Philip Glass' SATYAGRAHA at Met - Saturday

[charles t]

Got your ticket yet for this satellite event 11-19...whoops...19-11?

Will be viewing at 9:55a.m. here in Calif...while you - undoubtedly will be wearing your pajamas to view at your local cinema...

http://www.wnyc.org/shows/lopate/201...ublic+Radio%29 -

[bluestateprommer]

Well, from the deafening silence of the lack of posts in reply to this thread, I gather that no one else here went to see PG's Satyagraha at the cinema. At the movie house I attended, the hall was half-empty, which only shows that Glass is still too "radical" (i.e. not Puccini) for many. While I'll admit that I'm not a particular fan of Glass' music, I knew that I wanted to check this one out, even if at one remove of a movie screen. I'll admit that the glacial narrative (such as it was) pace really began to nag at me in the last half hour, where even more than usual, Glass kept noodling over the same text and bits to excess. Glass didn't want the Sanskrit text translated, which to me was a colossal mistake, so we got selected English texts as sort of commentary on the opera, if that means anything. However, the production was very good, and the singers and orchestra coped very well, not to mention the conductor. So at least I've experienced it once.

[Il Grande Inquisitor]

I'm sorry I didn't get to see this at the cinema, but I did see the production when it was at ENO and thoroughly enjoyed it, finding it beautiful and moving in equal measure.

[charles t]

Thank you for venturing into this thread.

I, too, would agree that this Met production certainly had its' 'beautiful and moving moments'.

Possibly a return to the 'old' days of opera productions where there were no visual subtitle aids and the vocalizings were purely 'sounds'.

Although in this production, I nearly feel asleep in Act II during all that business on stage of rolling-up newspapers, etc.

For those interested, you can audit the 2008 production of Satyagraha at the Met, (and many others) which also starred (tenor) Richard Croft as Ghandi.

His performance, for this listener, was worth the time investment.

http://www.opera-collection.net/uploadsmet20072008.htm

[bluestateprommer]

From watching the Metropolitan Opera's quarantine daily series of archival videos, I'd seen a banner for a DVD of the recent Satyagraha. The NYT has this article on it:

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/07/arts/music/philip-glass-met-opera-satyagraha.html

[Richard Barrett]

Glass is still too "radical" (i.e. not Puccini) for many.

For others, Glass was by the time he wrote Satyagraha very far from being radical enough! I decided to reacquaint myself with it not long ago, having purchased the box set of LPs when it first came out and having eventually disposed of them again. After the eye- and ear-opening Einstein on the Beach, Glass proceeded to strip out all the really interesting things about his work up to that point (the instrumentation, textures, vocal production, non-narrative form etc.) and replace them with a simulacrum of "classical" conventions where musical invention seems to be used in almost homeopathic dilution. I made a note to myself never again to waste any time on this tedious excuse for an opera.

[ahinton]

For others, Glass was by the time he wrote Satyagraha very far from being radical enough! I decided to reacquaint myself with it not long ago, having purchased the box set of LPs when it first came out and having eventually disposed of them again. After the eye- and ear-opening Einstein on the Beach, Glass proceeded to strip out all the really interesting things about his work up to that point (the instrumentation, textures, vocal production, non-narrative form etc.) and replace them with a simulacrum of "classical" conventions where musical invention seems to be used in almost homeopathic dilution. I made a note to myself never again to waste any time on this tedious excuse for an opera.

I'm afraid that I can find nothing positive to say about any of Glass' earlier works either but do agree that his subsequent direction seems to have been an unstoppable downward spiral...

[Dave2002]

In the case of Akhnaten I have now enjoyed it several times - once live at the ENO a few years ago, and a couple of times more recently from the screened Met performances. I did also see a performance of Satyagraha at ENO a few years back - and I was not over thrilled, though I've not tried to watch it again. I have not seen Einstein on the Beach, which I'm told is worthwhile - or at least some people seem to make positive comments about it.

I'm not sure whether the current subscription to the Met - at Free Trial (7 days) then £10.49 per month, or £140.99 per year would include access to productions like this latest Glass one of Satyagraha. At least £10.49 wouldn't be a large outlay for anyone wanting to try, though I'm not rushing to do that either given the comments about the work here.

If a performance of Einstein on the Beach comes round I might be interested.

[Bryn]

In the case of Akhnaten I have now enjoyed it several times - once live at the ENO a few years ago, and a couple of times more recently from the screened Met performances. I did also see a performance of Satyagraha at ENO a few years back - and I was not over thrilled, though I've not tried to watch it again. I have not seen Einstein on the Beach, which I'm told is worthwhile - or at least some people seem to make positive comments about it.

I'm not sure whether the current subscription to the Met - at Free Trial (7 days) then £10.49 per month, or £140.99 per year would include access to productions like this latest Glass one of Satyagraha. At least £10.49 wouldn't be a large outlay for anyone wanting to try, though I'm not rushing to do that either given the comments about the work here.

If a performance of Einstein on the Beach comes round I might be interested.

The Blu-ray of Einstein on the Beach is worth considering. The same Paris production was also on Youtube a while back, IIRC.

Ah, no, it's on Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/200182262 It's a slightly different edoit from the Blu-ray version.

[Mandryka]

I'm afraid that I can find nothing positive to say about any of Glass' earlier works either

Not even the first string quartet?

[ahinton]

Not even the first string quartet?

Not really, no; sorry!

[Richard Barrett]

Not even the first string quartet?

The point at which I part company with Glass's work is when it stops being radical in terms of material, form, instrumentation and so on, and becomes pseudo-"classical" mood music, which in retrospect with however many operas, symphonies and concertos he's churned out since the late 1970s, seems to have been the way things were going all along. As in Satyagraha, each of whose scenes contains maybe half a minute of music stretched out to however many yards are required.

[ahinton]

The point at which I part company with Glass's work is when it stops being radical in terms of material, form, instrumentation and so on, and becomes pseudo-"classical" mood music, which in retrospect with however many operas, symphonies and concertos he's churned out since the late 1970s, seems to have been the way things were going all along. As in Satyagraha, each of whose scenes contains maybe half a minute of music stretched out to however many yards are required.

Indeed; even parts of that first quartet strike me as suggestive of such a decline in the making. There seems already to be evidence of a desire to stand still rather than move from place to place, as though merely making statements suffices without any need to challenge them, develop them or otherwise elaborate on them; I find this incredibly dispiriting. OK, it was his first quartet - but just think of the first quartets of, for example, Schönberg, van Dieren, Bartók, Carter if seeking an illustration of the fact that comparisons can indeed be odious...

[Dave2002]

However it's making a come back at ENO in October. I almost certainly won't go!

https://eno.org/

[Richard Barrett]

However it's making a come back at ENO in October. I almost certainly won't go!

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