Average customer rating:
- makes you ponder what this was all about
- music theory exposition, and history too
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Four Musical Minimalists: La Monte Young, Terry Riley, Steve Reich, Philip Glass (Music in the Twentieth Century)
Keith Potter
Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
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Binding: Hardcover
 Reich, Steve
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Similar Items:
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Repeating Ourselves: American Minimal Music as Cultural Practice
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Experimental Music: Cage and Beyond (Music in the Twentieth Century)
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Talking Music: Conversations with John Cage, Philip Glass, Laurie Anderson, and Five Generations of American Experimental Composers
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Minimalism: Origins
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Writings on Music, 1965-2000
ASIN: 052148250X |
Book Description
This book offers the most detailed account so far of the early works of these four minimalist composers, putting extensive discussion of the music into a biographical perspective. The true musical minimalism of the 1960s and early 1970s is placed in the wider context of their music as a whole, and considered within the cultural conditions of the period, which saw not only the rise of minimalism in the fine arts but also crucial changes in the theory and practice of musical composition in the Western cultivated tradition.
Customer Reviews:
makes you ponder what this was all about.......2005-01-19
The phenomenon of minimalist music I think is better understood from its initial stages, for after market popularity sets in the theoretical fascinations seem to dissipate, seem to become rationalized away as unimportant and cumbersome. If you take all four praticioners here, to my mind only their early works seem to hold any interest at all,it is only the only works that have a "longevity" factor, where we can still find points of interests. For it was in the early works that carried the weight into what we have now.
Musical minimalism as well is a kind of misnomer in that the term began in the visual arts and if you go there you will find the term and its results and achievments has a much more vigorous base of contemplation and export. There simply is more important things happening there, as Donald Judd,the minimalist shrine of cubes and geometric shapes in an old Army base in Marfa Texas or the flourescent lighting schemes of Dan Flavin, the powerful sculptural plates of Richard Serra,or painters abound as Ellsworth Kelly, Frank Stella and Bridget Riley. There simply is no comparison with the level of conceptual depth and gestural focus, what art is suppose to do, what it did, and how the concept is engaged,and how it responds to its context and art history,or a temporality (how for instance the spirit, ir-religious of course is engaged in Richard Serra, his plates where the human mind simply stands there engaged in peace with his own existence or sense of space and time). Musical minimalism has no equivalent, and it is a shame for it could have had this. La Monte Young's "Well-Tuned Piano", a 9 hour work with just intonation tunings of the piano comes close to the temporal vigours of Judd's shrine I beleive.
With the introduction of opera in the works of Glass well now we are in another dimension, for Glass resorted to traditional classical structures of opera, duets, trios, quartets, (as in Aknathen) this is no longer innovative means. Potter's book draws light on this paradigm here makes you think of these issues what minimalism did and what it is now. Was it simply a fad?, or did it produce sustainable music?, music we can return to once or twice, or was minimalism simply "grist" for the mill of the market, one time, make the cash, take the money and run. Again the importance of minimalism is found in its early repertoire, Reich fascinating threadbare music for four woodblocks was all he needed to write to proclaim a status, or Glass's early music with Farfisa organs and saxophones,"Music in Fifths" or Riley's "In C", or his "Keyboard Studies" are all relevant pieces we can return to unpretenciously.
The late Morton Feldman is of course not here. He had intense knowledge of the visual arts world and his last works sought to reclaim this paradigm for music (his Second String Quartet, and Triadic Memories, For Chritian Wolff) are works scaling long durational lengths a place where minimalism in music seems to be now a beginning point not an end. Had Feldman lived I think he would have written even longer works. Of course Cage's massive work for organ now being realized in Halberstadt Germany, a work lasting years is also a step in the right direction.
music theory exposition, and history too.......2001-03-22
Potter's book will be best appreciated by those with a much better understanding of music theory than I. However, I learned something about the personal and musical history of so-called "minimalism." (Potter falls prey to some extent to the problem of reifying an abstraction -- having first grouped some things together into a category, then searching for the true meaning of the category.) Is there a torch passed, so to speak, from Young to Riley to Reich to Glass? Glass is the only one to adamantly deny it, but Potter documents the basis for seeing it just that way (including Reich's influence on Glass).
One aspect I am keen to know more about, but which Potter doesn't stress overly much, is the striking confluence of non-Western influences. Young and Riley are both disciples of the North Indian master singer, Pandit Pran Nath, who died in 1996. Reich studied both African drumming as well as the gamelan music of Bali. Glass studied Indian music, after being immersed in serialism. With the European "classical" tradition at an impasse at the turn of the millennium, it seems only natural that the future would lie in creative fusions and combinations with other traditions. (Not a very original idea, I realize, as evidenced by the recent emphasis of the Kronos Quartet among others.) Minimalism seems by now to be another style that passed into history and critical assessments -- is there an opening there that is being missed?
Product Description
A collection of music arranged for solo piano, including Metamorphoses One to Five collected together for the first time. Suitable for intermediate to advanced pianists.
Customer Reviews:
Good to limber up the fingers.......2007-07-20
I agree with everything previous reviewers have written about these pieces. They are repetative, and ad nauseum, is a good term. They are easy to tackle in one to two sittings, but the real value is how well they limber up my fingers for some more serious playing. More fun than the usual scales and chord inversions. After a few minutes of working these pieces Mozart and Beethoven pieces run more smoothly.
Minimalist style.......2007-06-08
If you already know and like the minimalist style from Philip Glass, you'll have more chances on liking the musics on this album.
It's really a mood thing. Sometimes you will play and love it, sometimes you'll just get bored over it. That's also valid for listeners.
Some people will love it, some people will get sleepy.
Still, a great aquisition for intermediate piano students.
Easy and repetitive, but somehow succeeeds with that.......2007-03-09
If you can play arpeggios worth a cent, you can play this flawlessly in one to two practice sessions per piece. The pieces consist of only a few lines of music each, which are repeated ad nauseum throughout the songs. It's an interesting style that provides good background music, but kind of grates on the ears after a while.
Philip Glass for intermediate students.......2006-04-24
These pieces are the songs from the Solo Piano cd. Perfect for intermediate students, they work great as finger exercises as well. The songs increase in difficulty as the book goes on. My teacher was thrilled when I brought this book in to my lessons.
Book Description
This folio features piano solo arrangements of 11 beautiful Philip Glass compositions from this highly acclaimed, Oscar-nominated film score: Choosing Life * Dead Things * Escape! * The Hours * I'm Going to Make a Cake * Morning Passages * The Poet Acts * Something She Has to Do * Tearing Herself Away * An Unwelcome Friend * Why Does Someone Have to Die?
Customer Reviews:
Just about as good as it gets.......2005-12-15
The Amazon description doesn't say much, so here's the deal: This piano solo songbook contains 11 of the 14 tracks from the CD, "The Hours: Music from the Motion Picture Composed by Philip Glass." It leaves out two short tracks "'For your own benefit,'" "Vanessa and the Changelings," and regrettably "The Kiss", as the latter is one of the best tracks from the soundtrack.) Despite these omissions, however, the songbook is pretty awesome, a dream come true for those who love the movie "The Hours" and Glass' haunting score. Stephen Daldry's 2002 film entrances you, yes, and so does listening to Glass' score. Michael Cunningham's novel, on which the film is based, seduces you, too, into a portrait of the suffering of women, the modern and timeless female psyche, the powerful connection between life and art.
But playing the songs yourself allows you to immerse yourself to an even higher level of connectedness with the themes of the whole "Hours" enterprise, and specifically, relive the film and music of the film. The piano solo arrangements, by Michael Riesman, range from easy to moderately difficult. They are all in C-major, but have lots of flats and sharps. Those with two to three years of piano lessons/experience could pull it off, and many of the pieces are simple enough to sight read.
But the songs also lean toward moderately difficult to advanced. You'll frequently run into right-hand triplets to be played on top of left-hand eighth notes. A few are more on the advanced side -- "The Poet Acts" and "The Hours" -- as they require tricky fingering, large hands, and probably a lot of practice. Timing is mostly 3/4 and 4/4 measure time. A great thing is that each song tells you exactly how fast to play so you can set your metronome to it (i.e. a quarter note = 96 in "Dead Things"). The songs do not tell you when to pedal or fingering, which would've been helpful on some of the more difficult pieces.
This book would be great for piano students/teachers. The pieces are arranged so that it is possible to learn casually, yet beautiful and challenging enough to really take your time with and perfect.
As an added bonus, for sale separately, there is Michael Riesman's piano solo CD of "The Hours." And what you hear on that CD is exactly the same as the arrangements in this book! This book gives you the ENTIRE arrangements of the ENTIRE tracks. They do not cut the songs short! Pair up the CD with the songbook, and you have a piano student's dream. On top of that, you can sample the piano solo CD on Amazon: check in the Free Downloads section of Music. You can download three entire tracks from Riesman's solo album.
For $12.95, the book is a steal. On Amazon or Overstock, it's even cheaper! A great buy, as a lot of today's songbooks of this caliber, size, etc are 19.99$. The arrangement of "Morning Passages" is worth getting it alone. I would've rated the book 5 stars if not for the omission of "The Kiss," and if pedaling and fingering were in the book.
Book Description
Talking Music is comprised of substantial original conversations with seventeen American experimental composers and musicians-including Milton Babbitt, Pauline Oliveros, Steve Reich, Meredith Monk, and John Zorn-many of whom rarely grant interviews. The author skillfully elicits candid dialogues that encompass technical explorations; questions of method, style, and influence; their personal lives and struggles to create; and their aesthetic goals and artistic declarations. Herein, John Cage recalls the turning point in his career; Ben Johnston criticizes the operas of his teacher Harry Partch; La Monte Young attributes his creative discipline to a Morman childhood; and much more. The results are revelatory conversations with some of America's most radical musical innovators.
Customer Reviews:
A very intertaining and solid introduction.......2001-11-04
This is a very entertaining collection of interviews. Duckworth takes his time to explore the issues sufficiently deeply with his interlocutors. Hence, there is substance to the book: it certainly is more than a loose collection of freewheeling conversations. And I am grateful for the fact that Bill Duckworth expanded his survey beyond the obvious collection of Minimalists and Cage. I knew nothing about Pauline Oliveros, Glen Branca or La Monte Young and came away refreshed from reading all their stories. I was generally satisfied by the way Duckworth steers the interviews. The tone is relaxed, sometimes earnest, sometimes tongue-in-cheeck. He is at his very best in the long, sometimes rambling conversations with La Monte Young and John Zorn. But in other cases - such as with the more rigorous and perhaps intellectually more intimidating personality of Steve Reich - Duckworth rigidly sticks to his agenda and fails to capture a number of potentially interesting tangents. The interview with John Cage is outright funny in the way Duckworth fails to catch on with what Cage really tries to get across. He keeps asking the wrong questions whilst Cage, with dwindling patience, is making broad excursions in conceptual hyperspace. But if Duckworth fails to capture a number of interesting opportunities to dig deeper in some of the interviews, this remains a very valuable collection, at least for those new to the whole field of American experimental music.
great fascinating interviews on American creativity.......2000-05-09
Willian Duckworth is marvelous at asking questions,he is so natural at it that he makes you feel you have known his guests all your life. He allows everyone to feel at home, at ease,like catching more flies with sugar quip. Like asking John Cage for instance, "I don't have a very good understanding of what your early musical training was like,". or to La Monte Young, asking if he is the "father of minimalism", I guess it doesn't matter now, since most of what is discussed has played itself out. Here Duckworth interviews creators of primary creative genres of Americana leaning toward the achievements of all the various,nefarious "isms", experimentalism, minimalism, well just intonation doesn't fit, and the ubiquitously opaque post-modernity. And progressing from who are considered the Mammas and Pappas to the younger generation.The genre of Interviews seem to be occurring with greater frequency,speaking of one of the features of post-modernity. It is the most immediate way of knowing someone's art, aesthetic, how they feel about the world,about politics, or how they don't feel. Obsessions are explored in these interviews,as with John Zorn's early buying jags of recordings,jazz etc.,and formative years as with La Monte Young and his obsessions with sound, listening to telephone generators,or machines, the inherent drone in these industrial objects,Also professional associations, and disassociations with the New York scene,Fluxus which includes,just about everyone here interviewed is probed, with nice discussions of the early years of performance art in New York City. Education away from academia was an important component of American music,sorry to say, with those of the post war-generation turning to the east, and World Music, as Steve Reich, Phil Glass,Lou Harrison, Pauline Oliveros and La Monte Young. Young in particular reflects on his education with Pandit Pran Nath on intonation and improvisation and learning it with Marian Zazeela.Professional associations, how to survive by being a performance artist, Duckworth pursues and explores with Meridith Monk and Laurie Anderson, finding gigs in New York City or Europe again was everyone's passion.How do you work? is also a wonderful question, Monk reflects that she has to work all the time to feel attached, whereas she knows composers who don't work for months and claim to feel they don't lose anything. How creators get into ,what they get into, as Ben Johnston reflects on his early education with instrument iconoclast Harry Partch, how Partch taught Johnston to sing fractional tones, an eleventh/sixteenth, and how Partch would devote mornings to music, and afternoons to physical work, building sheds,or home extensions,or gathering wood. Also Johnston speaks about his wonderful string quartets, the Seventh in particular which is based on an 100-tone scale, and how we come to understand it via the relationships it represents rather than hearing 100 isolated tones. With Lou Harrison we have almost a history of American music, in that his life traversed through the primary achievements, the interests in World Music, Tunings, percussion music, and extended techniques,living on both coasts. But Harrison claims he was always a melodic composer, he had to sing whatever he wrote first, to attach himself to the world of sound, no matter how complex his music became.Some interviews are boring however as the the one with Phillip Glass where he simply recounts his life, and his interests, there was not a spirit of adventure, of discovery.Whereas Milton Babbitt has wonderful reflections on his early studies in music with Roger Sessions, and how Babbitt felt he needed to start over. The interview with Christian Wolff was over before it got interesting,Wolff primarily discussed his early music, the pieces associated with the Cage School(Cage,Feldman,Brown,Wolff)(nice photo of them)instead of traversing the set of problematics of dealing with political imagery. That question came as the very last one."Are you still writing political music?". Duckworth admirably gives nice introductions to each composer, and makes you feel the center of where creativity occurs, what excites an artist,and where challenge and repose occurs within music.One good question here always was"When did you first hear of John Cage", or what was the first piece of "so and so" you heard. This makes for a marvelous discussion on what were the initial indeliable moments on one's creative life. Not everyone is gifted at interviews it is a conditioned and practiced art. This work is a great model toward that genre.
Customer Reviews:
Good info about the composer's life and works through the mid-eighties.......2006-02-02
I have always found Philip Glass an interesting artifact. Cool name. In the 80s he had a real presence in both the pop and art cultures, and his music has captivated me for entire minutes. However, the whole minimalist / repetitive / whateveryouwanttocallit method loses me fairly quickly. Did I enjoy Koyaanisqatsi? Yeah, but the FILM with the music, rather than listening to the music apart from the movie. And I thought Glass' music added to the film "Kundun" quite well. He has done a number of film scores.
He brought his opera "1,000 Airplanes on the Roof" to Ann Arbor and I took my oldest two children with me to hear it. Earlier in the day we went over the SKR Classical and bought some of his albums and he signed them for us. He was very kind and took time to talk with my son and daughter. When the music began I was quite impressed. There is this extremely low rumble that you feel before you hear it and the sound just fills your whole body and soars up and out of your hearing. Beautiful and wonderful stuff. However, the work goes on for three hours.
It is an almost incomprehensible story about a man or a woman who works in a copy shop and may or may not have been visited and possessed by aliens. Or he / she might just be nuts. Or maybe there is no such thing as reality. Or maybe it is the idea of a single independent reality that is false. (However, I am pretty sure that all of us there that night had paid with independently real money and gave up an independently real evening). You get the idea. I still thought it a worthwhile experience. My son and daughter have yet to forgive me for making them stay for the whole thing. Personally, I think it is clear that Glass has a certain kind of gift and some real talent. I am just not sure that I think repeating the music until one wants to commit violence is the correct compositional choice.
This work came after this book was published.
Here, we get a short history of the composer's life, his study at Julliard and with Nadia Boulanger (which is the most important study of his life, I gather). We also learn about the way he got started in music theater, his attitudes towards traditional opera (dead, dead, dead), and the fact that in his earlier days he drove a cab and worked as a plumber to keep body and soul together. I can relate!
The rest of the book tells us the background of three of his theater works: "Einstein on the Beach", "Satyargraha", and "Akhnaten". We also get the libretti and some sketches of the musical materials used in the works. The book also includes photos of the works and from his life.
If you are interested in Glass at all, this is a good place to get some information about the composer and a few of his major works. The book also discusses many of his other works in passing (through the mid-eighties).
All you ever wanted to know about Glass's music in one place.......1997-11-20
This book is the quintessential read for anyone interested in the composer be he the music lover realaxing to his recording of "Glassworks" or the avid "Glass-ite" with all five hours of "Einstein on the Beach" memorized (and I salute you). Whatever you wanted to know about Glass and especially the operas can be found here in the composer's own words. Like his music, Glass's book is fluid and encompassing. Seth Bedford (guiseppe@earthlink.net) Midland,TX.
Great explaination of the Portrait Trilogy!.......1997-08-04
Here is a spectacular explaination of Glass's Portrait Trilogy of operas (Einstein on the Beach, Satyagraha, and Akhnaten), including lots of great insight into the musical subtelties, staging, casting, performances, and production. It includes several excellent pictures (color and B&W) of Glass, his ensemble, and scenes from the three operas. Also, a rare explaination of the staging of Einstein! A good read for anyone interested in modern music
Average customer rating:
- Not really a biography, but a terrific reference book
|
Glass: A Portrait
Robert Maycock
Manufacturer: Sanctuary Publishing, Ltd.
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Binding: Paperback
Glass, Philip
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Similar Items:
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Writings on Glass: Essays, Interviews, Criticism
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Music by Philip Glass
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Philip Glass: Looking Glass
ASIN: 1860743471 |
Book Description
Written jointly as an appraisal of his work and a biography, Philip Glass details the landmark points of his career and the artists he recorded with, such as Ravi Shankar.
Customer Reviews:
Not really a biography, but a terrific reference book.......2002-12-19
Finally there's a comprehensive book about Glass and his music, with a musicologist's approach.
I think it's exactly the book that was needed, because, even if traces mr.Glass's biography in very broad strokes, the book is more of anan analysis of his music in its different forms.
I think it's a terrific book because:
1- It's by an independent writer, so no hagiography, but a very objective and interesting analysis, all the more valuable for that.
For example, the author is not shy of talkingabout controversial issues, like the critics' attitude towards mr.Glass. (you know, those guys that sneer at his music because it does
not conform to the standards they already have pre-set in their minds)
2- The general tone is that of a vey well-researched and authoritative (if somewhat kinda too concise) book, aimed perhaps more to the informed listener than to the professional musician, which is just fine with me.
It is, actually, a very readable book, especially enlightening when explaining Glass's musical evolution. It really gives you the idea of how and why the music has evolved the way it did.
3- The descriptions of the pieces are great. They're just
like very well written but concise program notes, which is
nothing less than what this marvelous music deserves.
To give you an idea, it's so refreshing to read about the Low Symphony discussed in the same terms of a mainstream full-fledged classical symphony! (which is exactly what it is, in its peculiarly Glassian way)
4- The writer had mr.Glass's endorsement, so there are a few illuminating interviews and, above all,tantalizing descriptions of the pieces that aren't yet recorded , like symphony 6, cello and piano concertos, because the author could listen to the composers' tapes from the performances.
( as you will have gathered, this book is VERY up-to-date)
By the way, are you guys at Nonesuch sleeping? Where the hell are those cd's?? Just reading mr. Maycock's enthusiastic description of the 6th symphony gave me a glance at what we're missing. I know corporate guys don't really care about the music, but hey, Glass SELLS!!
A few minor quibbles: there are no photos and the chronological list of works that closes the book is a bit too concise ( usually in such lists you also get details like first performance, recordings etc.)
Strongly recommended, nonetheless.
Book Description
Moondog is one of America’s great originals. Alan Rich,
The New York Times
Here is one of the most improbable lives of the twentieth century: a blind and homeless man who became the most famous eccentric in New York and who, with enormous diligence, rose to prominence as an internationally respected music presence.
Born Louis Thomas Hardin in 1916, Moondog first made an impression in the late 1940s when his music was played by the New York Philharmonic at Carnegie Hall. His unique, melodic compositions were released on the Prestige jazz label. In the late 1960s the Viking-garbed Moondog was a pop music sensation on Columbia Records. Moondog is the noted inspiration for the contemporary freak folk movement led by Devandra Barnhart.
Moondog's compositional style was, many say, adopted by his former roommate, Philip Glass. Moondog's work transcends labels and redefines the distinction between popular and high culture. A CD compilation with a variety of Moondog's compositions is bound into the book, and a Moondog tribute is planned for the 2007, 2008 season of UCLA Live by Hal Willner.
The CD tracklisting is as follows:
1: Caribea (1:32)
Performer/Composer: Moondog
2: To a Sea Horse (1:43)
Performer/Composer: Moondog
3: Trees Against the Sky (.51)
Performer/Composer: Moondog
4: Oo Debut (1:09)
Performer/Composer: Moondog
5: Autumn (2:07)
Performer/Composer: Moondog
6: Moondog Monologue (8:24)
Performer/Composer: Moondog
7: Moondog’s Theme (1:53)
Performer/Composer: Moondog
8: Trimbas in Quarters (1:47)
Performer/Composer: Moondog
9: I Came Into This World Alone (1:19)
Performers: Moondog, Steve Reich, Philip Glass, Jon Gibson
Composer: Moondog
10: Be a Hobo (1:22)
Performers: Moondog, Steve Reich, Philip Glass, Jon Gibson
Composer: Moondog
11: Why Spend the Dark Night With You (1:40)
Performers: Moondog, Steve Reich, Philip Glass, Jon Gibson
Composer: Moondog
12: All is Loneliness (1:38)
Performers: Moondog, Steve Reich, Philip Glass, Jon Gibson
Composer: Moondog
13: Organ Rounds (2:04)
Performer/Composer: Moondog
14: Canon in F Major, Book I (.43)
Performer: Paul Jordan
Composer: Moondog
15: Canon in B Flat Major, Book III (1:36)
Performer: Paul Jordan
Composer: Moondog
16: Canon in B Flat Major, Book I (.43)
Performer: Paul Jordan
Composer: Moondog
17: Canon in B Flat Major, Book II (.28)
Performer: Paul Jordan
Composer: Moondog
18: Canon in G Sharp Minor, Book I (.44)
Performer: Paul Jordan
Composer: Moondog
19: Canon in C Sharp Minor, Book II (1:32)
Performer: Paul Jordan
Composer: Moondog
20: 5/4 Snakebite Rattle (3:41)
Performer: Stefan Lakatos
Composer: Moondog
21: Trimbas and Woodblock in 5/2 (1:26)
Performer: Stefan Lakatos
Composer: Moondog
22: When I Am Deep in Sleep (2:17)
Performer: Stefan Lakatos
Composer: Moondog
23: Rabbit Hop (2:25)
Performer/Composer: Moondog
24: Dog Trot (2:25)
Performer/Composer: Moondog
25: Bird’s Lament (2:00)
Performer/Composer: Moondog
26: Viking 1 (2:55)
Performer/Composer: Moondog
27: Heimdall Fanfare (3:06)
Performer/Composer: Moondog
28: Intro and Overtone Continuum (2:22)
Performer/Composer: Moondog
Book Description
Philip Glass, composer of symphonies, operas (Einstein on the Beach, Akhnaten, Orphée), film scores (Kundun, Mishima, Koyaanisqatsi), songs, and music for dance is a musician who determined early on that he wanted to compose independently, apart from institutions. That decision has made him a controversial figure among academic musicians, in spite of his rigorous training at Juilliard, and with Nadia Boulanger in Paris. Richard Kostelanetz has gathered a lively and varied collection of writings about Philip Glass's work, along with several interviews and a conversation between Glass and sculptor Richard Serra. The chronology of the works and discography have been updated for the paperback edition.
Customer Reviews:
A good portrait of Glass' works and life.......2006-07-23
A book on Glass' avant-garde minimalist compositional style surprised me as he nears his 70th birthday as a significant 20th century composer. Discovering Glass (b.1937) with "The Photographer (83)" CD some 15 years ago, Glass' self-titled website with a biography section does not do justice, especially during his formative years. Biographies show how one's developmental years translate into accomplishments as an adult and parent.
The book is divided into 4 parts, Part I Metamorphosis, Part II Instrumental Music, Part III Music for Theatre and Film, and Part IV Endgame. The book is a compendium of published articles. Part III is the largest section consuming about 1/2 the book, with most articles authored in the mid 80s to early 90s. In this section is a 4 pg article by Robert C Morgan (famed art critic) on "The Photographer," 84 revised 96. There are about 30 articles in the book with an average length of 10 pages. Three of the articles have musical score (analysis by Wes York, "Akhnaten"), a diagram (String Quartet No1), and lyrics (Hydrogen Jukebox) to describe Glass' creative process.
Part IV Endgame has a 1 pg bibliography, 11 pg listing of works by year for 3 decades, 7 pg discography, and 7 pg index. The book's printed ISBN is not current and the book is not listed on the publisher's website. The dust jacket has been rebadged ISBN 0-8256-7246-5, as the publisher's trade books was divested to musicsales dot com, London.
My favorite part of this book is a 25-page interview by Ms Ev Grimes, PhD about Glass' musical education in Section I, p12-36, which has been further edited by the composer and the author. Ev Grimes is a nationally acclaimed producer of documentaries on musicians and cultural topics and she was a NPR radio commentator back in the 70s. The interview / documentary was commissioned by the Yale School of Music (Oral History American Music project). I found Glass's candid comments about his family, early flute teacher, inner city Baltimore high school, U Chicago and NYC's Juilliard quite interesting (covering 1940s-50s). The author claims that this is probably the most comprehensive interview of Glass growing up that exists and is a book exclusive.
In p15-31, Philip, middle son of a Lithuanian immigrant Jew and skilled mechanic, dropped out of a southern Baltimore, Maryland high school, challenged by examination entrance requirements into U of Chicago at age 15 (1952-6) majoring in math and philosophy earned an AB. In the south Chicago neighborhood, extemporaneous Jazz music clubs exposed him to non-classical music. Applying to Juilliard at 19, he expanded his compositional skills. A well-rounded individual, he worked during summers as a crane operator for Bethlehem Steel near Baltimore to help pay tuition. Juilliard's tiny composition department at the time in 1957-62, was focused on experimental modern American music such as Copeland and Hindemith. So Glass got a lot of individual freedom to compose and expressed his talent with 75 pieces. As the composer, he did not have to play them. It was encouraged to recruit fellow students for its performance, including Steve Reich also a minimalist, who he met in Juilliard's friendly cafeteria.
Juilliard's environment emphasized performance, as opposed to getting a teaching credential, a musical trade school if you will. This naturally led to music score for NYC film projects. Writing music on staff became as natural as eating with a fork. Earning a MA in 1962 (4 years) at 25 years of age, he co-won the BMI Award for Young Composers.
After graduation Glass, under a Ford foundation grant, went to high schools as a composer-in-residence, assigned to Pittsburgh. For two years, starting in 1961, he trained up-and-coming students imitating Julliard's performance methodology. He saved his stipend to further his musical career in Europe and beyond.
Although skilled in classical composition, he went to Paris to study under the renown Ms Nadia Boulanger as a Fulbright scholar during 1963-5. Boulanger made him study counterpoint and harmony by analyzing Bach (WTC), Mozart and Beethoven to the nth degree often by voice. By the time he completed his "post-doc," Glass was 28 and sick of the classical school.
As described in a Tricycle article p316-27, Glass' initiation to his signature minimalistic style occurred while in Paris receiving an assignment to translate Indian music scored in an Asian numbered system to a Western musical score for the sitar legend Ravi Shankar in the film, "Chappaqua." This exposed him to Eastern music with different keys, melodies and rhythms. Essentially smitten, Glass and his wife hitchhiked across Egypt and the Middle East to India spending a year sabbatical learning world music and a religious conversion to Buddhism and vegetarianism [see Yahoo for this bio extension]. He returned to NYC in 1967 at 30 and a started reducing a minimalistic style to practice, struggled initially two-timing as a cabbie, plumber, day laborer to make ends meet and finally at 40, as they say in Hollywood, the rest is history.
The book has essays on Glass's most famous initial work, "Einstein on the Beach" a 4+-hour opera (76), third opera on Egyptian pharaoh mythology, "Akahathen" (84), and a tribute to Mohandas Gandhi efforts on civil rights in the "Satyagraha" (80), second opera.
The article does not cover Glass' adult personal life (see Wikipedia and NNDB) which include 4 marriages, most significant with his first wife of 15 years to JoAnne Akalaitis, theater director of Mabou Mines Theatre which they cofounded, m. 1965, div. 1980, son Zachary (b 1969) who followed him in music contributing to a few productions, but not with distinction as a songwriter, and daughter Juliet (PhD Art History John Hopkins, b 1971). It appears that his son, now 36, was not enamored by excellence probably due to his workaholic parent's neglect. Glass is currently married to trophy wife Holly Critchlow (restaurant manager, m. 2001), and lives in East Village (Bowery), NYC and a primitive cabin in a Nova Scotia village in Canada.
Ehhhh, it was okay...........2001-09-07
That's about it - this is an okay collection of okay essays. Some are quite good, most are quite average, a few are not so good at all. The layout is also not very helpful - they are not chronologically arranged, but instead are put in some other, non-linear fashion. I am a *huge* fan of Glass, and am generally excited by anything about him - even just seeing his name printed somewhere or hearing his music on a commercial - but I was only whelmed by this book, and wouldn't necessarily recommend it to people. Seems as though the compiler could have found much better articles to include - surely in the years covered there were much more vibrant and intelligent writers writing about Glass.
If you are a diehard fan, or if you need some research material collected in one spot, go for this book. Otherwise, well, take your chances.
Hoscotch in additive land.......1999-01-28
Although this sort of collection is sorely needed, the format is not well thought through. Had a chronological approach been taken when assembling the various essays, an easier read could be had by all.
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- History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
- History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
- History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
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