Philip Glass

[Serial_Apologist]

I have to say that I have given it a miss. I tend to catch the 6:30 repeats, on the way home from work. I tuned in Tuesday and there was something lugubrious and repetitive which was precisely what I didn't need I confess to turning over to ClassicFM where Finzi's Clarinet Concerto, a Molter Trumpet Concerto & Beethoven's 8th etc provided precisely what I DID need. Mind you one had to turn a blind ear to the double-glazing and prostate clinic ads And a truly terrible piece of piano hogwash by someone called Phamie Gow http://phamiegow.com/v2/ *AVOID AVOID*

Her website asks, "Would you like Phamie to come and play near you?". I would't mind at all - but not the piano.

[Nick Armstrong]

Her website asks, "Would you like Phamie to come and play near you?". I would't mind at all - but not the piano.

"Number 1 most played artist.”

-Caffe Nero

I'll commission her to compose me a triple-shot caramel mocha frappé latte - but nothing else....

[MrGongGong]

My brain feels like shattered Glass with this insistent repetitive music. Could someone help me with a short, positive analysis of his work please. Love the discussion with DMcC. Thanks

Knock
Knock Knock
Knock Knock Knock
Knock Knock Knock Knock
Knock Knock Knock Knock Knock

Who's there ?

Philip Glass

[Bryn]

VLS's take on the matter, (you will probably have to select a player to hear it once it downloads).

[Quarky]

My brain feels like shattered Glass with this insistent repetitive music. Could someone help me with a short, positive analysis of his work please. Love the discussion with DMcC. Thanks

The issue of repetition was discussed between Glass and DM in I think it was Monday's episode. As Glass stated, repetition is quite common in the Classics, e.g. Haydn. But there is not in Glass a "narrative structure", I think was the term used.

Well it's not exact repetition is it? And as such, it's quite common in Indian music and Jazz. And at least much of it is tonal!

I guess it's what your listening ears are attuned to. I have no difficulty in listening to minimalism without getting irritated or angry. But I can understand a listener who only listens to the Classics will have difficulties with this type of music

[Serial_Apologist]

The issue of repetition was discussed between Glass and DM in I think it was Monday's episode. As Glass stated, repetition is quite common in the Classics, e.g. Haydn. But there is not in Glass a "narrative structure", I think was the term used.

Well it's not exact repetition is it? And as such, it's quite common in Indian music and Jazz. And at least much of it is tonal!

I guess it's what your listening ears are attuned to. I have no difficulty in listening to minimalism without getting irritated or angry. But I can understand a listener who only listens to the Classics will have difficulties with this type of music

It's mechanical, relentless and to my mind militaristic and therefore subliminally pathogenic. Unlike the nuances in earlier musics and musics of other cultures it consciously depends for its "$$$effectiveness$$$" on its machine-prescisionness, cutting it off from what it purports to draw on, rock music and, before that, blues and African rhythms, which it effectively demeans by wronged association. Minimalism, in the manner in which it has "evolved", is typically white imperialist American, to make a non-generalisation, whatever the themes it poses to. It p***** on all the advances in harmonic, rhythmic and timbral thinking in the Western concert music tradition that have made their mark on jazz and the best of popular music up to and including the twentieth century, and tramples the memories of those great musician artists who sacrificed freedom and often life in the quest to deepen the expressive range by means of which music can authentically reflect the complexity of our times.

As for what I really dislike about P Glass's music.... (Contd P 364)

[LeMartinPecheur]

It's mechanical, relentless and to my mind militaristic and therefore subliminally pathogenic. Unlike the nuances in earlier musics and musics of other cultures it consciously depends for its "$$$effectiveness$$$" on its machine-prescisionness, cutting it off from what it purports to draw on, rock music and, before that, blues and African rhythms, which it effectively demeans by wronged association. Minimalism, in the manner in which it has "evolved", is typically white imperialist American, to make a non-generalisation, whatever the themes it poses to. It p***** on all the advances in harmonic, rhythmic and timbral thinking in the Western concert music tradition that have made their mark on jazz and the best of popular music up to and including the twentieth century, and tramples the memories of those great musician artists who sacrificed freedom and often life in the quest to deepen the expressive range by means of which music can authentically reflect the complexity of our times.

As for what I really dislike about P Glass's music.... (Contd P 364)

But otherwise you like it SA??

[Alf-Prufrock]

As for what I really dislike about P Glass's music.... (Contd P 364)

Oh no, and there I was getting excited about which side you would eventually come down upon.

[Serial_Apologist]

But otherwise you like it SA??

I LOVE it, LeMartinPecheur - it so accurately reflects the values in American "High" culture today!

[Serial_Apologist]

Oh no, and there I was getting excited about which side you would eventually come down upon.

To me, the only Minimalism-inspired composer who, in some of his works, has made something interesting(ly derivative) out of it is John Adams.

[Lateralthinking1]

Oh dear. I'm really sorry. I like Philip Glass and own Glassworks both on vinyl and cd. I will be listening on the I-Player.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

To me, the only Minimalism-inspired composer who, in some of his works, has made something interesting(ly derivative) out of it is John Adams.

I'm more in tune with your #21, S_A. Apart from a couple of early Reich pieces (in particular Drumming and Music for 18 Musicians) Minimalism isn't my thing - Glass' writings about his collaborations in Opera on the Beach have always struck me as far more interesting than the actual Music that he produced for them.

But Adams has always struck me as embodying the worst characteristics that you describe in #21. I hear nothing in his work that other composers (past - Hindemith - and present - Rihm) haven't done better.

Sorry.

[hmvman]

Oh dear. I'm really sorry. I like Philip Glass and own Glassworks both on vinyl and cd. I will be listening on the I-Player.

Don't apologise and you're not alone; I like Glass's music too!

[Serial_Apologist]

I'm more in tune with your #21, S_A. Apart from a couple of early Reich pieces (in particular Drumming and Music for 18 Musicians) Minimalism isn't my thing - Glass' writings about his collaborations in Opera on the Beach have always struck me as far more interesting than the actual Music that he produced for them.

But Adams has always struck me as embodying the worst characteristics that you describe in #21. I hear nothing in his work that other composers (past - Hindemith - and present - Rihm) haven't done better.

Sorry.

But I agree, I agree with you largely, Ferney! But - admitting I have not followed Adams's progress in great detail, or those of La Monte Young, Reich, Riley, or their Dutch or British equivalents - there are one or two Adams works which either play down or manage to put the Minimalist approach to creative ends, imv; eg: his Chamber Symphony, and The Wound Dresser. And for somebody in the limelight of contemporary American music I do respect what little I know of his actual politics.

[Resurrection Man]

It's mechanical, relentless and to my mind militaristic and therefore subliminally pathogenic. Unlike the nuances in earlier musics and musics of other cultures it consciously depends for its "$$$effectiveness$$$" on its machine-prescisionness, cutting it off from what it purports to draw on, rock music and, before that, blues and African rhythms, which it effectively demeans by wronged association. Minimalism, in the manner in which it has "evolved", is typically white imperialist American, to make a non-generalisation, whatever the themes it poses to. It p***** on all the advances in harmonic, rhythmic and timbral thinking in the Western concert music tradition that have made their mark on jazz and the best of popular music up to and including the twentieth century, and tramples the memories of those great musician artists who sacrificed freedom and often life in the quest to deepen the expressive range by means of which music can authentically reflect the complexity of our times.

As for what I really dislike about P Glass's music.... (Contd P 364)

Succinctly put, SA.

Glass's music reminds me of a very persistent and painful migraine and something that you are delighted to see the back of!