. He closely considers the language to be used for each audience. The book centers on his three major operas, Einstein on the Beach, Satyagraha and Akhnaten but also provides insights into lots of other Glass pieces and collaborations.

What this book demonstrates is Philip Glass is not even remotely as good when forced to express himself with words and not music. At his best describing the creative process - particularly bits about transcendent experience through creation that come at the end of the book - Glass is less effective conveying relationships with members of his family, or engaging with his critics, or describing his spiritual practice. The lengthy recounting of his trips to India in the center of the book sucked all oxygen out of the overall narrative. While Glass has led a remarkable life and I know more about that life than I did before I read this book, I didn't find any insights into the music that putting on a record wouldn't offer on its own.

Brilliant composer. Mediocre writer.

Très décevant. Certaines personnes devraient ce limiter à leur domaine de compétences. La composition musicale et l'écriture sont visiblement deux choses bien distinctes et le défi n'est pas relevé. Peut être suis je trop exigent ? Je ne lis pas un livre comme je pourrais lire un article de journal et je dois dire que Voici ne fait partis de mes lectures.
Je ne sais même pas si je vais réussir à le terminer.½

Glass turns out to be a much more radical character than I would have imagined from what I know of his music. The time when he started composing seems to have been one of struggle for him and many contemporaries that he mentions (including Steve Reich and John Cage) to make a break with the figurative past and create a new kind of classical music. The arts world of theatre, sculpture, poetry and writing that he was immersed in was indeed very radical, and it seems they all lived fully committed to their art and to a new way of thinking. I was astonished to hear how penniless he was for so much of his life, for example driving a cab and working as a plumber in Manhattan for decades. Interesting also how important the East Village was not only as a place where he lived but as a community of artistic people collaborating and working together. All in all gives me a renewed desire to engage with his music again, and to listen to so many of his pieces that I don't know.

I'm not a musician. I don't even know anything about Western Music nor am I into Pop Music; yet I found this book really interesting. Philip Glass has made the making of an opera come to life.When Glass sees that "drawing is about seeing, dancing is about moving, writing is about speaking, and music is about hearing," he won me over. I love listening to music and now I know that that is what music is!

1. Tiquiê River
2. Japurá River
3. Purus River
4. Negro River
5. Madeira River
6. Tapajós River
7. Paru River
8. Xingu River
9. Amazon River
10. Metamorphosis I

1. Tiquiê River
2. Japurá River
3. Purus River
4. Negro River
5. Madeira River
6. Tpajós River
7. Paru River
8. Xingu River
9. Amazon River
10. Metamorphosis I

The music that catapulted Philip Glass into superstardom (as far as modern music goes). This original Island album does not contain all the music from the film, however, despite being billed as an "original soundtrack album".

When reading Canopus in Argos: Archives, I discovered that two of the books (The Marriages Between Zones Three, Four, and Five and The Making of the Representative for Planet 8) had been turned into operas by Philip Glass. Unfortunately, none of the music has been released on a commercial recording, leaving this libretto of the second opera the closest I can get. Reading an opera is obviously no substitute for seeing one, but I liked this-- I thought it improved on some of the flaws of the novel, driving home some points the book is a little too elliptical about. (Also: it has actual characters.) I've got no idea how it actually would have been rendered on stage, though.

SATB

Early Works (1969-1970)
1-1 Music In Contrary Motion 15:35
1-2 Music With Changing Parts (Edited) 45:37
1-3 Music In Similar Motion 17:11
From Music In Twelve Parts
2-1 Part VII 19:58
2-2 Part VIII 18:17
2-3 Part IX 12:14
2-4 Part X 17:08
From Einstein On The Beach
3-1 Knee Play 1 8:04
3-2 Train 1 (Edited) 13:46
3-3 Knee Play 2 6:08
3-4 Knee Play 3 6:30
3-5 Trial 2/Prison: "Prematurely Air-Conditioned Supermarket" (Edited) 12:17
3-6 Knee Play 4 7:05
3-7 Bed/Prelude 4:24
3-8 Spaceship 12:51
3-9 Knee Play 5 8:04
Glassworks / Analog
4-1 Opening 6:03
4-2 Façades 7:18
4-3 Floe '87 8:44
4-4 Closing (Live) 5:17
4-5 Étoile Polaire 2:38
4-6 River Run 1:54
4-7 Are Years What? (For Marianne Moore) 4:01
4-8 Ange Des Orages 3:47
4-9 Ave 4:44
4-10 Montage 2:33
4-11 Dressed Like An Egg: Part IV 3:12
4-12 Dressed Like An Egg: Part V 1:33
4-13 Mad Rush For Organ 16:14
From Satyagraha
5-1 Act I: Tolstoj - Scene 1: The Kuru Field Of Justice 18:47
5-2 Act I: Tolstoj - Scene 2:Tolstoj Farm (1910) 11:01
5-3 Act II: Tagore - Scene 1: Confrontation And Rescue (1896) 14:44
5-4 Act II: Tagore - Scene 3: Protest (1908) 15:16
5-5 Act III King - Scene 1: Newcastle March (1913) - Part 3: Evening Song 8:22
From Koyaanisqatsi And Powaqqatsi
6-1 Koyaanisqatsi 3:26
6-2 Organic 7:47
6-3 Clouscape 4:32
6-4 Resource 6:39
6-5 Vessels 8:05
6-6 The Grid 21:23
6-7 Serra Pelada 5:02
6-8 Train To Sao Paulo 3:04
6-9 Video Dream 2:15
6-10 New Cities In Ancient Lands, China 2:48
6-11 New Cities In Ancient Lands, Africa 2:56
6-12 New Cities In Ancient Lands, India 4:42
6-13 Mr. Suso #2 With Reflection 1:19
6-14 Powaqqatsi 4:35
String Quartets And Piano Études (1984-94)
7-1 String Quartet No. 2 ("Company") - Movement I 2:11
7-2 String Quartet No. 2 ("Company") - Movement II 1:36
7-3 String Quartet No. 2 ("Company") - Movement III 1:32
7-4 String Quartet No. 2 ("Company") - Movement IV 2:07
7-5 Étude For Piano No.2 (1994) 4:55
7-6 Étude For Piano No.9 (1994) 3:36
7-7 String Quartet No. 5 - Movement I 1:11
7-8 String Quartet No. 5 - Movement II 2:59
7-9 String Quartet No. 5 - Movement III 5:28
7-10 String Quartet No. 5 - Movement IV 4:38
7-11 String Quartet No. 5 - Movement V 7:42
7-12 Étude For Piano No.5 5:44
7-13 Étude For Piano No.3 4:54
7-14 String Quartet No.4 ("Buczak") - Movement I 7:59
7-15 String Quartet No.4 ("Buczak") - Movement II 6:22
7-16 String Quartet No.4 ("Buczak") - Movement III 8:42
From The Civil Wars, Hydrogen Jukebox, Symphony No. 5 And Akhnaten
8-1 Prologue 18:49
8-2 Song#3: From Iron Horse 2:54
8-3 Song#2: Jaweh And Allah Battle 3:39
8-4 Song#11: From The Green Automobile 6:04
8-5 Song#9: From Nagasaki Days (Numbers In Red Notebook) 0:40
8-6 Song#10: Aunt Rose 4:58
8-7 Song#6: From Wichita Vortex Sutra 7:48
8-8 VII. Suffering (Edited) 5:03
8-9 Act I, Scene 1: Funeral Of Amenhotep III 9:03
8-10 Act I, Scene 3: The Window Of Appearances (Edited) 4:24
8-11 Act III, Scene 4: Epilogue 10:36
Symphonies Nos. 3 & 8
9-1 Symphony No. 3 - Movement I 4:37
9-2 Symphony No. 3 - Movement II 6:15
9-3 Symphony No. 3 - Movement III 10:05
9-4 Symphony No. 3 - Movement IV 3:29
9-5 Symphony No. 8 - Movement I 19:27
9-6 Symphony No. 8 - Movement II 12:18
9-7 Symphony No. 8 - Movement III 6:57
Filmworks (1984-2002)
10-1 Mishima: Opening (listen To full-length track) 2:46
10-2 Mishima: November 25: Morning 4:11
10-3 Mishima: Closing 2:59
10-4 The Secret Agent: The First Meridian 3:21
10-5 The Secret Agent: Secret Agent 4:51
10-6 Kundun: Sand Mandala (listen to full-length track) 4:06
10-7 Kundun: Distraught 3:00
10-8 Kundun: Lhasa at Night 2:00
10-9 Kundun: Escape to India 10:05
10-10 Anima Mundi: Living Waters 3:51
10-11 Anima Mundi: The Witness 4:10
10-12 La Belle et La Bête: Overture 3:31
10-13 The Thin Blue Line: Houston Skyline 4:43
10-14 Dracula: Dracula 1:15
10-15 Dracula: The Storm 1:34
10-16 Dracula: Dr. Van Helsing and Dracula 2:22
10-17 The Fog of War: The War to End All Wars 1:44
10-18 Candyman: It Was Always You, Helen 3:09
10-19 The Truman Show: Raising the Sail 2:15
10-20 The Hours: The Poet Acts 3:43

In The Upper Room
Dance I 1:07
Dance II 5:39
Dance V 3:20
Dance VIII 4:55
Dance IX 8:05
Glasspieces
Glasspiece #1 ("Rubric") 6:10
Glasspiece #2 ("Facades") 7:16
Glasspiece #3 ("Funeral" From Akhnaten) 8:49

CHECK SHELVES

CHECK SHELVES

CHECK SHELVES

CHECK SHELVES

CHECK SHELVES

CHECK SHELVES

CHECK SHELVES

CHECK SHELVES

CHECK SHELVES

CHECK SHELVES