Jan Solo's Minimalist in SOUNDTRACKS

Wim Mertens en Madrid

2011-11-10T21:03:00.004+01:00

Presentación de su nuevo disco SERIES OF ANDS – Immediate givens Warner 2011 . Con este nuevo album doble, el compositor Wim Mertens logra una amplísima escala musical; completa de cuerdas, guitarras, arpa e incluso un clavicémbalo.

Si estás en Madrid no te lo pierdas, entradas aquí:

Martes (15/11/2011): 20:30 h.
TEATRO HAAGEN DAZS CALDERON
Madrid

CD1 minimal
thanks miumet

1. The Great Outdoors 7:42
2. Sonsigns 7:18
3. Violet 5:44
4. Face A Main 7:26
5. Navigare Necesse Est 3:18
6. Der Des Ders 6:54
7. Indexed By The Arche-Fossil 8:36
8. Man-In-Person 7:39

CD2 minimal
thanks miumet

1. Kerf Width 7:26
2. The Biggest Fable Of All 3:03
3. In Zones 13:26
4. The Determinant Of The Last Instance 3:15
5. What It Is Like To Be From Belgium 5:29
6. Remaining So And As Such 3:10
7. Oeuvrer 8:05
8. Unwitnessed Ancestral Phenomena 3:23
9. Tactility 2:56
10. The Fossil Argument 3:20
11. The Real Of The Cut 4:34

Accordions Nyman

2011-02-12T18:33:00.007+01:00

Michael Nyman & Motion Trio, Acoustic Accordions (2009)

Motion Trio
Janusz Wojtarowicz - accordion
Pawel Baranek - accordion
Marcin Galazyn - accordion

Nigel Barr - trombone and euphonium
Michael Nyman - piano

The fusion of Michael Nyman and the Motion Trio was an idea born especially for the 7th Kinoteka Polish Film Festival project originated and realised by the Polish Cultural Institute in London and financially supported by the Adam Mickiewicz Institute as part of POLSKA! YEAR

Janusz Wojtarowicz (Motion Trio leader) writes:

“Michael Nyman’s music has been a part of my musical life for years. The first time I encountered it was in Peter Greenaway’s film “The Draughtsman’s Contract” and I was dazzled. I remember the theme “Chasing Sheep” stayed in my head for many days. Following that, I listened to Michael’s soundtracks to “Drowning by Numbers”, “Prospero’s Books”, “A Zed and Two Noughts”, “The Hairdresser’s Husband” and many others, with equal amazement.

I realised then that Nyman’s aesthetic – the exceptional drive and ruggedness of this music, combined with a deep lyricism – is very close to my own and that of Motion Trio as a whole. So when we received the proposition to play some of Michael’s film music with him, I promptly selected and arranged those pieces that I thought would sounds best rendered on three accordions.

After this experience, I know that what’s resulted from it is a new kind of sound and I’m not the one whom credit is due for this. The quote a detractor, “Nyman’s music is so wonderful, it even sounds good on the accordion”.

Thanks to miumet

new live minimal

01.In Re Don Giovanni - Motion Trio, Nigel Barr
02.Knowing the Ropes - Michael Nyman, Motion Trio, Nigel Barr
03.Trysting Fields - Motion Trio
04.Wedding Tango - Michael Nyman, Motion Trio, Nigel Barr
05.Come Unto These Yellow Sands - Motion Trio
06.If - Michael Nyman, Motion Trio
07.Chasing Scheep is Best Left to Shepherds - Michael Nyman, Motion Trio
08.The Heart Asks Pleasure First - Michael Nyman solo
09.Miranda - Michael Nyman, Motion Trio, Nigel Barr
10.Silence - Motion Trio

Secret Glass

2010-06-18T12:30:00.007+02:00

From the Philip Glass Recording Archive Volume V (2009)
The Secret Agent

Original music composed by Philip Glass
Directed by Christopher Hampton

Composed by Philip Glass
Conducted by Michael Riesman
Performed by The English Chamber Orchestra
Conducted by Harry Rabinowitz
With additional soloists:
Susan Jolles, harp
Fred Sherry,cello
Henry Schuman, English horn, oboe
Keith Underwood, flute, piccolo
Produced by Kurt Munkacsi for Euphorbia Productions, Ltd.
Recorded at Whitfield Street Studios, London, England

The new release from Philip Glass’s record label Orange Mountain Music, presents the score to the Christopher Hampton thriller, The Secret Agent. (This release is a re-issue of Nonesuch 79442-2)

Verloc (Bob Hoskins) has made his living spying for the Russian government, while simultaneously providing information to the London police.When the new Russian ambassador demands he prove his worth or lose his salary, Verloc sets off a tragic chain of events that involves his pretty young wife Winnie (Patricia Arquette), her retarded brother Stevie (Christian Bale), and a figure called the Professor (Robin Williams), whose fascination with explosives and destruction makes him the person to call on when Verloc needs a bomb.
Christopher Hampton, the film’s director and screenwriter, is also known for his stage and screen versions of "Dangerous Liasons" and more recently for his screenplay to the award-winning “Atonement.” Hampton and Glass later worked together when the composer asked the writer to create a libretto from J.M Coetzee’s novel “Waiting for the Barbarians” in 2005. Hampton again wrote a libretto Glass’ 2007 opera “Appomattox”about the meeting of Robert E. Lee and Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Courthouse at the end of the American Civil War.

Thanks to XploringUru torrent
minimal

TRACKS:

01. (4:52) Secret Agent
02. (3:16) Winnie Remembers
03. (5:13) Verloc and the Russian Embassy
04. (1:42) Blood On The Stairs
05. (3:22) The First Meridian
06. (1:52) Emigration
07. (3:47) Trust
08. (5:44) Winnie?
09. (2:35) Explosives
10. (1:22) All The Money
11. (2:43) Simple
12. (2:32) Roast Beef
13. (4:15) Safe Journey
14. (3:09) Ossipon Is Tempted
15. (2:41) Winnie Goes To Sea
16. (3:08) Secret Agent Ending

Last Mertens

2010-06-06T22:27:00.004+02:00

Zee versus Zed (2010)

Wim Mertens

La última letra del alfabeto sirve como hilo conductor del nuevo trabajo de Wim Mertens, “Zee versus zed” (dos formas de nombrar la letra z en ingles dependiendo de si se hace en Estados Unidos o en Canadá). Diez composiciones para un ensemble de cuerdas, metales, arpa y guitarra que acompañan al piano del maestro belga, que también canta en uno de los temas titulado “Z’s rival”.

Thanks to miumet
minimal

01 - according to the real
02 - compass strokes
03 - zing'up
04 - zoet'kemiesch
05 - finding a people
06 - miennet
07 - fair warnings
08 - pitched in pairs
09 - z's rival
10 - zusammensetzen

New Mertens

2010-05-19T13:30:00.003+02:00

The World Tout Court (2009)

by Wim Mertens

minimal1
minimal2

1. Its Long Sought Principle 6:00
2. As Instrumentum 3:26
3. Cumbrous Notations 3:18
4. Random Groping 4:14
5. The Whole Of The Past 4:03
6. Such A Transition 3:40
7. Par Chance, Sans Effort 8:40
8. Apatride 12:24
9. This Necessary Willkür 3:10
10. Without Example 5:01
11. Unless The Hand Obeys 4:00
12. Its Maschinewesen 4:52

Glass World

2010-04-25T21:23:00.004+02:00

The World of Philip Glass (2002)

The pieces included in this program date from the past fifteen years and the earliest featured here is the Violin Concerto. Premiered in April 1987 at Carnegie Hall by Paul Zukofsky, the dedicatee of the Concerto, and with the American Composers Orchestra conducted by Dennis Russell Davies, the work is in typical concerto from with three movements and scored for a traditional orchestra. The final movement is heard here

In Music from "The Screens" , Jean Genet's last stage work, Glass collaborated with African musician Foday Musa Suso. This collaboration came about as a result of a project to stage the play in November 1989 at the Guthrie Theatre in Minneapolis, where it would be directed by JoAnne Akalaitis (Glass was married to her during the years 1965-80). The play is set in 1960s Algeria during the struggle for independence from France and Akalaitis wanted Suso to work in collaboration with a western composer. Glass and Suso knew each other during the mid-1980s and the resulting score represents a true collaboration of two composers from different cultures.

Another collaboration with musicians from a different culture is represented in the set of pieces Glass wrote for the ensemble UAKTI from Belo Horizonte in Brazil. UAKTI take their name from a huge creature of Amazon legend which, with its body full of holes, produced fantastic and weird sounds when it ran through the forests. Glass created a score with ten movements for a ballet group from Belo Horizonte. In Aguas da Amazonia nine movements depict nine rivers, while the final movement is entitled Metamorphosis I. The movement featured here is the final river of the score, the Amazon.

Reference has already been made to the influence Glass had on rock musicians in the 1970s and both Brian Eno and David Bowie have acknowledged such influences. This resulted in Glass creating a symphonic version of their Low album in his "Low" Symphony of 1992. Movement one, "Subterraneans", is included here. Four years later, in 1996, Glass produced the "Heroes" Symphony in which the six movements are based on music by Bowie and Eno. Each movement is also the basis of a dance work used by Twyla Tharp's dance company. Two movements are included here: the second movement "Abdulmajid" (written by Bowie and Eno), and the final movement "V2 Schneider" (written by Bowie).

— Raymond McGill, 2002

minimal

1. (15:09) I. Subterraneans (Low Symphony)
2. (3:28) Land of the Dead (Music from The Screens)
3. (3:00) Said's Treason (Music from The Screens)
4. (7:09) The Orchard (Music from The Screens)
5. (2:05) Night on the Balcony (Music from The Screens)
6. (9:29) Concerto for Violin and Orchestra
7. (7:24) Amazon River (Aguas de Amazonia)
8. (8:54) II. Abdulmajid (Heroes Symphony)
9. (6:51) VI. V2 Scheider (Heroes Symphony)

Total time: 63:47

Track 1, The Brooklyn Philharmonic Orchestra, Conductor: Dennis Russell Davies. Recorded at the Looking Glass Studios, NYC. USA. circa. 1993.
Tracks 2-5, (Philip Glass and Foday Musa Suso) Instrumental Ensemble, Conductor: Martin Goldray. Recorded at the Looking Glass Studios, NYC. USA. circa. 1992.
Track 6, Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, Violin: Gidon Kremer, Conductor: Christoph von Dohnanyi. Recorded at Vienna, Musikverein, Grosser Saal, Austria, February 1992.
Track 7, Ensemble UAKTI Recorded at the Polifonia Studios, Belo Horizonte, Brazil, December 1993.
Track 8-9, The American Composers Orchestra, Conductor: Dennis Russell Davies.

Glass Ensemble

2010-04-25T20:19:00.002+02:00

The Philip Glass Ensemble A Retrospective (2010)

In March 2004, when The Philip Glass Ensemble went to Monterrey, Mexico, for a concert at the Auditorio Luis Eilzondo at the Instituto Tecnológico de Monterrey, we had been performing mostly music-with-film shows such as Koyaanisqatsi, Powaqqatsi, Dracula, La Belle et la Bête, and Shorts. In fact, other than some Philip Glass Ensemble Unplugged concerts we did in 2002, we hadn't done a true Ensemble concert since Singapore in 2001.

It was fun to play this repertoire again, to not have to worry about sync with picture and focus just on the music. It was like putting on old comfartable shoes. We had played all of the pieces on this program many, many times, so we had scheduled only a single rehearsal the day before the concert.

All of the early Ensemble repertoire is without percussion, written for the core group of soprano voices, 3 winds, and 3 keyboards. As Glass started to write more and more orchestral music and less music specifically for the Ensemble, as Music Director it was my job to arrange some of this music for the Ensemble to provide new repertoire, and these arrangements often included percussion. On this album, The Grid, The Photographer, Mosque and Temple, Low Symphony, and Funeral are all arrangements by me, and of those, the last three include percussion.

Although technology plays a part in the Ensemble, which uses MIDI keyboard and percussion controllers, hardware synthesizers, and computers for sample playback and keyboard mixing, every note you hear on this recording is played in real time. No sequencers or pre-recorded material (other than samples of individual notes) are used. Playing much of this music requires, above all, rhythmic precision and cohesion, and everyone must listen intently to make this happen. That's part of the challenge and part of the fun, for when it's going right it gets an exhilarating groove.

We brought along a multi-track recording system for this concert and our own engineers, Dan Dryden and Steve Erb, made the recording, performing simultaneous duty as house- en monitor-mix engineers respectively. After we came back to New York I mixed the tracks at the Looking Glass Studios, our home base. I'm very happy that this recording is now finally being released.

-- Michael Riesman

This Album was previously released as a download titled "Philip Glass Ensemble Live in Monterrey".

minimal

DISC 1
01. (07:53) Dance 9
02. (11:24) Music in 12 Parts - Part 1
03. (14:32) Music in 12 Parts - Part 2
04. (08:44) The Building
05. (06:17) Facades
06. (06:45) The Grid

DISC 2
01. (18:56) The Photographer - Act II
02. (05:59) Powaqatsi - Mosque temple
03. (09:09) Low Symphony Movement III
04. (08:49) Akhnaten - Funeral
05. (08:06) EOB - Spaceship

Glass in Orchestra

2010-04-05T15:04:00.004+02:00

Lautten Compagney Timeless (2010)

Music composed by:
Tarquinio Merula (1595-1665)
Philip Glass (1937)
Conductor: Wolfgang Katschner

minimal

TRACKS:
Philip Glass
01. (1:42) The Windcatcher - Part I

Tarquinio Merula
02. (5:40) La Lusignola

Philip Glass
03. (2:32) Melody for Saxophone No. 10

Tarquinio Merula
04. (2:11) Alemana
05. (1:47) Ballo detto Polliccio

Philip Glass
06. (2:44) Melody for Saxophone No. 12
07. (6:21) Facades

Tarquinio Merula
08. (2:30) La mia Filli e fugace

Philip Glass
09. (1:33) Melody for Saxophone No. 5

Tarquinio Merula
10. (2:47) Che nove arti son queste
11. (4:36) La Loda

Philip Glass
12. (7:12) Opening
13. (2:27) Video Dream

Tarquinio Merula
14. (4:35) Sonata cromatica
15. (1:56) Capriccio
16. (3:36) Folle e ben
17. (2:08) Sentirete
18. (7:20) Su la cetra amorosa

Philip Glass
19. (5:34) The Windcatcher - Part III

Total time: 69:21

Glass Quartets

2010-04-05T12:22:00.003+02:00

Philip Glass Quartets (2009)

Philip Glass music
Paul Klee 4tet
Alessandro Fagiuoli 1st violin
Stefano Antonello 2nd violin
Andrea Amendola viola
Luca Paccagnella cello

thanks XploringUru
minimal

String Quartet 1 (1966)
1) (7:47) I
2) (6:10) II

String Quartet 2 - Company (1983)
3) (2:30) I
4) (1:40) II
5) (2:02) III
6) (2:10) IV

String Quartet 3 - Mishima (1985)
7) (3:45) 1957 : Award Montage
8) (1:06) November 25 - Ichigaya
9) (3:14) Grandmother and Kimitake
10) (1:39) 1962 : Body Building
11) (3:01) Blood Oath
12) (2:59) Mishima / Closing

String Quartet 4 - Buczak (1989)
13) (7:23) I
14) (6:22) II
15) (5:55) III

String Quartet 5 (1991)
16) (1:11) I
17) (2:58) II
18) (6:13) III
19) (4:37) IV
20) (6:42) V

Total time (79:25)

Adams Violin

2010-03-11T11:02:00.005+01:00

John Adams - Violin Concerto & Shaker Loops (1996)

Violin Concerto
Gidon Kremer
London Symphony Orchestra
Kent Nagano

Shaker Loops
Orchestra of St. Luke's
John Adams

Thanks to malunchi
minimal

1. Violin Concerto (1993): I Quarter Note = 78
2. Violin Concerto (1993): II Chaconne: Body Through Which The Dream Flows
3. Violin Concerto (1993): III Toccare
4. Shaker Loops (1977-83): I Shaking And Trembling
5. Shaker Loops (1977-83): II Hymning Slews
6. Shaker Loops (1977-83): III Loops And Verses
7. Shaker Loops (1977-83): IV A Final Shaking

Minimal Harp

2010-03-11T01:12:00.011+01:00

Minimal Harp (2008)

Harp: Floraleda Sacchi

The “Minimal Harp” project developed together with my (artistic and personal) investigation of essential ways of communication. The transmission of concepts and feelings in a clear, concise way seemed to me a privileged path towards understanding of the universe and the exploration of truth.

What has guided me in this project, therefore, is not only (or necessarily) music defined as
“minimalist”. The elimination of all that is unnecessary is a predisposition of mind, a legacy of Zen, a necessary requirement in the study of an effective instrumental technique.

They say Ulysses, wearied of wonders,
wept with love on seeing Ithaca,
humble and green. Art is that Ithaca,
a green eternity, not wonders.
(Jorge Luis Borges, “The Art of Poetry”, in Personal Anthology)

Minimal Harp (Decca) - Intervista a Floraleda Sacchi

When wonders are eliminated and we approach essence, we realize that it contains the intensity and depth of the long path that has led to that result, and at the same time we find that in itself essence has a simpler, broader, more universal expressive value. In this connection, one of Robert Morris’s adages is enlightening: “Simplicity of form is not necessarily simplicity of experience.”

I have selected the pieces included in “Minimal Harp” by reviewing the paths of musicians with different backgrounds of experiences, studies and culture who have sought to realize that essentiality and totality in their music. The result is a collection of compact, polished pieces, slightly serial in nature, which constantly combine Western, Eastern and African musical traditions. All these pieces seek to explore various fundamental modes and themes of humanity: the beginning of everything (Cowell, Ligeti, Nyman), metamorphosis (Glass, Machajdik), time (Harrison, Campogrande), the intrinsic vibration of things (Cage, Pärt).

For the listener, however, the conceptual and cerebral aspect inherent in the themes selected or the compositional modalities is transformed into simple, linear pieces with an atmosphere that seems constantly to recall and lead back to the natural harmony between humanity and the whole.

minimal

Lou Harrison (1917-2003)
Music for Harp
01 (2:59) Jahla (1972)
02 (2:45) Avalokiteshvara (1964)

John Cage (1912-1992)
Two Pieces for Harp
03 (1:50) A room (1942)
04 (7:34) In a Landscape (1938)

Henry Cowell (1897-1965)
05 (2:31) The Tides of Manaunaun (1912)

Philip Glass (1937)
Metamorphosis (1988)
06 (4:03) No. 1 Moderate
07 (3:33) No. 2 Flowing
08 (2:50) No. 3 Moderately Fast
09 (5:43) No. 4 Flowing
10 (3:16) No. 5 Moderate

Nicola Campogrande (1969)
11 (3:47) Tililadodin (2008)

Arvo Pärt (1935)
12 (4:06) Pari intervallo (1978)

György Ligeti (1923-2006)
Musica Ricercata (1951-3)
13 (2:39) No. 1 Sostenuto
14 (3:03) No. 2 Mesto, rigido e cerimoniale
15 (1:58) No. 3 tempo di Valse

Peter Machajdik (1960)
16 (7:50) Nell'autunno del suo abbraccio insonne (2004)

Michael Nyman (1944)
17 (3:04) The Morrow (1997)
18 (1:55) Jack (1999)

Glass in Violin

2010-03-03T11:49:00.009+01:00

Glass / Rorem / Bernstein: Violin Concertos / Serenade (1999)

Violin Concerto
 Composed by Philip Glass  Performed by Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra  with Gidon Kremer  
Conducted by Christoph von Dohnanyi  

Violin Concerto
 Composed by Ned Rorem  
Performed by New York Philharmonic  with Gidon Kremer  
Conducted by Leonard Bernstein  

Serenade (after Plato: Symposium), for violin, harp, percussion & strings; also for violin & piano  Composed by Leonard Bernstein  
Performed by Israel Philharmonic Orchestra  with Gidon Kremer
 Conducted by Leonard Bernstein

The Glass Violin Concerto is one of the best examples of his current "mature" style, that combines Minimalist techniques with surging lyrical flow and mastery of orchestral forces much larger that the Glass Ensemble. I

t's been called, with a fascinaring oxymoron, Maximalist Minimalism. This evolution implies the use of the traditional classical forms, such as symphonies and concertos, and, in this respect, the Violin Concerto is one of Glass's most convincing essays.

Actually, it's the piece which "converted" me me to the appreciation of a composer whose early output I often criticized.

This concerto astonishingly reminds me , of all composers, of Sibelius. There's something of that Nordic master in the otherworldly lyricism of this concerto, especially in the magnificent, impossible-to-forget slow movement, yet this is distinctly a Glassian sound-world.

All his trademarks are present in new, enriched forms: arpeggios, repetitions, that marvelous "far/close" effect in the strings. In this respect the two exhilaratingly motoric outer movements are more typically Glassian, and they encapsulate splendidly the middle one, the hauntingly lyrical heart of the whole piece.

Gidon Kremer is a splendid, silvery-toned soloist (I've heard him live recently just in the Sibelius and he was peerless) and also a most intelligent musician : very sensitively he doesn't overplay his part , which was written to go along with the orchestra and not in opposition to it in the traditional , virtuoso way.

The Wiener Philharmoniker and Christoph von Dohnanyi (that's what I call luxury casting!) sound, somewhat unexpectedly, totally into the idiom. Actually, I'd say that the warm, aristocratic Vienna sound is very apt for this music. It does not surprise me that, after this premier recording, this beautiful work has enjoyed two further ones., from Telarc and Naxos: I bought the Naxos (mainly for the couplings) and it's very good, but probably Kremer's is destined to remain unmatched for a while.

The recorded sound is excellent, if not quite state-of-the-art. If you liked this I recommend you warmly the symphonies (especially nos.2 and 3) and, less obviously, an undeservedly lesser-known masterpiece: the soundtrack for the "Secret Agent" , a suite of marvelously addictive music.

The couplings are kind of unlikely, but very interesting: the Rorem concerto is a rhapsodic, varied work that grows on you on repeated listenings. There's kind of a Rorem re-discovery currently going on : I don't think it's unforgettably personal music, but this composer has been unjustly neglected for all the wrong reasons (too tonal, too fluent, too openly gay), and deserves to be heard more.

The Bernstein Serenade is very enjoyable, if not exactly a milestone, but those who usually respond to his music more warmly than me will love its Stravinskian wit coupled with Bernsteinian flamboyance. A highly rewarding disc.

-----N. Daniele Pietro

minimal

Glass
1. Concerto For Violin And Orchestra: Quarter Note = 104 - Quarter Note = 120
2. Concerto For Violin And Orchestra: Quarter Note = Ca. 108
3. Concerto For Violin And Orchestra: Quarter Note = 150 - Coda: Poco meno Quarter Note = 104

Rorem  
4. Violin Concerto: 1. Twilight: Free And Spacious - attacca:
5. Violin Concerto: 2. Toccata-Chaconne: Very Fast
6. Violin Concerto: 3. Romance Without Words: Hardly Moving
7. Violin Concerto: 4. Midnight: Slow
8. Violin Concerto: 5. Toccata-Rondo: Very Fast
9. Violin Concerto: 6. Dawn: Wistful

Bernstein
10. I. Phaedrus - Pausanias: Lento - Allegro marcato
11. II. Aristophanes: Allegretto
12. III. Erixymachus: Presto
13. IV. Agathon: Adagio
14. V. Socrates - Alcibiades: Molto tenuto - Allegro molto vivace

----------------------------------------------------------------

Philip Glass: Concerto For Violin And Orchestra -
Alfred Schnittke: Concerto Grosso No. 5 (Gidon Kremer, 1993)

Gidon Kremer (Violin)
Rainer Keuschnig (Piano)
Wiener Philarmoniker
Christoph Von Dohnányi

Same version (Philip Glass) other disc

Thanks to malunchi
minimal

Philip Glass
Concerto for Violin and Orchestra
1. I. 1/4 = 104-1/4 = 120
2. II. 1/4 = 108
3. III. 1/4 = 150-Coda: Poco meno 1/4 = 104

Alfred Schnittke
Concerto Grosso Nº 5
for Violin, an Invisible Piano and Orchestra
4. I. Allegro
5. II. Without tempo indication
6. III. Allegro vivace
7. IV. Lento

Glass for Chorale

2010-02-28T18:49:00.007+01:00

Itaipu and Three Songs - Philip Glass (2010)

Itaipu could be considered a Philip Glass paen to both a natural wonder and to a modern technological marvel - the huge hydro-electric dam at Itaipu on the Parana River on the border between Brazil and Paraguay. The music exemplifies the wonder wrought by nature and by humankind, and the native Guarani text recounts the creation of the world and how the first people came to this special place. This major work for chorus and orchestra was commissioned anonymously for the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Premiered November 2, 1989 by the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra conducted by Robert Shaw.

Conductor Grant Gershon and the Los Angeles Master Chorale with an orchestra made up of the best studio players in Los Angeles created this vibrant recording of "Itaipu".

Three Songs for Chorus a Cappella
Music by Philip Glass
Lyrics by Leonard Cohen, Raymond Lévesque and Octavio Paz

Three Songs for Chorus a Cappella was commissioned for the 350th Anniversary of Québec in 1984 by "Quebec 1534-1984 Festival." Together with the composer's 1985 studio album "Songs from the Liquid Days" and his collaboration 22 years later with poet Leonard Cohen on a song-cycle "Book of Longing," "Three Songs for Chorus a Cappella" comprise most of Glass's song writing. This recording features the renowned Crouch End Festival Chorus, conducted by David Temple, in the premiere recording of the Three Songs from the year 2000.

minimal

Itaipu
Music by Philip Glass
Performed by the Los Angeles Master Chorale
Grant Gershon, conductor

1. (11:54) Mato Grosso
2. (08:23) The Lake
3. (11:17) The Dam
4. (04:52) To The Sea

Three Songs
For Choir a Cappella
Music by Philip Glass
Performed by The Crouch End Festival Chorus National Sinfonia

5. (02:52) There Are Some Men
6. (02:59) Quand les Hommes Vivront d'Amour
7. (04:02) Pierre de Soleil

Glass Concerto Projects

2010-02-26T20:42:00.018+01:00

Philip Glass: The Concerto Project, Vol. 1 (2004)

Music by Philip Glass

Julian Lloyd Webber, cello

Evelyn Glennie and Jonathan Haas, timpani

The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra

Gerard Schwarz, conductor

Concerto Fantasy, Movement I

This is the first of a series of four CDs that Philip Glass and Orange Mountain Music have planned entitled "The Concerto Project, No. I-IV" Each disc contains two concerti. Omm0016 features Julian Lloyd Webber with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Gerard Schwarz performining "Concerto for Cello and Orchestra" and Evelyn Glennie and Jonathan Haas performing "Concerto Fantasy for Two Timpanists and Orchestra" also with Gerard Schwarz conducting the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. World-class soloists, excellent orchestra, excellent conducting and the beautiful sounding Philharmonic Hall in Liverpool, together with major compositions from the world's preeminent composer, Philip Glass.

minimal

CONCERTO FOR CELLO AND ORCHESTRA

1. Movement I 9:54

2. Movement II 4:02

3. Movement III 6:51

CONCERTO FANTASY FOR TWO TIMPANISTS AND ORCHESTRA

4. Movement I 5:29

5. Movement II 8:26

6. Cadenza 4:36

7. Movement III 5:56

The Concerto Project Vol. II (2006)

Music by Philip Glass

'The Vision' - Movement I

The Concerto Project Vol. II is the second release in Orange Mountain Music's Concerto Project series and features two world premiere recordings of works by composer Philip Glass.

Pianist Paul Barnes performs Piano Concerto No. 2 "After Lewis and Clark" with the Northwest Chamber Orchestra conducted by Ralph Gothóni. The concerto was commissioned in part by the Nebraska Lewis and Clark Bicentennial Commission in celebration of the 200th Anniversary of the explorers' journey across the American continent.

The three movements are titled "The Vision", "Sacagawea" and "The Land." The first and third movements bookend an intimate middle movement that features a traditional Shoshone Indian theme performed on the Native American flute by R. Carlos Nakai.

The dynamic flare of the first concerto is contrasted by the album's second work, Philip Glass's beautiful Concerto for Harpsichord and Orchestra. The three movement concerto is performed by harpsichordist Jillon Stoppels Dupree and the Northwest Chamber Orchestra conducted by Ralph Gothóni.

Marked by refined writing for chamber orchestra which showcases the most lush sounds of the harpsichord, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer raved:

The whole well designed work had life and shape and a beautiful balance between soloist and orchestra.

While the Seattle Times said:

Glass does understand how to score for the harpsichord, giving the soloist plenty of trills and other effects that demonstrate its melodic as well as percussive possibilities...

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1. 'The Vision' - Movement I - Paul Barnes

2. 'Sacagawea' - Movement II - Paul Barnes

3. 'The Land' - Movement III - Paul Barnes

4. Movement I - Jillon Stoppels Dupree

5. Movement II - Jillon Stoppels Dupree

6. Movement III - Jillon Stoppels Dupree

The Concerto Project Vol. III (2008)

Music by Philip Glass

Concerto for Saxophone Quartet - Mvt. I

The Concerto Project Vol. III represents the third release in a series of four albums to be released by Orange Mountain Music documenting the eight Glass concertos. Volume III includes Glass’ “Concerto Grosso” Each movement of the "Concerto Grosso" is written for a distinctive group of instruments - the winds, brass and strings, which together make up a symphonic ensemble. It is performed by the Beethoven Orchester Bonn conducted by Dennis Russell Davies.

The second concerto on the disc is Glass “Concerto for Saxophone Quartet.” The concerto performed by its commissioners, the internationally renowned Raschèr Saxophone Quartet. Glass conceived of the work as both a concerto for Saxophone Quartet and Orchestra but also to create a version sans orchestra which is heard on the current recording.

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Concerto Grosso - Mvt. I

Concerto Grosso - Mvt. II

Concerto Grosso - Mvt. III

Concerto for Saxophone Quartet - Mvt. I

Concerto for Saxophone Quartet - Mvt. II

Concerto for Saxophone Quartet - Mvt. III

Concerto for Saxophone Quartet - Mvt. IV

Glass by Brubaker

2010-02-25T13:23:00.023+01:00

Time Curve: Music for Piano by Philip Glass and William Duckworth (2009)

Glass: Six Etudes for Piano (original 1994 version)

Bruce Brubaker: piano

Music Philip Glass and William Duckworth

Philip Glass - Etude 1

Duckworth - The Time Curve Preludes- VII

Few pianists approach Philip Glass’s music with the level of devotion and insight that Bruce Brubaker brings to it," writes the New York Times. Bruce records on Arabesque and teaches at the New England Conservatory.

Acclaimed for his subtle mastery of the classical repertory, Bruce Brubaker has become a champion of contemporary American music, particularly the works of composers Philip Glass and John Adams. Brubaker is creating a new role for the pianist. He is highly regarded for his innovative programming, often combining music with other media.

Brubaker trained at the Juilliard School, where he received the school's highest award, the Edward Steuermann Prize, upon graduation. He joined the Juilliard faculty in 1995. The pianist has given masterclasses and forums at Juilliard, Columbia University, and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.

Bruce Brubaker has emerged in recent years as one of the most sensitive and probing interpreters of minimalist and post-minimalist piano music, and in William Duckworth's "Time Curve Preludes" he has tackled a masterpiece fully worthy of his gifts. In this set of 24 short solo pieces from 1978-79 - only half of them included here, unfortunately - Duckworth works through a series of distinctive rhythmic and harmonic ideas, shaping each one with a degree of structural clarity that contrasts with the textural haze produced by open piano strings. The result is a heady mix of rhapsodic lilt and fierce urgency with Erik Satie as the guiding spirit, and Brubaker delivers the music with his usual understated eloquence. The same qualities inform Philip Glass' "Six Etudes for Piano," which begin the disc in a shapely and vigorous rendition.

- Joshua Kosman

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Glass: Six Etudes for Piano (original 1994 version)
1. 1 (q = 168)
2. 2 (q = 108)
3. 3 (q = 132)
4. 4 (q = 104)
5. 5 (q = 96)
6. 6 (q = 176)

Duckworth: The Time Curve Preludes, Book 1
7. I (q = 104)
8. II (q = 104)
9. III (q = 126)
10. IV (q = 132)
11. V (q = 132)
12. VI (q = 104)
13. VII (q = 72)
14. VIII (q = 76)
15. IX (q = 96)
16. X (q = 192)
17. XI (q = 80) Freely, with great rubato
18. XII (q = 124)

---------------------------------------------------------------

Glass Cage: Music for Piano by Philip Glass and John Cage (2000)

Bruce Brubaker: piano
Music Philip Glass and John Cage

Metamorphosis One

Although the two composers knew, liked, and admired each other, Cage and Glass may seem an unlikely couple to share an album. For Glass has followed a very specific and highly personal muse throughout his mature career — he has spoken regularly of his efforts to "invent a musical language" — while Cage, especially in his later work, opted for a supreme objectivity, sometimes leaving choices such as pitch, rhythm and timbre largely up to the performer. To put it another way, one usually knows immediately when a work by Philip Glass comes over the radio, whereas Cage, by design, eschewed any clearly identifiable "style."
And yet these compositions work remarkably well together, as the listener will discover. Cage once said that the purpose of all artistic endeavor was "to sober and quiet the mind, thus rendering it susceptible to divine influences." The same might be said for such Glass compositions as the finale from Satyagraha and — despite its name — for Mad Rush. Indeed, most of this music is likely to inspire contemplative meditation rather than any sort of frenetic activity.
Both of the Cage works date from the 1940s. "A Room" was originally composed as the as the third part of She is Asleep, an unfinished work begun in 1943. It may be played on either a standard or a prepared piano and, with typical Cagean laissez-faire, the composer indicated that the three parts of She is Asleep can be played in any order and one or more of them might be omitted.
Dream, which has attained considerable popularity in recent years, was written for Cage's longtime personal and professional partner Merce Cunningham in 1948. It is occasionally played on the viola — indeed, both of the Cage pieces on this disc were scored in alto clef — and makes its haunting, gently plaintive effect on either instrument.
Cage composed a set of five piano pieces called Metamorphosis in 1938; almost exactly fifty years later, Philip Glass created his own series with the same title. In Glass's case, the inspiration came from a play based on the Kafka short story. Movements three and four derive from some incidental music he wrote for a staging, while the three other sections found their genesis in the soundtrack music Glass composed for the film The Thin Blue Line — a remarkably mixed heritage.
It was Glass's longtime collaborator, the composer, conductor and instrumentalist Michael Riesman, who adapted the finale of the 1980 opera Satyagraha into a work for keyboard. Tracing what is essentially an unadorned Phrygian mode, repeated in groups of three against a background of subtly shifting harmonies, this music (originally an aria for central character, Mohandes Gandhi) brings the long and beautiful opera to a proportionate close.
Although Glass himself has dated Mad Rush back to a New York appearance by the Dalai Lama in the fall of 1981, the composition is at least a year older than that (a recording featuring Glass himself playing Mad Rush on a portable organ was issued by the defunct arts magazine The Soho Weekly News in late 1980). No matter its origin, this is a marvelously dignified and stately processional that can serve many purposes — not the least of them to welcome a moral and religious luminary to Manhattan.
Glass plays his keyboard works with a certain modernist objectivity and formal reserve. Still, to this taste, there is something deeply invigorating — indeed, revelatory — that happens when a pianist of Brubaker's fancy and imagination takes on these scores, particularly when they are heard in close proximity to one another. Here, Brubaker has assembled a disc that seems a seventy-minute sonorous and unified invitation to elevation.
— Tim Page

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PHILIP GLASS
1 Satyagraha (Act 3, Conclusion) 8:05
JOHN CAGE
2 "A Room" (from She is Asleep) 2:11
PHILIP GLASS
Metamorphosis
3 Metamorphosis One 6:26
4 Metamorphosis Two 6:20
5 Metamorphosis Three 4:55
6 Metamorphosis Four 7:55
7 Metamorphosis Five 5:06
JOHN CAGE
8 Dream 7:40
PHILIP GLASS
9 Mad Rush 13:59

Glass in Orange

2010-02-24T18:22:00.005+01:00

The Orange Mountain Music Philip Glass Sampler (2010)

Philip Glass

Concerto Fantasy, Movement I

This is an excellent sampler of Glass' music. The selections are from a variety of compositions written over a period years for different combinations of musicians. This is a great place to start an exploration of Glass' music and you will want to move on from the selections you like to the larger works from which they are excerpted. There are many hours of musical exploration here.

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01 (4:52) Etude II
from - Etudes For Piano Vol. I, No. 1-10

02 (1:07) Music Box
from - The Music Of Candyman

03 (3:46) Concerto For Saxophone, Mvnt. IV
from - Saxophone

04 (2:31) Help Me
from - Music From The Thin Blue Line

05 (1:39) Orphee's Bedroom
from - The Orphee Suite for Piano

06 (2:59) 100,000 People
from - The Fog of War

07 (4:59) Passages - Channels and Winds
from - Dennis Russell Davies Performs PG

08 (4:00) Escape!
from - The Hours Solo Piano
09 (5:28) Concerto Fantasy, Movement I
from - Concerto Project Vol. I,

10 (3:03) The Chase
from - The Music of Undertow

11 (2:45) Etude No. 2 (Supervielle)
from - Glass Cuts Philip Glass Remixed

12 (2:38) Etoile Polaire
from - Analog, omm0029

13 (4:01) Piano Concerto No. 2, The Vision
from - Concerto Project Vol II

14 (4:08) The Plant-Boy's Song
from - The Witches Of Venice

15 (3:15) Renfield
from - Dracula Solo Piano

16 (2:34) Funeral of Amenhotep III - edit
from - Reflections

17 (1:36) A Drive In The Country
from - Cassandra's Dream

18 (2:47) Dreamscape No.3
from - Waiting For The Barbarians

19 (1:03) Molly Is A Dreamer
from - Theater Music Archive, Vol. 1

20 (2:01) Neverwas Restored
from - Neverwas Soundtrack

21 (6:36) The Grid
from - Koyaanisqatsi

Nyman y McAlmont, minimal vocal music

2010-02-22T21:02:00.015+01:00

David McAlmont and Michael Nyman - The Glare (2009)

Michael Nyman - Davis McAlmont
Michael Nyman Band

David McAlmont es uno de los cantantes más valorados en la escena musical inglesa. Se le ha comparado favorablemente con grandes cantantes como Al Green, Marvin Gaye, Philip Bailey y Curtis Mayfield (según Daily Telegraph). Otro medio inglés (The Guardian) lo ha descrito como "un excelente cantante de soul y un camaleonico cantante de pop" y la revista Mojo"uno de los grandes cantantes ingleses del momento". David ha colaborado con Craig Armstrong (que lo describe como un tesoro nacional), David Arnold, Courtney Pine, Jools Holland, Terence Blanchard (en el Barbican), la BBC Concert OrchestraLondon Jazz Festival), Cyndi Lauper, Guy Barker y ahora Michael Nyman. Más conocido por ser la mitad del dúo McAlmont and Butler con el que ha tenido dos discos en el top 40 inglés, también ha tenido éxito como compositor, escribiendo tanto canciones para sí mismo y Bernard Butler, así como para otros artistas como Gary Clarke, Boo Hewerdine, Tommy D, Pascal Gabriel, Craig Armstrong, Jools Holland, KD Lang y Shirley Bassey.

Tras su primera colaboración en directo como dúo, en enero del año pasado, el compositor de bandas sonoras como 'El piano' o 'El marido de la peluquera' y el cantante David McAlmont han desarrollado un proyecto que consta de dos partes: un disco, publicado en octubre de 2009; y una propuesta en directo junto a la Michael Nyman Band, cuyo estreno en España será en Madrid.

Para este singular proyecto, McAlmont, uno de los grandes cantantes del panorama inglés, ha seleccionado las composiciones que más le gustan de Nyman y se ha basado en noticias mundiales para componer los textos.

Escritas en primera persona, estas nuevas canciones se nutren de variados temas globales como la piratería del siglo XXI ('Going to America'), líderes mundiales ('In Re Don Giovanni'), correos de droga ('In Laos'), errores bancarios ('Take the Money and Run'), robos internacionales de joyas ('Dorothy'), tráfico de prostitutas en Europa ('A City Called Turin'), suicidio asistido ('Friendly Fire'), migraciones de niños africanos ('Fever Sticks and Bones') y los 'reality shows' de la tele ('The Glare').

Michael Nyman y David McAlmon firmaron en El Corte Inglés de Preciados
(por favor solo para informacion, comprad el disco)

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01 Take the Money and Run
02 Secrets Acusations and Charges
03 City of Turin
04 Friendly Fire
05 In Rai Don Giovanni
06 In Laos
07 Going to America
08 Fever Sticks and Bones
09 A Great Day in Kathmandu
10 Underneath the Hessian Bags
11 The Glare
12 Songs for Tony (Michael Nyman)

Concierto en Madrid

Teatro Price

Firmas en el descanso y al finalizar el concierto, una multitud.

Wonderful, David McAlmont y Michael Nyman!!!!! Porque en música todavía no esta todo inventado... La formula voz (jazz, pop) con musica minimalista FUNCIONA y muy bien.

Concierto prodigioso:

Primera parte PURO Nyman, todo lo mejor con su banda

Segunda parte, LO NUEVO con la prodigiosa voz de David McAlmont, con un registro de voz sorprendente y de como la voz puede encajar sincopada con este tipo de musica

Y en los bises una versión inédita cantada de EL PIANO, sorprendente, con esa manera de cantar de David que se aísla de la melodia formando un conjunto sin embargo armonioso.

El Mejor concierto que he visto de Nyman, y he visto unos cuantos...

IMPERDIBLE

(JANSOLO)

Adams in Spanish

2010-02-19T16:02:00.003+01:00

John Adams - A Flowering Tree (2008)

Libretto by Adams and Peter Sellars, adapted from the Indian folktale and poetry in translation
by A.K. Ramanujan

Jessica Reivera, soprano
Russell Thomas, tenor
Eric Owens, bass-baritone

London Symphony Orchestra
Schola Cantorum de Venezuela
Conducted by John Adams

Recorded live, August 7-12, 2007, at the Barbican Centre in London

London Symphony Orchestra
Schola Cantorum Caracas with Jessica Rivera, soprano
Russell Thomas, tenor
Eric Owens, baritone
conducted by John Adams.

With a text in English and Spanish, an Indian tale, a Venezuelan chorus and orchestra, and Indonesian dancers, a composer other than Adams might have chosen to cobble together a multicultural pastiche, with musical references to ragas and gamelan and Latin dances. Instead, Adams chose a more subtle route, delving beyond cultural diff erences into the essence of the story. Even when he evokes a Ramayana monkey chant in Act II, the music itself, bristling with hocketing winds and off -kilter brass fanfares, reminds us more of his own Harmonielehre than it does Balinese traditional music. Things are never as simple as they seem on the surface; even individual instruments take on multidimensional roles. So while the soprano and alto recorders (which Adams uses for the first time in his orchestration) may evoke Hispanic folk music, they also recall the netherworld of Orfeo ed Euridice. If the glockenspiel hints at gamelan, it also summons up Papageno’s bells from The Magic Flute. (Notes from the booklet)

Tracklist:

Disc: 1
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01 Act I Scene 1
02 One morning....
03 Kumudha's Prayer.
04 Scene 2- Flores Chorus.
05 Kumudha and her sister...
06 Scene 3- Audience with the King.
07 Mama Mama, Por que nos pegas.
08 Scene 4- The Wedding.
09 They broughther to me
10 Bride and Groom.
11 The bride sunk her face.

Disc: 2
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01 Act II Scene 1- Orchestral Prelude.
02 'You are cruel.'.
03 'Kumudha once more...'.
04 'Days passed...'.m4a
05 Scene 3- Before I laughed with him nightly.
06 Scene 4- Kumudha aAnd the Beggar Minstrels.
07 Scene 5- We had all but forgotten you, Prince.
08 The Prince recognizes Kumudha.
09 Kumudha's Final Transformation.

Glass in Minimal Music

2010-02-19T15:49:00.007+01:00

Philip Glass - Minimal Music (2009)

Composer: Philip Glass
Performer: Philip Glass, Dennis Russell Davies, John Lenehan, Philip Glass Ensemble

The Grand Master of minimal music, here portrayed with a cross-section of his major works - including his three undertook a "Portrait Trilogy" became known operas, each one of the personalities of contemporary violence: Akhenaten, Einstein and Gandhi

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TRACKS:

1. Scene 1: Funeral of Amenhotep III - Voice
2. Satyagraha (conclusion Act 3)
3. The Poet Acts
4. Escape!
5. Knee Play no. 4 (from Einstein on the Beach)
6. Opening (from "Glassworks")
7. Hymn To The Sun from Akhnaten - Album Version
8. Facades - Instrumental
9. Lightning - Vocal
10. Dance II - Instrumental
11. Dance IX - Instrumental

Glass Opera

2010-02-18T11:45:00.008+01:00

A Madrigal Opera (1979,2009)

By Philip Glass

Release: November 10, 2009

World premiere recording of Philip Glass’ A Madrigal Opera performed by Finland’s Ooppera Skaala. Glass’ second opera after the hallmark Einstein on the Beach in 1975, A Madrigal Opera contains no narrative or subject matter. It is a work composed for future writers and directors to create in and around Glass score.

The work is composed as for a traditional madrigal, with six voices with violin and viola accompaniment. The clean and dynamic Glass score from 1979 represented a huge musical step for the composer as he moved toward a more expressive idiom which later produced works like Satyagraha and Koyaanisqatsi.

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thanks archives to dr cravinhos

TRACKS:

Opening 8:06
Part I 13:12
Part II 12:11
Part III 10:17
Part IV 12:07
Closing 4:38

---------------------------------------

Glass: Symphony No.7 'Toltec'

Philip Glass (Artist, Composer), Dennis Russell Davies (Conductor, Performer), Bruckner Orchester Linz (Orchestra), Linz Opera Chorus

World premiere recording of Philip Glass' Symphony No.7 Toltec; conducted by Dennis Russell Davies and performed by the Bruckner Orchester Linz with the Linz Opera Chorus. The 2004 symphony is a dedication to the Mesoamerican Toltec tradition. It was an advanced civilization which existed between 500 B.C. and 500 A.D. Glass gives us a three-movement work representing the holy trinity of the Wirrarika: Movement One: The Corn, Movement Two: The Hikuri (Sacred Root), and Movement Three: The Blue Deer.

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Track Listings

1. Movement I - The Corn

2. Movement II - The Hikuri (Sacred Root)

3. Movement III - The Blue Deer

Michael Nyman Band & David McAlmont in Spain

2010-01-22T11:31:00.007+01:00

La Michael Nyman Band & David McAlmont presentarán en directo en febrero su nuevo disco, 'The Glare', en Madrid y Barcelona. Las citas para mostrar al público su nueva aventura musical serán el día 23 de febrero, en el Teatro Circo Price de Madrid, y el día 24 en el Palau de la Música de Barcelona, dentro del Festival Mil.leni.

Michael Nyman y David McAlmon firmaran en El Corte Inglés de Preciados, 22 de febrero,De 19 a 20.30 hora.

Mi entrada para Madrid adquirida. aquí/here

Glass Regrets

2009-12-15T01:44:00.003+01:00

Les Regrets (2009)

Composed by Philip Glass. Released in August 31, 2009.

The soundtrack to the French film les Regrets with rare tracks from Philip Glass including Love Divided By and 12 Pieces for Ballet. These tracks have previously been available as part of the "Music from Dunvagen" collection.

Minimal Thanks to Joserael

Track listing

01. Facades (02:32)
02. Love Divided by (00:57)
03. 12 Pieces for a Ballet (1ère variation) (01:15)
04. In the Upper Room (1ère variation) (01:01)
05. Sinnerman (10:18)
Written and performed by Nina Simone
06. Closing (02:19)
07. 12 Pieces for a Ballet (2ème variation) (01:06)
08. In the Upper Room (2ème variation) (01:50)
09. In the Upper Room (3ème variation) (01:10)
10. Floe 87 (03:45)

Total Duration: 00:26:13

Glass in BBC

2009-09-15T17:36:00.009+02:00

Philip Glass: Violin Concerto; Symphony No 7 (A Toltec Symphony - UK premiere).
Broadcast on:
BBC Radio 3, 10:15pm Wednesday 12th August 2009
From the Royal Albert Hall, London

• Gidon Kremer, Violin
• BBC Symphony Chorus
• Dennis Russell Davies, Conductor
• BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra

In the first Prom devoted exclusively to the music of American minimalist composer Philip Glass, the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and BBC Symphony Chorus are joined by violinist Gidon Kremer and conductor Dennis Russell Davies, both long-term advocates of Glass' music.

Harmonic, pulsing and with constant repetition of small figures or phrases, minimalism blossomed from a small underground movement on the west coast of the United States in the 1960s, becoming one of the most popular forms of late 20th century music. Philip Glass, one of its early pioneers, is one of the most prolific, influential and instantly identifiable composers of our age.

This concert showcases two of his most important works for full orchestra: his first major orchestral score - the Violin Concerto of 1987 - and the Toltec Symphony of 2004, which takes its title from the ancient pre-Columbian culture that reigned in Mesoamerica long before the coming of the Europeans.

thanks to dr cravinhos
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01. Symphony No.7 ‘A Toltec Symphony’ (UK Premiere) 1:21:03

Glass, The Big Box

2009-09-14T14:22:00.021+02:00

The Glass Box: A Nonesuch Retrospective (2008)

The 10-disc compilation Glass Box surveys 40 years of the work of Philip Glass: groundbreaking early solo pieces, the revolutionary Einstein on the Beach, film scores, etudes, symphonies, and much more. The elegantly designed "interim report," as critic Tim Page writes in his liner note, traces the evolution of "the first composer to win a wide, multi-generational audience in the opera house, the concert hall, the dance world, in film and in popular music—simultaneously."
The box features extensive liner notes, performance credits, librettos, and appreciations from fellow artists like Laurie Anderson, David Bowie, and Paul Simon. The composer’s longtime colleague, the artist Chuck Close, selected the artwork for each of the individual discs; Close and other artists—Francesco Clemente, Annie Leibovitz, Robert Mapplethorpe and Robert Wilson–interpret Glass’s image for each side of the cube in which the discs are encased.

(mp3 320@)

Disc One—Early works - Philip Glass, electric organ, alto flute. 2: Barbara Benary, electric violin, voice; Steve Chambers, electric organ; Jon Gibson, electric organ, soprano saxophone, flute, voice; Dickie Landry, soprano saxophone, tenor saxophone, piccolo, flute, voice; Kurt Munkacsi, engineer, electronics; Arthur Murphy, electric piano; Robert Prado, trumpet, flute, voice. 3: Steve Chambers, Art Murphy, electric organs; Jon Gibson, Dickie Landry, soprano saxophones; Robert Prado, flute; Kurt Munkacsi, engineer, electronics

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1.01 Early Works: Music in Contrary Motion 15:35
1.02 Early Works: Music with Changing Parts (edited) 45:37
1.03 Early Works: Music in Similar Motion 17:11

Disc Two—Four from the Music in Twelve Parts - The Philip Glass Ensemble, Michael Riesman, musical director, keyboards; Lisa Bielawa, voice; Jon Gibson, Andrew Sterman, soprano saxophone, flute; Philip Glass, keyboards; Martin Goldray, keyboards; Richard Peck, alto and tenor saxophones

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2.01 Music in 12 Parts: Part 7 19:58
2.02 Music in 12 Parts: Part 8 18:17
2.03 Music in 12 Parts: Part 9 12:14
2.04 Music in 12 Parts: Part 10 17:08

Disc Three—Excerpts from the opera Einstein on the Beach - The Philip Glass Ensemble, Michael Riesman, musical director; chorus; solo voice: Marion Beckenstein, Katie Geissinger; Kristin Norderval; spoken text: Lucinda Childs, Sheryl Sutton, Jasper McGruder, spoken text

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3.01 Einstein on the Beach: Knee Play 1 8:04
3.02 Einstein on the Beach: Train 1 13:46
3.03 Einstein on the Beach: Knee Play 2 6:08
3.04 Einstein on the Beach: Knee Play 3 6:30
3.05 Einstein on the Beach: Trial 2 / Prison: "Prematurely Air-Conditioned Supermarket" (edited) 12:17
3.06 Einstein on the Beach: Knee Play 4 7:05
3.07 Einstein on the Beach: Bed: Prelude 4:24
3.08 Einstein on the Beach: Spaceship 12:51
3.09 Einstein on the Beach: Knee Play 5 8:04

Disc Four—Glassworks - 1, 2: Michael Riesman, piano, synthesizer; Jack Kripl, saxophone. 3: Miles Green, keyboards. 4: Michael Riesman, piano soloist, conductor; Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra. 5-13: Philip Glass, Farfisa, Yamaha, and Hammond organs, Fender Rhodes piano, arp, synthesizer. 5-10: Dickie Landry, soprano and tenor saxophones, flute; Joan La Barbara, Gene Rickard, voices. 11-13: Iris Hisky, vocals

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4.01 Glassworks/Analog: Orange Mountain Music Archive: Opening 6:12
4.02 Glassworks/Analog: Orange Mountain Music Archive: Façades 7:17
4.03 Glassworks/Analog: Orange Mountain Music Archive: Floe '87 8:44
4.04 Glassworks/Analog: Orange Mountain Music Archive: Closing 5:17
4.05 Glassworks/Analog: Étoile Polaire 2:38
4.06 Glassworks/Analog: Étoile Polaire: River Run 1:54
4.07 Glassworks/Analog: Étoile Polaire: Are Years What? (For Marianne Moore) 4:01
4.08 Glassworks/Analog: Étoile Polaire: Age des Orages 3:47
4.09 Glassworks/Analog: Étoile Polaire: Ave 4:44
4.10 Glassworks/Analog: Étoile Polaire: Montage 2:33
4.11 Glassworks/Analog: Dressed Like an Egg: Part IV 3:12
4.12 Glassworks/Analog: Dressed Like an Egg: Part V 1:33
4.13 Glassworks/Analog: Mad Rush for Organ 16:14

Disc Five—The opera Satyagraha - The New York City Opera Chorus and Orchestra, conducted by Christopher Keene; Douglas Perry, tenor; Claudia Cummings, soprano; Rhonda Liss, alto; Robert McFarland, baritone; Scott Reeve, bass; Sheryl Woods, soprano; Rhonda Liss, alto; Scott Reeve, bass; Robert McFarland, baritone

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5.01 Satyagraha: Act I (Tolstoy), Scene 1: The Kuru Field of Justice 18:47
5.02 Satyagraha: Act I (Tolstoy), Scene 2: Tolstoy Farm (1910) 11:01
5.03 Satyagraha: Act II (Tagore), Scene 1: Confrontation and Rescue (1896) 14:44
5.04 Satyagraha: Act II (Tagore), Scene 3: Protest (1908) 15:16
5.05 Satyagraha: Act III (King), Scene 1: Newcastle March (1913) - Part 3: Evening Song 8:22

Disc Six—Excerpts from Koyaanisqatsi and Powaqqatsi - 1-6: Conducted by Michael Riesman; Albert de Ruiter, bass vocal; The Western Wind Vocal Ensemble; Members of The Philip Glass Ensemble. 7-14: Foday Musa Suso, kora, balafon, dousongoni, nyanyer, kari nyan; Shaikh Fathy Mady, vocal solo; Al DeRuiter, bass voice; Joe Passaro, Sue Evans, Roger Squitero, Valerie Naranjo, percussion; Hispanic Young People’s Chorus, Angélica Rosa Sepúlveda, musical director

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6.01 Koyaanisqatsi: Koyaanisqatsi (listen to full-length track) 3:26
6.02 Koyaanisqatsi: Organic 7:47
6.03 Koyaanisqatsi: Cloudscape 4:32
6.04 Koyaanisqatsi: Resource 6:39
6.05 Koyaanisqatsi: Vessels 8:05
6.06 Koyaanisqatsi: The Grid 21:23
6.07 Powaqqatsi: Serre Pelada (listen to full-length track) 5:02
6.08 Powaqqatsi: Train to Sao Paulo 3:04
6.09 Powaqqatsi: Video Dream 2:15
6.10 Powaqqatsi: New Cities in Ancient Lands, China 2:48
6.11 Powaqqatsi: New Cities in Ancient Lands, Africa 2:56
6.12 Powaqqatsi: New Cities in Ancient Lands, India 4:42
6.13 Powaqqatsi: Mr. Suso #2 with Reflection 1:19
6.14 Powaqqatsi: Powaqqatsi 4:35

Disc Seven—String Quartets and Etudes - 1-4, 7-11, 14-16: Kronos Quartet: David Harrington, violin; John Sherba, violin; Hank Dutt, viola; Joan Jeanrenaud, cello. 5, 6, 12, 13: Philip Glass, piano

minimal

7.01 String Quartet No. 2 (Company): Movement I (listen to full-length track) 2:11
7.02 String Quartet No. 2 (Company): Movement II 1:36
7.03 String Quartet No. 2 (Company): Movement III 1:32
7.04 String Quartet No. 2 (Company): Movement IV 2:12
7.05 Étude for Piano No. 2 4:52
7.06 Étude for Piano No. 9 3:35
7.07 String Quartet No. 5: Movement I 1:11
7.08 String Quartet No. 5: Movement II 2:59
7.09 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 7:46
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 8:48

Disc Eight—Excerpts from the operas CIVIL warS, Hydrogen Jukebox and Akhnaten - 1: American Composers Orchestra, Dennis Russell Davies, conductor; Denyce Graves, mezzo-soprano; Sondra Radvanovsky, soprano; Zheng Zhou, baritone. 2-7: Martin Goldray, keyboards; Carol Wincenc, flute; Andrew Sterman, soprano sax, bass clarinet; Frank Cassara, James Pugliese, percussion; Elizabeth Futral, soprano; Michele Eaton, soprano; Mary Ann Hart, mezzo-soprano; Richard Fracker, tenor; Gregory Purnhagen, Nathiel Watson, baritone; Allen Ginsberg, narrator; Philip Glass, piano. 8-11: Stuttgart State Opera Orchestra and Chorus, conducted by Dennis Russell Davies; Assistant Conductor: Anton Zapf; Chorus Master: Ulrich Eistert

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8.01 the CIVIL warS: Act V—The Rome Section: Prologue 18:49
8.02 Hydrogen Jukebox: Song #3: From Iron Horse 2:54
8.03 Hydrogen Jukebox: Song #2: Jahweh and Allah Battle 2:54
8.04 Hydrogen Jukebox: Song #11: from The Green Automobile 5:59
8.05 Hydrogen Jukebox: Song #9: From Nagasaki Days (Numbers in Red Notebook) 0:40
8.06 Hydrogen Jukebox: Song #10: Aunt Rose 4:58
8.07 Hydrogen Jukebox: Song #6: From Wichita Vortex Sutra 7:45
8.08 Symphony No. 5: Suffering (edited) 5:07
8.09 Akhnaten: Act I, Scene 1: Funeral of Amenhotep III 8:59
8.10 Akhnaten: Act I, Scene 3: The Window of Appearances 4:24
8.11 Akhnaten: Act II, Scene 4: Epilogue 10:36

Disc Nine—Symphonies 3 and 8 - 1-4: Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Dennis Russell Davies. 5-7: Bruckner Orchester Linz, conducted by Dennis Russell Davies

minimal

9.01 Symphony No. 3: Movement I (listen to full-length track) 4:37
9.02 Symphony No. 3: Movement II 6:15
9.03 Symphony No. 3: Movement III 10:05
9.04 Symphony No. 3: Movement IV 3:39
9.05 Symphony No. 8: Movement I 19:27
9.06 Symphony No. 8: Movement II 12:18
9.07 Symphony No. 8: Movement III 6:57

Disc Ten—Film music - Conducted by Michael Riesman. 1-3, 14-16: Kronos Quartet: David Harrington, violin; John Sherba, violin; Hank Dutt, viola; Joan Jeanrenaud, cello. 4, 5: The English Chamber Orchestra (Harry Rabinowitz, conductor) with additional soloists. 6-9: Dhondup Namgyal Khorko, Tibetan horns and cymbals; Gyuto Monks; Monks of the Drukpa Order; musicians. 10, 11: Jeannie Gagné, Dora Ohrenstein, sopranos; Patricia Dunham, Linda November, altos; David Düsing, David Frye, tenors; Alexander Blachly, Bruce Rogers, baritones; musicians. 12: The Philip Glass Ensemble, Michael Riesman, conductor, musical director, keyboards. 13: Michael Riesman, conductor, keyboards; musicians. 20: Michael Riesman, piano; Chris Laurence, double bass; orchestra conducted by Nick Ingman; Lyric Quartet

minimal

10.01 Mishima: Opening (listen to full-length track) 2:46
10.02 Mishima: November 25: Morning 4:11
10.03 Mishima: Closing 2:59
10.04 The Secret Agent: The First Meridian 3:21
10.05 The Secret Agent: Secret Agent 4:51
10.06 Kundun: Sand Mandala (listen to full-length track) 4:06
10.07 Kundun: Distraught 3:00
10.08 Kundun: Lhasa at Night 2:00
10.09 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

PRODUCTION CREDITS
Glass Box
Produced by Robert Hurwitz, Kurt Munkacsi, and Michael Riesman; all recordings produced by Kurt Munkacsi and Michael Riesman
Compilation edited and mastered at The Looking Glass Studios, NYC; Assistant Engineer: Ichiho Nishiki
Design by Peter Buchanan-Smith

More Pianos Glass

2009-09-14T12:09:00.005+02:00

Circles (1998)

Music by Philip Glass
Arturo Stalteri, pianos

minimal

TRACKS:
1. (06:22) Opening
2. (05:43) Metamorphosis One
3. (04:51) Étoile Polaire (North Star)
4. (04:00) Victor's Lament
5. (01:53) River Run
6. (04:49) Ave
7. (15:49) Mad Rush
8. (08:32) Aria from Act III of Satyagraha
9. (01:34) Closing (Stalteri Dramatic Version)

Music for piano solo, or the result of arrangements for more than one piano, or for piano and cello, with an interpretative richness and depth such as to place the "classic" composer Philip Glass in a position of absolute distinction. With its absence of refrains and points of melodic support, it has the flavour of an opera which, above and beyond the so-called minimalist movement, now belongs in the history of contemporary music.

Circles is the result of my involvement, during a period of over twenty-years, in the music of Philip Glass, first as a simple listener and observer, later also as an interpreter. In this recording I present a double-reading of a selection of Glass' compositions, starting from what I would call the metropolitan period - radical and slightly schizoid ('70s and early '80s) - up to the more meditative and intimate pieces of the last fifteen years. The inclusion of the North Star block should be interpreted in this sense. In 1978 I attended a concert in which Philip Glass and his ensemble performed several cuts from North Star, and I was particularly impressed by the great impact of this music, a sweeping and electric wall of sound. I attempted to recreate the same compactness through a very tight piano-transcription, encouraged by Glass himself to reelaborate a work that by now belongs to the history of the so-called minimalist movement.

As for the other pieces featured on this record, I have limited myself to interpreting Glass' scores, though without denying myself the privilege of adding my own rhythmic and dynamic coloring to what are really only signs, which the performer has the right/obligation to bring back to life according to his own personality (to tell the truth in Closing I did more than this, radically modifying the left-hand part and tempo). In Metamorphosis One and Mad Rush, instead, I faithfully followed the composer's piano score. Why Circles? Because, to me, Philip Glass' music has no beginning and no end. The use of circular compositional patterns stands out as one of its main features. Yet it also possesses a natural and polished intensity, that often acquires a three-dimensional quality surrounding the listener and the performer with the balance inherent in the sphere, an enlightened peacebringer in our troubled times.

-- Arturo Stalteri

Arturo Stalteri plays Yamaha pianos. "Étoile Polaire", "Victor's Lament", "River Run" and "Ave", originally included on the soundtrack of "North Star", are here in Arturo Stalteri's arrangement. "Ave" cello is played by Damiano Puliti.

Engineered by Pietro Mantovani. Digitally Editing by Lorenzo Tommasini & Giampiero Bigazzi. Art Direction by Ivan Iusco & Ernst Thornton. Texts translated by Melinda Mele.

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Glass Piano Music (2009)
Ruhr Festival Piano

Pianos: Maki Namekawa & Dennis Russell Davies

minimal

TRACKS:

Four Movements for Two Pianos (world premiere recording)
1. (6:08) Movement I
2. (5:44) Movement II
3. (7:14) Movement III
4. (5:35) Movement IV

Six Etudes for Piano (1994) - original version
5. (4:10) Etude No. 1
6. (5:33) Etude No. 2
7. (4:11) Etude No. 3
8. (4:51) Etude No. 4
9. (4:35) Etude No. 5
10. (9:16) Etude No. 6

Music from Stephen Daldry's Film
THE HOURS (2002) arr. for solo piano
by Michael Riesman
11. (5:21) Morning Passages
12. (4:01) Escape!
13. (4:05) The Poet Acts

NOTES:
Philip Glass' long-time champion Dennis Russell Davies teams with pianist maki Namekawa to perform Glass' music for piano. This release includes the premiere recording of "Four Movements for Two Pianos" by Dennis Russell Davies and Maki Namekawa which the two pianists played at the Ruhr Piano Festival in 2008. The album also includes Davies' performing the original six Glass piano études, and Namekawa playing three selections from Glass' score to The Hours.

CREDITS:
Executive producers for Orange Mountain Music: Philip Glass, Kurt Munkacsi and Don Christensen

Recording: (Tracks 1-14) Philharmonie Essen (Germany), 7 July 2008 (Live); Recording Producer & Editing: Christoph Martin Frommen; (Tracks 5-13) Brucknerhaus Linz (Austria) November 2008, Recording Producer & Editing: Erich Pintar, Studio Weinberg, Kefermarkt (Austria); Mastering: Christoph Martin Frommen

Arvo Pärt, the Sacro Minimalist

2009-07-10T21:42:00.028+02:00

Arvo Pärt

11 September 1935
Estonia.

"mi música es similar a la luz blanca, solo cuando pasa a través de un prisma se divide y aparecen todos los colores. Este prisma es el espíritu de cada oyente".
-Arvo

Pärt works in a minimalist style that employs tintinnabulation and hypnotic repetitions influenced by the intellectual counterpoint elements of European jazz, and is generally placed within European-American classical post-modernism.

Continuing struggles with Soviet officials led him to emigrate in 1980 with his wife and their two sons. Pärt lived first in Vienna, Austria, where he took Austrian citizenship, and then re-located to Berlin, Germany, where he still lives.

His most familiar works are Cantus In Memoriam Benjamin Britten for string orchestra and bell (1977) and the string quintet "Fratres I" (1977, revised 1983), which he orchestrated for string orchestra and percussion, the solo violin "Fratres II" and the cello ensemble "Fratres III" (both 1980).

Pärt is often identified with the school of minimalism and, more specifically, that of mystic minimalism or holy minimalism. He is considered a pioneer of this style, along with contemporaries Henryk Górecki and John Tavener. Although his fame initially rested on instrumental works such as Tabula Rasa and Spiegel im Spiegel, his choral works have also come to be widely appreciated.

Pärt's musical education began at age seven. He began attending music school in Rakvere, where his family lived. By the time he reached his early teen years, Pärt was writing his own compositions. While studying composition with Heino Eller at the Tallinn Conservatory in 1957, it was said of him that "he just seemed to shake his sleeves and notes would fall out."

In this period of Estonian history, Pärt was unable to encounter many musical influences from outside the Soviet Union except for a few illegal tapes and scores. Although Estonia had been an independent Baltic state at the time of Pärt's birth, the Soviet Union occupied it in 1940 as a result of the Soviet-Nazi Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact; and the country would then remain under Soviet domination—except for the three-year period of German wartime occupation—for the next 51 years.

Arvo Pärt's oeuvre is generally divided into two periods.

His early works ranged from rather severe neo-classical styles influenced by Shostakovich, Prokofiev, and Bartók. He then began to compose using Schoenberg's twelve-tone technique and serialism. This, however, not only earned the ire of the Soviet establishment, but also proved to be a creative dead-end. When early works were banned by Soviet censors, Pärt entered the first of several periods of contemplative silence, during which he studied choral music from the 14th to 16th centuries. In this context, Pärt's biographer, Paul Hillier, observed that "He had reached a position of complete despair in which the composition of music appeared to be the most futile of gestures, and he lacked the musical faith and will-power to write even a single note."

The spirit of early European polyphony informed the composition of Pärt's transitional Third Symphony (1971); and thereafter, he immersed himself in early music, re-investigating the roots of Western music. He studied plainsong, Gregorian chant, and the emergence of polyphony in the European Renaissance. The music that began to emerge after this period was radically different. This period of new compositions included Fratres, Cantus In Memoriam Benjamin Britten, and Tabula Rasa.

Pärt describes it as tintinnabuli—like the ringing of bells. The music is characterized by simple harmonies, often single unadorned notes, or triads which form the basis of western harmony. These are reminiscent of ringing bells. Tintinnabuli works are rhythmically simple, and do not change tempo. The influence of early music is clear. Another characteristic of Pärt's later works is that they are frequently settings for sacred texts, although he mostly chooses Latin or the Church Slavonic language used in Orthodox liturgy instead of his native Estonian language. Large-scale works inspired by religious texts include St. John Passion, Te Deum, and Litany. Choral works from this period include Magnificat and The Beatitudes.

His best-known works mostly date from this period. Of his popularity, Steve Reich has written:"Even in Estonia, Arvo was getting the same feeling that we were all getting. [...] I love his music, and I love the fact that he is such a brave, talented man. [...] He's completely out of step with the zeitgeist and yet he's enormously popular, which is so inspiring. His music fulfills a deep human need that has nothing to do with fashion." —Steve Reich Arvo Pärt's music came to public attention in the West, largely thanks to Manfred Eicher who recorded several of Pärt's compositions for ECM Records starting in 1984.

Pärt has said that his music is similar to light going through a prism: the music may have a slightly different meaning for each listener, thus creating a spectrum of musical experience, similar to the rainbow of light.

A new composition, Für [for] Lennart, written for the memory of the Estonian President Lennart Meri, was played at his funeral service on 2 April 2006.

In response to the murder of the Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya in Moscow on 7 October 2006, Pärt declared that all his works performed in 2006-2007 would be in commemoration of her death:

"Anna Politkovskaya staked her entire talent, energy and – in the end – even her life on saving people who had become victims of the abuses prevailing in Russia."— Arvo Pärt

Pärt was honoured as the featured composer of the 2008 RTÉ Living Music Festival in Dublin, Ireland. He was also commissioned by Louth Contemporary Music Society to compose a new choral work based on St. Patricks Breastplate, which premiered in 2008 in Louth, Ireland. The new work is called The Deers Cry. This is the composer's first Irish commission, having its debut in Drogheda and Dundalk in February 2008.

Also a new composition in 2008 is Pärt's Symphony No. 4, named 'Los Angeles' and dedicated to Mikhail Khodorkovsky. It is his first symphony written for over 37 years, since 1971's Symphony No. 3. It premiered in Los Angeles, California, at the Walt Disney Concert Hall on January 10, 2009.

Filmography

Pärt's music has been featured in over 50 films, from Väike motoroller (1962) to Promised Land (2004).

Elements from the Cantus in Memory of Benjamin Britten was used in Léos Carax's film Les Amants du Pont-Neuf (1991); and a part of the composition was heard in Michael Moore's film Fahrenheit 9/11 while the audience confronts the aftermath of the September 11, 2001, attacks in New York City.
Segments from Spiegel im Spiegel were incorporated in Mike Nichols's film version of the Pulitzer Prize-winning play Wit (2001); in the mountain-climbing documentary Touching the Void (2003); in Tom Tykwer's film Heaven (2002); in Shona Auerbach's Glasgow based film Dear Frankie (2004); in Gus Van Sant's film Gerry (2003) which also included a small segment from Für Alina ; and in the film Elegy (2008).
Tabula Rasa was used in the opening scenes of the award-winning 2001 documentary War Photographer, about photojournalist James Nachtwey.
His soundtrack for Reha Erdem's Times and Winds (in Turkish Beş Vakit), 2006, underscored Erdem's subject, the endlessly repeating seasonal and human rhythms of Turkish village life.
Annum per Annum was used in the 1998 film The Thin Red Line.
Fratres for Cello and Piano was used in the soundtrack for the 2007 film There Will Be Blood.
Silouans Song was used in the 2006 movie The Good Shepherd.
Dorian Supin, an Estonian filmmaker, made a full-length documentary on Pärt titled 24 Preludes for a Fugue, which was released in 2002.

There Will Be Blood (2007) ("Fratres for Cello and Piano")
Izgnanie (2007) ("Für Alina")
... aka Изгнание (Russia)
... aka The Banishment (International: English title)
The Good Shepherd (2006) (writer: "Litany", "Salve Regina", "Silouans Song")
Candy (2006) ("Cantus in Memory of Benjamin Britten")
The Giant Buddhas (2005) ("Für Alina")
... aka Im Tal der grossen Buddhas (Switzerland: German title: TV title)
Le temps qui reste (2005) (writer: "Symphony no.3", "Für Alina, for Piano")
... aka Time to Leave (Canada: English title: festival title) (Hong Kong: English title) (International: English title) (UK) (USA)
Phantom Limb (2005) ("Silentium" (from Tabula Rasa))
Hawaii, Oslo (2004) (performer: "Für Alina")
Dead Man's Shoes (2004) ("De Profundis")
Dag och natt (2004) (writer: "Cantus in Memory of Benjamin Britten")
... aka Day and Night (International: English title) (USA: festival title)
... aka Dag og nat (Denmark)
"P.O.V." (1 episode, 2004)
- A Family Undertaking (2004) TV episode ("Spiegel im Spiegel")
Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004) (writer: "Cantus in Memory of Benjamin Britten" (1977), "Crete Petit") (performer: "Cantus in Memory of Benjamin Britten" (1977))
Dear Frankie (2004) (music: "Spiegel im Spiegel" (1978))
Feux rouges (2004) (writer: "Für Alina")
... aka Red Lights (International: English title) (USA: literal English title)
Les invasions barbares (2003) (music: "Wallfahrtslied / Pilgrim's Song", "Psalom", "Trisagion")
... aka Invasion of the Barbarians (International: English title)
... aka The Barbarian Invasions (International: English title)
Swept Away (2002) ("Spiegel im Spiegel" (1999))
... aka Travolti dal destino (Italy)
Heaven (2002/I) ("Für Alina", "Spiegel im Spiegel", "6 Variationen zur Gesundung von Arinushka")
... aka Heaven (France) (Germany)
Gerry (2002) ("Spiegel im Spiegel", "Für Alina")
C'est la vie (2001) ("Für Alina")
Bella Martha (2001) (writer: "Für Alina")
... aka Mostly Martha (International: English title) (UK) (USA)
... aka Ricette d'amore (Italy)
Wit (2001) (TV) (writer: "Spiegel im Spiegel")
War Photographer (2001) ("Silouans Song", "Psalom")
"Aleph, lectures contades" (1 episode, 2000)
- Franz Kafka (2000) TV episode (writer: "Simfonia N.3", "Collage sur B. A. C. H.", "Festina Lente", "Silouans Song")
The Insider (1999) (writer: "Litany") (performer: "Litany")
A Kind of Hush (1999) ("Cantus in Memory of Benjamin Britten", "Untitled for Saxophone and Keyboard")
The Thin Red Line (1998) ("Annum per Annum")
Winterschläfer (1997) (writer: "Fratres", "For Piano and Violin", "For Strings and Percussion", "For Eight Cellos", "Cantus in Memory of Benjamin Britten")
... aka Winter Sleepers (USA)
... aka Wintersleepers (Europe: English title)
Mother Night (1996) ("Spiegel Im Spiegel", "Fratres", "Cantus in Memoriam Benjamin Britten", "Tabula Rasa")
Elossa (1990) ("Fratres")
... aka Alive (International: English title)

-wiki, imdb

Arvo Part - In Principio (2009)

minimal

1 In Principio: I - In Principio Erat Verbum 3:09
2 In Principio: II - Fuit Homo Missus A Deo 1:43
3 In Principio: III - Erat Lux Vera 7:15
4 In Principio: IV - Quotquot Autem Acceperunt Sum 3:37
5 In Principio: V - Et Verbum Caro Factum Est 3:56
6 La Sindone 15:53
7 Cecilia, vergine romana 16:39
8 Da Pacem Domine 5:00
9 Mein Weg 6:23
10 Für Lennart in memoriam 7:22

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De profundis 1997

Music: Arvo Pärt

Conductor: Hillier, Paul
Ensemble: Theatre of Voices
Performer: Bowers-Broadbent, C. Instrument: Organ
Performer: Bowers-Broadbent, Christopher Instrument: Organ
Performer: Kennedy, Daniel Instrument: Percussion
Performer: Bennett, Alan Instrument: Tenor
Performer: Hillier, Paul Instrument: Bass
Performer: Engan, Elisabeth Instrument: Soprano

De profundis clamavi ad te, Domine;
Domine, exaudi vocem meam.
Fiant aures tuae intendentes
in vocem deprecationis meae.
Si iniquitates observaveris, Domine,
Domine, quis sustinebit?
Quia apud te propitiatio est,
ut timeamus te.
Sustinui te, Domine,
sustinuit anima mea in verbo eius;
speravit anima mea in Domino
magis quam custodes auroram.
Magis quam custodes auroram
speret Israel in Domino,
quia apud Dominum misericordia,
et copiosa apud eum redemptio.
Et ipse redimet Israel
ex omnibus iniquitatibus eius.

Hillier's Theatre of Voices gives an absolutely wonderful rendering of Pärt's work. The music is amazing, recalling medieval choral music as well as contemporary ideas in musical composition. Pärt manages to touch on a wide range of feeling throughout all of these compositions, conveying emotion while maintaining the kind of austerity of sound found in medieval chant. Ultimately, the CD provides a moving and enjoyable listening experience. I would recommend it to both seasoned fans of choral music and neophytes alike.
-L.D.

thanks to dr cravinhos
minimal1
minimal2

Track

1. De Profundis (Psalm 129)
2. Missa Sillabica: Kyrie
3. Missa Sillabica: Gloria
4. Missa Sillabica: Credo
5. Missa Sillabica: Sanctus
6. Missa Sillabica: Angus Dei
7. Missa Sillabica: Ite missa est
8. Solfeggio
9. 'And One Of The Pharisees'
10. Cantate Domino (Psalm 95)
11. Summa (Credo)
12. Seven Magnificat Antiphons: O Weisheit
13. Seven Magnificat Antiphons: O Adonai
14. Seven Magnificat Antiphons: O Spross
15. Seven Magnificat Antiphons: O Schlussel
16. Seven Magnificat Antiphons: O Morgenstern
17. Seven Magnificat Antiphons: O Konig
18. Seven Magnificat Antiphons: O Immanuel
19. The Beatitudes
20. Magnificat

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Arvo Part: Orient- Occident (2002)

Un álbum en el que Arvo Part regresa --de modo parcial--a la experimentación de la música atonal, quedando mas cerca de su obra contenida en los volúmenes Nekrolog , Collage y Pro et Contra y un poco mas lejos de las creaciones estructuradas bajo el código "tinitannabuli", que encontramos en obras como Fratres ,Cantus in Memory of Benjamin Britten, Alina, y Tabula Rasa. Quien ha escuchado a Part y gustado de su música no puede perderse este giro creativo, que ensancha los sonidos de este venerado creador del minimalismo sacro. Dirige Tonu Kaljuste frente a la Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra en grabación DDD realizada para Ecm Records.
-blog Musica del siglo XX, el resto es ruido

New Link
minimal

1. Ein Wallfahrtslied (8:49)
Composer Arvo Pärt (1935
Conductor Tonu Kaljuste
Genre 20th Century Period / Psalm
Date Written 1984
Ensemble: Swedish Radio Chorus
Language German
Recording Studio Venue Swedish Radio, Stockholm, Sweden
Recording Date 2001
Notes Ver: 2001 (for men's choir and string orchestra)
2. Orient & Occident (7:05)
Composer Arvo Pärt
Conductor Tonu Kaljuste
Genre 20th Century Period
Date Written 2000
Ensemble Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra
Recording Studio Venue Swedish Radio, Stockholm, Sweden
Recording Date 2001
Notes "Orient & Occident" was nominated for the 2002 Grammy Award for Best Classical Contemporary Composition.
3. Como cierva sedienta (31:21)
Composer Arvo Pärt
Conductor Tonu Kaljuste
Performer Helena Olsson (Soprano)
Genre 20th Century Period / Psalm
Date Written 1999 Ensemble Swedish Radio Chorus
Language Español
Recording Studio Venue Swedish Radio, Stockholm, Sweden
Recording Date 2001

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Triodion (2003)

Arvo Part

Triodion recoge obras de Arvo Part compuestas entre 1996 y 2002, la ejecución es del conjunto vocal Polyphony, dirigido por Stephen Layton. Esta es la primera grabación de cinco* de las 8 piezas incluidas.
Nos permitimos destacar dos aspectos de esta compilación: uno, que aquí Arvo Part se instala en la vertiente Inglesa de su obra, usa por primera ocasión el idioma Ingles y graba con un conjunto muy distinto a nuestros conocidos coros Bálticos.El resultado es sorprendemente hermoso. Dos, en el conjunto Polyphony concurren voces (David James, Christopher Bowers-Broadbent, Elin Manahan Thomas) que merecen una atención y seguimiento individual, en particular Elin Manahan Thomas que tiene un registro único en el panorama de las voces femeninas.( Atenti: solo en Nunc Dimittis).

-blog Musica del siglo XX, el resto es ruido

thanks to dr cravinhos
minimal

1.- Dopo Victoria (1996)
2.-Nune Dimitis (2001)
3...which was the son of...(2000)
4.-I am the true vine (1996)
5.- Littlemore Tractus (2001)
6.-Triodion (1998)
7.-My heart´s in the highlands (2000)
8.-Salve Regina (2002)

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Symphony no.4 "Los Angeles", European premiere.

Arvo Part

La nueva Sinfonía de Arvo Part ha sido estrenada en Europa en un Concierto realizado en Finlandia el 16 de abril pasado, con ejecución de la Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra bajo la dirección de Cem Mansur. Como se recordara, el estreno mundial de esta sinfonía, comisionada por Los Angeles Philharmonic, se realizo con dirección de Essa-Pekka Salonen, recién el 10 de enero pasado, marcando el regreso de Arvo Part al formato sinfónico abandonado por el autor por casi 40 años, como resultado de la persecución que genero su tercera sinfonía. Esta es una grabación tomada de la transmisión en radio bajo el titulo Live in Helsinki, es de una limpieza extraordinaria y supera, por mucho, la calidad del primer registro también en vivo, que aqui compartimos como primicia en la red (libroslibresmusicalibre blog). Ahora entregamos esta nueva grabación--en formato mp3--para su descarga gratuita, y quedamos a la espera de la primera edición en estudio que --hasta donde sabemos--aun no se realiza.

Thanks to libroslibresmusicalibre blog
minimal

01. Part, Sym 4 "L.A.", Helsinki LIVE.

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Arvo Part - Lamentate (2005)

The brief opening piece for chorus on this new release, "Da Pacem Domine," is based on a 9th century Gregorian work and has the usual, familiar--and very beautiful--Pärt-ian characteristics: a soft, endless stream of easy tritones and harmonies that make this plea for peace immensely moving. The major work, Lamentate, is scored for large orchestra and solo piano--a very unusual combination for Pärt. Even his fans will be surprised. In ten brief sections, it begins with a quiet drum roll, immediately followed by horn calls. There are forte explosions for full orchestra and piano, with heavy percussion. At times the only thing we hear is a hushed piano part with strings supporting very quietly. The effect is dark yet alluring. It ends peacefully. This is another stunning CD of Pärt's music for his fans--old and new.
--Robert Levine

minimal

01 - Da pacem Domine
Composed by Arvo Part
with Hilliard Ensemble

02 - Minacciando
03 - Spietato
04 - Fragile
05 - Pregando
06 - Solitudine-Stato D'Animo
07 - Consolante
08 - Stridendo
09 - Lamentabile
10 - Risolutamente
11 - Fragile E Conciliante
Lamentate, for piano & orchestra (Hommage to Anish Kapoor and his sculpture 'Marsyas')
Composed by Arvo Part
Performed by Stuttgart SWR Radio-Symphony Orchestra
with Aleksei Lubimov
Conducted by Andrey Boreyko

-----------------------------------------------------

Arvo Part: Pro et Contra / Symphonies 1 + 2 (2004)

Seis obras tempranas de Arvo Part dirigidas por Paavo Järvi frente a la Estonian National Symphony Orchestra, con la participación de los solistas Kalev Kuljus (oboe), Arvo Leibur (violin). Virgin Classics, DDD, julio 2004. Este volumen recoge las composiciones de Arvo Part, de su periodo de búsqueda y experimentación con las técnicas de la música atonal. La obra aquí presentada es, junto a Nekrolog (1960), la obra por la que fue aislado y perseguido por los censores Soviéticos y la burocracia cultural de la Estonia dominada. Esta música es previa --y distinta-- a los trabajos del minimalismo sacro que son reconocidos como la gran aportación de Part a la música universal.

thanks to dr cravinhos and Musica del siglo XX, el resto es ruido Blog

minimal

1.- Pro et contra, concerto for cello & orchestra (1966)
Composed by Arvo Part
Performed by Estonian National Symphony Orchestra with Truls Moerk
Conducted by Paavo Jarvi
2.- Symphony No. 1 ("Polyphonic"), Op. 9, (1964)
Composed by Arvo Part
Performed by Estonian National Symphony Orchestra with Arvo Leibur
Conducted by Paavo Jarvi
3.- Collage over B-A-C-H, for strings, oboe, harpsichord & piano, (1964)
Composed by Arvo Part Performed by Estonian National Symphony Orchestra
Conducted by Paavo Jarvi
4.- Perpetuum mobile, for orchestra, Op. 10, (1963)
Composed by Arvo Part
Performed by Estonian National Symphony Orchestra
Conducted by Paavo Jarvi
5.- Meie aed (Our garden), cantata for children's choir & orchestra, Op. 3, (1959)
Composed by Arvo Part
Performed by Estonian National Symphony Orchestra
Conducted by Paavo Jarvi
6.- Symphony No. 2, (1966)
Composed by Arvo Part Performed by Estonian National Symphony Orchestra with Kalev Kuljus
Conducted by Paavo Jarvi

-----------------------------------------------------

Arvo PART: Tabula Rasa / Symphony No. 3

Arvo Part (Composer), Neeme Järvi (Conductor), Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra (Orchestra), Roger Carlsson (Performer), Adele Anthony (Performer), Gil Shaham (Performer)

DG's beautifully packaged and produced 20/21 series here pays homage to Arvo Pärt, presenting a new interpretation of two of his most familiar works--already indisputable classics--Tabula Rasa and Fratres. For all of their "minimalist" technique, there's a fathomless--call it timeless, if you will--beauty to these scores the deeper you plunge into their hypnotic sound world. The best place to discover them remains ECM's breakthrough release Tabula Rasa. Unlike Gidon Kremer (the superb interpreter of that recording), and despite an epiphany he mentions in the booklet--likening this music to the desert landscape of Utah--Gil Shaham doesn't seem to grasp one of the key components of that beauty: its austerity, its distance, as through a glass. There's an exquisite finish to his tone, to be sure, but Shaham essentially overromanticizes this music, coating it with a lovely but undifferentiated sheen, although he does hint at the vocal character of his lines. Passages of Fratres thus sound curiously tamed, as if we could be listening to such pastoral blandishments as The Lark Ascending or, in Tabula Rasa, to a Vivaldi andante. Despite this disappointment, the disc offers a thoroughly compelling account of the Third Symphony (1971) by its dedicatee, Neeme Järvi. It's fascinating to hear Pärt's points of origin--Soviet music, chant from the Orthodox Church, the fascination with bell sounds--so clearly delineated and transmogrified as in this work. Järvi molds its colorful but somber scoring into vividly dramatic shapes, hinting at Shostakovich in the chasm-deep bass lines tugging against the piercing treble or--as in the haunting opening solo--at the bleak majesty of a Sibelius landscape. The very success of Pärt's better-known works has tended to obscure the quality of such earlier pieces, but this performance helps widen the perspective to a more inclusive one.
--Thomas May

Thanks to dr cravinhos
minimal

1. Fratres, for chamber ensemble
Composed by Arvo Part
with Roger Carlsson, Gil Shaham

2. Tabula rasa, concerto for 2 violins (or violin & viola), prepared piano & string orchestra
Composed by Arvo Part
with Gil Shaham, Erik Risberg, Adele Anthony

3. Symphony No. 3
Composed by Arvo Part
Performed by Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra
Conducted by Neeme Jarvi

Credo (2004)

Performed by Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra
with Helene Grimaud
Conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen

This surprising program is a joy through and through. It begins with a 1985 work by John Corigliano (Fantasia on an Ostinato) that uses the slow-movement theme from Beethoven's Seventh Symphony and then later flies off into wonderfully emotion-filled directions. Next come Beethoven's "Tempest" sonata, played with just the right drama, and his fabulous "Choral Fantasy," op. 80, which is part sonata, part study for the 9th symphony. Pianist Grimaud plays the Fantasy with alternating delicacy and power, and the CD ends with Arvo Pärt's Credo, scored for piano solo, mixed chorus, and orchestra. This last piece is rich and complex, and in some ways encompasses the previous works' emotions and textures; those who think of Pärt as the quiet, holy minimalist, are in for a treat, and perhaps shock. Grimaud is simply magnificent regardless of the century or style; the beauty of her tone is surpassed only by its expressiveness. Esa Pekka Salonen leads the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra and Choir handsomely. This is a very special disc, a must for your collection.

--Robert Levine

Thanks to dr cravinhos
minimal

1 Fantasia on an Ostinato for piano (or orchestra)
Composed by John Corigliano
with Helene Grimaud

2 Piano Sonata No. 17 in D minor ("Tempest"), Op. 31/2
Composed by Ludwig van Beethoven
with Helene Grimaud

3 Fantasia for piano, chorus, and orchestra ("Choral Fantasy"), Op. 80
Composed by Ludwig van Beethoven
Performed by Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra
with Helene Grimaud
Conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen

4 Credo, for piano, chorus & orchestra
Composed by Arvo Part
Performed by Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra
with Helene Grimaud
Conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen

More Adams

2009-07-05T12:09:00.005+02:00

John Adams - Century Rolls - 2000

Piano, Emanuel Ax

Three great orchestral works by John Adams : Century Rolls, Lollapalooza and Slonimsky's Earbox.
Of all the so-called minimalists working today, John Adams is the only one with any good ideas left. Witness this delightful release. The key to Adams's creativity is that he isn't bound by theoretical constraints on what "minimalism" should be.Century Rolls (1995) is a commission by Emanuel Ax, and it was inspired by the composer's listening to a CD recording of an ancient player piano. Century Rolls doesn't duplicate that sound, but it is, instead, an unexpected romp across new rhythmic territory. The brief Lollapalooza (1995) is more recognizably minimalist but with considerable orchestral color and shifting moods. And Slominsky's Earbox (1996) is a powerfully full-orchestra-driven canter. All this is to say that the CD is one of the best releases of Adams's career, and it will appeal to a very wide audience.
- Paul Cook

minimal

Century Rolls, for piano & orchestra
Track 1 : First Movement 14:55
Track 2 : Manny's Gym 6:23
Track 3 : Hail Bop 7:54
Performed by Cleveland Orchestra, conducted by Christoph von Dohnanyi
Piano, Emanuel Ax

Track 4 : Lollapalooza, for orchestra 6:50
Performed by Halle Orchestra, conducted by Kent Nagano

Track 5 : Slonimsky's Earbox, for orchestra 13:27
Performed by Halle Orchestra, conducted by Kent Nagano

-----------------------------------------------

John Adams - Harmonielehre 1985

San Francisco Symphony - Edo De Waart
Davies Symphony Hall, San Francisco, 23 March 1985

Amazon.com customer review:
John Adams is now part of the mainstream of classical music and his newer compositions, married in part to social commentary such as the magnificent 'On the Transmigration of Souls' in tribute to 911, 'El Nino' with its bow to the Hispanic heritage, and of course the obvious - his operas 'Nixon in China', 'The Death of Klinghofer', and 'Doctor Atomic'- gain widespread coverage in the media and rightly so. But now and then it is refreshing to return to some of his purely orchestral works such as the splendid 1981 'Harmonium' and the brilliant 'Harmonielehre' here recorded shortly after its premiere in 1985.

'Harmonielehre' is a mature work, a purely orchestra fabric in which Adams is in full control of his very original musical language. That 'language' is the massive pulsation of single chords that moves subtly in context with various additions and subtractions of instrumental choirs, changing tonal colors and rhythms in a manner that sweeps the work along never allowing a moment of static position so often prevalent in some so-called minimalist music. The work is divided into three parts. Part I is 'like a tanker taking off', a driving almost brutal force. Part II 'The Amfortas Wound' is one of the most serenely beautiful movements has written, an evocation of Wagner's tragedy within 'Parsifal'. Part III 'Meister Eckhardt and Quackie' is the climatic 'harmonic struggle among different tonalities vying for dominance'.

Edo de Waart and the San Francisco Orchestra have captured as honest and straight forward a perfomance of this mighty work as we are likely to hear. The recorded sound (from SFOs Davies Hall) in 1985. There is a spaciousness to the recording perhaps in part due to the fact that the CD has no accompanying works. This is the gold standard recording for Adams' important 'Harmonielehre' (translated means Harmony Lesson) and it is a complete success. Highly recommended.

Thanks to aliomodo

minimal
Pass: aliomodo

Tracks:
1. Part I
2. Part II: The Anfortas Wound
3. Part III: Meister Eckhard and Quackie

CHORAL multilanguages by Glass

2009-07-01T15:09:00.005+02:00

SYMPHONY No. 5 (CHORAL)
REQUIEM, BARDO AND NIRMANAKAYA (2000)

Music by Philip Glass
Text Compiled and Edited by Philip Glass,
James Parks Morton and Kusumita P. Pedersen

Conductor Dennis Russell Davies
Performer Ana Maria Martinez (Soprano), Denyce Graves (Mezzo Soprano)
Michael Schade (Tenor), Eric Owens [Bass Baritone] (Baritone), Albert Dohmen (Bass Baritone)
Ensemble Hungarian Radio/TV Children's Chorus

* A BRIDGE BETWEEN THE PAST, THE PRESENT AND THE FUTURE.

The symphony was commissioned and conceived as a millennium celebration work for the Salzburg Festival. My plan has been for the symphony to represent a broad spectrum of many of the world's great "wisdom" traditions. Working together with the Very Reverend James Parks Morton of the Interfaith Center of New York and Professor Kusumita P. Pedersen of St. Francis College, we synthesized a vocal text that begins before the world's creation, passes through earthly life and paradise, and closes with a future dedication. We are looking at the moment of the millennium as a bridge between the past (represented by the "Requiem" and embodying the first nine movements up to the moment of Death), the present (the "Bardo" representing the "in-between") and culminating in "Nirmanakaya" (the future manifestation of enlightened activity). We have elected to present the original texts (Greek, Hebrew, Sanskrit, Arabic, Chinese, Japanese and indigenous languages) in one language, English, to show the commonalties with which all these traditions resonate. For a work of this scale it seemed fitting to add chorus, children's choir and soloists to the usual symphonic ensemble, thereby giving it ample breadth and dramatic capability. Besides being a compendium of reflection on the process of global transformation and evolution, it is hoped that the work will serve as a strong and positive celebration of the millennium year.

- PHILIP GLASS

TRACKS:

lyrics transcription to english
minimal1
minimal2

DISC ONE
1. I Before the Creation 6:56
2. II Creation of The Cosmos 6:36
3. III Creation of Sentient Beings 7:41
4. IV Creation of Human Beings 7:27
5. V Love and Joy 8:23
6. VI Evil and Ignorance 5:56

DISC TWO
1. VII Suffering 8:29
2. VIII Compassion 9:14
3. IX Death 8:38
4. X Judgment and Apocalypse 8:52
5. XI Paradise 8:32
6. XII Dedication of Merit 10:03

Simeon ten Holt

2009-06-25T18:50:00.029+02:00

SIMEON TEN HOLT

(born in Bergen, Netherlands, 24 January 1923) is a Dutch composer. Ten Holt studied with Jakob van Domselaer, eventually developing a highly personal style of minimal composition. Ten Holt generally uses consonant, tonal materials and his works are organized in numerous cells, made up of a few measures each, which are repeated ad libitum according to the player's preference.

Many of Ten Holt's works (as, for example, Canto Ostinato) employ harmonies quite similar to those used by European composers of the Romantic period. Thus, his style of minimal composition is truly European in its orientation and has been little influenced by North American minimal composers, whose works draw more often on rock, jazz, and world music.

Van Domselaer's influence on ten Holt's musical philosophy has been considerable, with the younger composer picking up van Domselaer's interests in the links between music and visual art, in music's relationship with mathematics, and in the use of the piano as a principal instrument in his compositions. Indeed, many of ten Holt's works are for piano or ensembles of multiple pianos.

One of the best known interpreters of the music of Simeon ten Holt is the Dutch pianist Kees Wieringa. He has recorded several CDs of ten Holt's music.
-Wiki

The imperturbability of the most recognizable composer in the Netherlands
"'There's Simeon ten Holt and then there's all the rest,' the composer of works such as Canto Ostinato, Horizon and Lesmiscaat once said jokingly of his own position in Dutch musical life". Even today, one could say that, in a sense, this is still true. Anyone challenging a select group of contemporary music lovers to a fiery debate need only mention a single composer's name: that of Simeon ten Holt (b. 1923).
In the late 1970s, Ten Holt provoked the wrath of countless musical know-alls by returning to sounds that every ear could understand. He had the courage to abandon the complex, twelve-tone scores of the post-war era, which he traded in for simple triads, shifting rhythmic patterns and repeat signs. Complete independent of American composers like Steve Reich and Philip Glass, Ten Holt created a Dutch version of minimal music. Although Ten Holt deviated from the American approach by placing more importance on process than on technique and by taking an interest in the social interaction that occurs (in the case of several musicians) and the 'liberation of the musical object', the listener need not be aware of this to appreciate his music. The music that was and still is denounced by the diehards of the serial school as 'insipid cult music' and 'fatal, new simplicity' became the new music that spoke to the experience of an ever-growing audience.

- Paul Janssen

An eleven CD set available of his "Complete Music for Multiple Pianos" performed by Irene Russo, Fred Oldenburg, Sandra van Veen & Jeroen van Veen in this blog, thanks to torrents XploringUru.

CD 01 (total time 56:34) Lemniscaat Part I
CD 02 (total time 52:34) Lemniscaat Part II
CD 03 (total time 47:45) Lemniscaat Part III
CD 04 (total time 64:45) Horizon Part I
CD 05 (total time 68:33) Horizon Part II
CD 06 (total time 34:07) Solodevilsdance Parts I & II
CD 07 (total time 51:33) Solodevilsdance Parts III & IV
CD 08 (total time 72:25) Meandres
CD 09 (total time 56:32) Canto Ostinato Part I
CD 10 (total time 54:15) Canto Ostinato Part II
CD 11 (total time 53:04) Canto Ostinato Part III

Highlights CD 01 Lemniscaat Part I

Performed by Kees Wieringa (piano), Ellen Dijkhuizen (piano), John Brink (piano) and Anita van Groningen à Stulingen (piano)

minimal

01. (0:44) Ambiance
02. (1:14) Refrain
03. (5:10) Episode I
04. (6:29) Episode II
05. (6:30) Episode III
06. (7:54) Episode IV
07. (4:21) Episode V
08. (8:00) Episode VI a
09. (4:10) Episode VI b and c
10. (4:23) Episode VII
11. (6:28) Episode VIII
12. (1:11) Refrain

Recorded live at Muziekcentrum Vredenburg, Utrecht, The Netherlands, February 14th, 1988.

Highlights CD 02 Lemniscaat Part II

Performed by Kees Wieringa (piano), Ellen Dijkhuizen (piano), John Brink (piano) and Anita van Groningen à Stulingen (piano)

minimal

01. (3:46) Episode IX introduction
02. (9:20) Episode IX
03. (2:03) Episode X
04. (4:31) Episode XI
05. (3:08) Episode XII
06. (6:12) Episode XIII
07. (8:31) Episode XIV
08. (0:23) Episode V
09. (9:58) Episode VI a
10. (4:12) Episode VI b and c
11. (0:30) Episode VII

Recorded live at Muziekcentrum Vredenburg, Utrecht, The Netherlands, February 14th, 1988.

Highlights CD 03 Lemniscaat Part III

Performed by Kees Wieringa (piano), Ellen Dijkhuizen (piano), John Brink (piano) and Anita van Groningen à Stulingen (piano)

minimal

01. (4:31) Episode VII
02. (6:34) Episode VIII and refrain 1st ch.
03. (2:13) Episode IX
04. (8:16) Episode IX, bar 5a
05. (2:25) Episode X
06. (2:47) Episode XIII, bar 8
07. (1:18) Episode XIV a and b
08. (3:59) Episode XIV c
09. (5:57) Episode XV
10. (7:32) Episode XVI
11. (1:16) Refrain

Recorded live at Muziekcentrum Vredenburg, Utrecht, The Netherlands, February 14th, 1988.

Highlights CD 04 Horizon Part I

Performed by Polo de Haas (piano), Fred Oldenburg (piano), Yoko Abe (piano) and Margaret Krill (piano)

minimal

01. (0:29) Ambiance
02. (4:03) Section 1
03. (3:14) Section 8
04. (4:49) Section 11
05. (3:13) Section 16
07. (4:10) Section 23
08. (5:49) Section 28
09. (4:17) Section 35
10. (4:35) Section 39
11. (4:48) Section 43
12. (4:12) Section 50
13. (2:43) Section 56
14. (1:49) Section 66
15. (5:08) Section 71
16. (2:25) Section 75
17. (4:26) Section 78
18. (0:59) Section 83

Recorded live at Muziekcentrum Vredenburg, Utrecht, The Netherlands, April 10th, 1988.

Highlights CD 05 Horizon Part II

Performed by Polo de Haas (piano), Fred Oldenburg (piano), Yoko Abe (piano) and Margaret Krill (piano)

minimal

01. (0:25) Section 83
02. (4:05) Section 85
03. (3:48) Section 86
04. (4:30) Section 91
05. (1:14) Section 94
06. (4:11) Section 97
07. (4:11) Section 103
08. (4:25) Section 108
09. (1:54) Section 109
10. (2:16) Section 113
11. (3:10) Section 117
12. (8:50) Section 121
13. (4:59) Section 137
14. (4:15) Section 142
15. (5:06) Section 147
16. (3:42) Section 155
17. (2:11) Section 161
18. (4:32) Section 165
19. (0:49) Ambiance, applause

Recorded live at Muziekcentrum Vredenburg, Utrecht, The Netherlands, April 10th, 1988.

Highlights CD 06 Solodevilsdance Parts I & II

Solodevilsdance I:
Performed by Kees Wieringa (piano)
Recorded live at Muziekcentrum Vredenburg, Utrecht, The Netherlands, April 25th, 1991.

Solodevilsdance II:
Performed by Polo de Haas (piano)
Recorded live at St. Aegten Chapel, Amersfoort, The Netherlands, November 16th, 1991.

minimal

01. (03:39) Solodevilsdance I
02. (15:22) Solodevilsdance II Section 1
03. (05:03) Solodevilsdance II Section 56
04. (04:01) Solodevilsdance II Section 76
05. (06:02) Solodevilsdance II Section 93

Highlights CD 07 Solodevilsdance Parts III & IV

Solodevilsdance III:
Performed by Kees Wieringa (piano)
Recorded live at Muziekcentrum Vredenburg, Utrecht, The Netherlands, June 15th & 16th, 1998.

Solodevilsdance IV:
Performed by Jeroen van Veen (piano)
Recorded at Gebouw Kunst & Wetenschappen, September 17th, 2000.

minimal

01. (26:00) Solodevilsdance III
02. (25:33) Solodevilsdance IV

Highlights CD 08 Méandres

Performed by Polo de Haas (piano), Kees Wieringa (piano), Ellen Dijkhuizen (piano) and Fred Oldenburg (piano)

minimal

01. (4:35) Section 1
02. (8:30) Section 8
03. (1:50) Section 21
04. (1:06) Section 31
05. (2:35) Section 37
06. (4:47) Section 42
07. (9:21) Section 53
08. (5:58) Section 74
09. (1:41) Section 87
10. (3:29) Section 88
11. (3:04) Section 101
12. (5:49) Section 106
13. (1:10) Section 122
14. (1:49) Section 125
15. (1:23) Section 130
16. (1:20) Section 135
17. (1:59) Section 138
18. (1:13) Section 145
19. (2:01) Section 149
20. (1:56) Section 155
21. (2:27) Section 161
22. (1:42) Section 167
23. (2:40) Section 168

Highlights CD 09 Canto Ostinato Part I

Performed by Gerard Bouwhuis (piano), Gene Carl (piano), Cees van Zeeland (piano) and Arielle Vernède (piano)

minimal

01. (00:32) Ambiance
02. (09:11) Section 1
03. (10:42) Section 11
04. (08:10) Section 20
05. (06:54) Section 25
06. (04:02) Section 35
07. (08:38) Section 41
08. (08:08) Section 56
09. (00:15) Section 69

Recorded live at Muziekcentrum Vredenburg, Utrecht, The Netherlands, January 10th, 1988.

Highlights CD 10 Canto Ostinato Part II

Performed by Gerard Bouwhuis (piano), Gene Carl (piano), Cees van Zeeland (piano) and Arielle Vernède (piano)

minimal

01. (03:50) Section 69
02. (02:50) Section 74 theme
03. (04:03) Section 78
04. (05:44) Section 83
05. (09:27) Section 88
06. (10:58) Section 88 C p.35
07. (06:50) Section 88 F p.38
08. (05:52) Section 88 F p.41
09. (04:16) Section 88 E p.43
10. (00:25) Section 88 C p.45

Recorded live at Muziekcentrum Vredenburg, Utrecht, The Netherlands, January 10th, 1988.

Highlights CD 11 Canto Ostinato Part III

Performed by Gerard Bouwhuis (piano), Gene Carl (piano), Cees van Zeeland (piano) and Arielle Vernède (piano)

minimal

01. (3:37) Section 88 C p.45
02. (5:27) Section 88 K p.47
03. (1:37) Section 88 G p.49
04. (5:46) Section 89
05. (9:07) Section 91 C p.52
06. (9:40) Section 91 A p.54
07. (7:16) Section 91 F p.57
08. (1:42) Section 92
09. (1:26) Section 95
10. (1:34) Section 100
11. (5:52) Section 103

Recorded live at Muziekcentrum Vredenburg, Utrecht, The Netherlands, January 10th, 1988.

Jeroen Van Veen play Minimal

2009-06-23T12:47:00.037+02:00

Jeroen Van Veen

"In my concert career I have played a lot of minimal— or minimal related music. Pieces by John Adams, Steve Reich, Simeon ten Holt and Arvo Pärt are favorites on my repertoire list. Philip Glass is an eccentric composer, and for some reason I had never played his pianomusic, until last year when I did several concerts in The Netherlands. It was a real eye-opener. The music is so sensitive and pianisticly written. It is a joy to play and perform Glass.

Solo Piano has been widely regarded as a contractual filler, but is actually one of his most pleasing recordings, and it makes a fine first taste of his work. The music is not demanding in terms of performing or listening as compared to the concert hall tradition of Rachmaninov or Liszt. To Philip Glass, piano music is something intimate and his love for
Schubert is apparent in Mad Rush, which initially suggests Schubert's Du bist die Ruh and is less 'mad' than the keenly pulsating Metamorphosis collection. The 'madness' becomes heavily apparent in the classic scoring of the contrary motion arpeggios, which have previously been explored in Music in Contrary Motion, which was accompanied
by similar works such as Music in Fifths, Music in Similar Motion, Music with Changing Parts and Two Pages. Glass' piano music was first introduced with an opening solo in Glassworks. The piano works on this CD are an excellent example of the minimal music style. Repeated musical elements, based on the tonal classical system. People love or hate it. There is no inbetween. The rhythm between the left and right hands (two against three) on the piano is essential in Glass' writing. The compositions show a great contrast even with minimal notes. The complete keyboard is used to work this out.

The music has a strong feeling to nature; one can hear water, waterfalls, wind, seashores etcetera. Just close your eyes and imagine. The music is easy to understand, and because of the simple repetitive structure it requires a lot of initiative from the performer. On this album I have tried to give my own interpretation of Philip Glass' music. I hope
you enjoy this music as much as I do."
— Jeroen Van Veen

NOTES ABOUT Jeroen Van Veen
Jeroen Van Veen (1969) started playing the piano at the age of 7. He studied at the Utrecht Conservatory with Alwin Bär en Håkon Austbö. In 1993 he passed the Performing Artists' Exam. Van Veen played with orchestras conducted by Howard Williams (Adams). Peter Eötvös (Zimmermann) in Amsterdam, Utrecht, Vienna and Budapest and in the United States with Neal Stulberg (Mozart & Bartok) and Robert Craft (Stravinsky). Van Veen also followed masterclasses with Claude Helffer, Hans-Peter & Volker Stenzl and Roberto Szidon. He played at several festivals; Reder Piano Festival (1988), Festival der Kunsten in Bad Gleichenberg (1992), Wien Modern (1993), Holland Dance Festival (1998). Van Veen recorded for major Dutch Radio— and Television companies like AVRO, NOS, IKON, NCRV, TROS/Internet and for WTBCTV & Radio (Florida U.S.). In 1992, Van Veen recorded his first CD with his brother Maarten with whom he forms the internationally recognized Pianoduo Van Veen. In 1995 Pianoduo Van Veen debuted in the United States. They were prizewinner in the prestigious 4th International Murray Dranoff Two Piano Competition in Miami, Florida. After this achievement they toured the United States for several times. In the documentary 'Two Pianos One Passion' (nominated with an Emmy Award 1996) they were followed as a duo. Besides performing, Van Veen teaches at the University of Utrecht, and is a member of the jury from the International Student
Piano Competition which is held in Utrecht every two years.
In 1995 Van Veen started Van Veen & Van Veen; another pianoduo with his wife Sandra. They have dedicated themselves to tonal music, which develops during the performance on stage. The final form is indefinite at forehand. They mainly play music for multiple pianos from the Dutch composer Simeon ten Holt. Since 1999 the Van Veen & Van Veen started a concertseries called 'Pianova' in the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam.

Jeroen van Veen plays Philip Glass, Mad Rush

¡¡¡Grandiosa, magnifica, soberbia COLECCION, my friends !!!
-JanSolo

Jeroen Van Veen
Minimal Piano Collection
(2006)

Jeroen Van Veen, piano

Minimal Piano Collection, Volumes I-IX

CD I, Metamorphosis, Philip Glass
CD II, 'The Hours', Philip Glass
CD III, Love Waltz, How Now, Trilogy Sonata, Philip Glass
CD IV, John Adams, Simeon Ten Holt, Arvo Pärt, a.o.
CD V, 'Amélie', Yann Tiersen, 'The Piano', Michael Nyman track26
CD VI, Minimal Preludes Book I, Jeroen van Veen
CD VII, Minimal Preludes Book II, Jeroen van Veen
CD VIII, Wim Mertens, Tom Johnson, Jacob ter Veldhuis
CD IX, Klaas de Vries, Carlos Micháns, Terry Riley: In C

Compositions of:
John Adams, John Borstlap, John Cage, Philip Glass, Simeon ten Holt,
Tom Johnson, Wim Mertens, Carlos Michans, Friedrich Nietzsche,
Michael Nyman, Arvo Pärt, Terry Riley, Erik Satie, Yann Tiersen,
Jeroen van Veen, Jacob ter Veldhuis and Klaas de Vries.

(up all soon)

CD 1: Minimal Piano Collection, Volume I)

Music by Philip Glass

Metamorphosis

minimal piano works 1

minimal piano collection 1
bonus: Opening From 'Glassworks' (Philip Glass arr. Jeroen van Veen)

TRACKS:

CD 1: Minimal Piano Collection, Volume I

01. (8:53) Opening From 'Glassworks' (Philip Glass arr. Jeroen van Veen)
02. (7:03) Metamorphosis One (Philip Glass)
03. (6:54) Metamorphosis Two (Philip Glass)
04. (4:23) Metamorphosis Three (Philip Glass)
05. (5:53) Metamorphosis Four (Philip Glass)
06. (5:07) Metamorphosis Five (Philip Glass)
07. (15:12) Mad Rush (Philip Glass)
08. (7:25) Wichita Vortex Sutra (Philip Glass)
09. (9:25) Opening From 'Glassworks' (Philip Glass)

Total time: 71:21

CD 2: Minimal Piano Collection, Volume II

Music by Philip Glass

Truman Sleeps from 'The Truman Show' (Philip Glass)

minimal

01. (3:35) The Poet Acts (Philip Glass)
02. (5:25) Morning Passages (Philip Glass)
03. (3:30) Something She Has To Do (Philip Glass)
04. (3:44) I'm Going To Make A Cake (Philip Glass)
05. (4:32) An Unwelcome Friend (Philip Glass)
06. (3:55) Dead Things (Philip Glass)
07. (3:37) Why Does Someone Have To Die? (Philip Glass)
08. (4:07) Tearing Herself Away (Philip Glass)
09. (3:34) Escape! (Philip Glass)
10. (4:10) Choosing Life (Philip Glass)
11. (7:13) The Hours (Philip Glass)
12. (2:10) Truman Sleeps from 'The Truman Show' (Philip Glass)
13. (6:10) Opening From 'Glassworks' (Philip Glass)
14. (3:58) Olympian (Philip Glass)

Total time: 59:49

CD 3: Minimal Piano Collection, Volume III

Music by Philip Glass

Modern Love Waltz (Philip Glass)

minimal

01. (4:58) Modern Love Waltz (Philip Glass)
02. (25:08) How Now (Philip Glass)
03. (7:42) 'Trilogy' Sonata; I. Knee Play No 4 from Einstein on the Beach (Philip Glass)
04. (8:50) 'Trilogy' Sonata; II. Satyagraha Conclusion Act III (Philip Glass)
05. (6:25) 'Trilogy' Sonata; III. Dance from Aknaten (Scene 3) (Philip Glass)

Total time: 53:08

CD 4: Minimal Piano Collection, Volume IV

Music by John Adams, Arvo Pärt, John Cage, Simeon ten Holt, Erik Satie, John Borstlap

Für Alina (Arvo Pärt)

minimal

01. (5:43) China Gates (John Adams)
02. (2:50) Für Alina (Arvo Pärt)
03. (4:32) Variationen zur Gesundung von Arinuschka (Arvo Pärt)
04. (8:53) In a Landscape (John Cage)
05. (34:58) Solodevilsdance IV (Simeon ten Holt)
06. (9:46) Das 'Fragment an sich' (Friedrich Nietzsche)
07. (7:42) Vexations (Erik Satie)
08. (5:18) Avatâra (John Borstlap)

Total time: 79:48

CD 5: Minimal Piano Collection, Volume V: 'The Movies'

Music by Yann Tiersen, Michael Nyman

Fly Drive (Michael Nyman)

minimal
26. (3:23) The heart asks pleasure first (Michael Nyman)

01. (2:22) Comptine d'un autre été, l'après-midi (Yann Tiersen)
02. (3:13) Le moulin (Yann Tiersen)
03. (2:11) La dispute (Yann Tiersen)
04. (4:27) Sur le fil (Yann Tiersen)
05. (2:43) La valse d'Amélie (Yann Tiersen)
06. (2:56) Comptine d'été No. 1 (Yann Tiersen)
07. (2:42) Comptine d'été No. 2 (Yann Tiersen)
08. (2:46) Comptine d'été No. 3 (Yann Tiersen)
09. (1:40) Le vieux en veut encore (Yann Tiersen)
10. (1:14) Toujours là (Yann Tiersen)
11. (1:53) La pièce vide (Yann Tiersen)
12. (3:52) Big my Secret (Michael Nyman)
13. (3:01) Lost and Found (Michael Nyman)
14. (3:02) The mood that passes through you (Michael Nyman)
15. (2:08) Deep sleep playing (Michael Nyman)
16. (3:38) Silver-Fingered fling (Michael Nyman)
17. (6:45) The attraction of the pedalling ankle (Michael Nyman)
18. (3:13) The heart asks pleasure first (Michael Nyman)
19. (3:16) Time Lapse (Michael Nyman)
20. (1:04) Fly Drive (Michael Nyman)
21. (4:23) If (Michael Nyman)
22. (3:32) Love (Michael Nyman)
23. (2:59) Digital Tragedy (Michael Nyman)
24. (2:40) Sheep 'n Tides (Michael Nyman)
25. (2:59) Lost and Found (Michael Nyman)
26. (3:23) The heart asks pleasure first (Michael Nyman) (link correct)

Total time: 78:17

CD 6: Minimal preludes, Book I, Jeroen van Veen

Music by Jeroen Van Veen

Prelude nr.7 in A (Jeroen Van Veen)

minimal

01. (5:41) Prelude nr.1 in C (Jeroen Van Veen)
02. (4:00) Prelude nr.2 in A minor (Jeroen Van Veen)
03. (4:38) Prelude nr.3 in G (Jeroen Van Veen)
04. (4:23) Prelude nr.4 in E minor (Jeroen Van Veen)
05. (3:24) Prelude nr.5 in D (Jeroen Van Veen)
06. (3:47) Prelude nr.6 in B minor (Jeroen Van Veen)
07. (1:04) Prelude nr.7 in A (Jeroen Van Veen)
08. (2:40) Prelude nr.8 in F sharp minor (Jeroen Van Veen)
09. (5:01) Prelude nr.9 in E (Jeroen Van Veen)
10. (7:19) Prelude nr.10 in C sharp minor (Jeroen Van Veen)
11. (5:52) Prelude nr.11 in B (Jeroen Van Veen)
12. (5:03) Prelude nr.12 in G sharp minor (Jeroen Van Veen)

Total time: 52:58

CD 7: Minimal Preludes, Book II, Jeroen Van Veen

Music by Jeroen Van Veen

Prelude nr.14 in E flat minor (Jeroen Van Veen)

minimal

01. (6:53) Prelude nr.13 in F sharp (Jeroen Van Veen)
02. (5:18) Prelude nr.14 in E flat minor (Jeroen Van Veen)
03. (2:36) Prelude nr.15 in D flat (Jeroen Van Veen)
04. (2:56) Prelude nr.16 in B flat minor (Jeroen Van Veen)
05. (4:34) Prelude nr.17 in A flat (Jeroen Van Veen)
06. (10:39) Prelude nr.18 in F minor (Jeroen Van Veen)
07. (3:23) Prelude nr.19 in E flat (Jeroen Van Veen)
08. (4:13) Prelude nr.20 in C minor (Jeroen Van Veen)
09. (4:37) Prelude nr.21 in B flat (Jeroen Van Veen)
10. (6:04) Prelude nr.22 in G minor (Jeroen Van Veen)
11. (6:07) Prelude nr.23 in F (Jeroen Van Veen)
12. (9:54) Prelude nr.24 in D minor (Jeroen Van Veen)

Total time: 67:20

CD 8: Minimal Piano Collection, Volume VIII

Music by Wim Mertens, Tom Johnson, Jacob Ter Veldhuis

Struggle for Pleasure (Wim Mertens)

minimal

01. (5:08) Struggle for Pleasure (Wim Mertens)
02. (59:22) An Hour for Piano (Tom Johnson)
03. (9:34) Postnuclear Winterscenario nr. 1 (Jacob Ter Veldhuis)

Total time: 74:07

CD 9: Minimal Piano Collection, Volume IX

Music by Klaas De Vries, Carlos Michans, Terry Riley

Echo (Klaas De Vries)

minimal

01. (7:02) Toccata Americana (Klaas De Vries)
02. (3:05) Echo (Klaas De Vries)
03. (11:12) Three Minimal Preludes (Carlos Michans)
04. (57:56) In C (Terry Riley)

Total time: 79:18

Philip Glass by The Smith Quartet

2009-06-22T22:57:00.010+02:00

Philip Glass
Complete String Quartets (2008)

The Smith Quartet

MISHIMA IV “1962: Body Building” - The Smith Quartet

" ... Britain's answer to the Kronos"

The Guardian

"Glass weaves filigree tapestries given polished, finely detailed airings by the virtuoso Brits"

The Observer

"How long before the Kronos is labelled the 'American Smith Quartet'? ... they are ahead of the curve at generating new repertoire and taking the experimental back-catalogue seriously"

Classic FM Magazine

"If success was measured according to output and sales units alone, Glass would be head and shoulders above his contemporaries ... played with characteristic precision and projection by the ensemble"

Gramophone

Following on from the critically acclaimed albums, Different Trains and Ghost Stories, Signum is pleased to announce the release of The Smith Quartet’s latest album, the complete string quartets by the world-acclaimed composer, Philip Glass.

Over a time span of 25 years, Glass completed 8 quartets (the 3 earliest were withdrawn) drawing on the influences of Bach to Shostakovich, as well as exterior musical sources: dance, theatre and film.

Clear - cut , polished performances by The Smith Quartet give the listener an excellent taster of a quartet at the forefront of contemporary music.

minimal + lost song (05-String Quartet No. 5 . III CD2)

minimal (complete)

CD1

String Quartet No.3: “MISHIMA”
1. I “1957: Award Montage”
2. II “November 25: Ichigaya”
3. III “Grandmother and Kimitake”
4. IV “1962: Body Building”
5. V “Blood Oath”
6. VI “Mishima/Closing (End Credits)”

String Quartet No.2 “Company”
7. I
8. II
9. III
10. IV

String Quartet No.4: “BUCZAK”
11. I
12. II
13. III

CD2
String Quartet No.1, 1966 [1-2]
String Quartet No.5, 1991 [3-7]

Alessandra Celletti plays Glass

2009-06-22T11:22:00.010+02:00

Alessandra Celletti plays PHILIP GLASS Metamorphosis (2005)

Music Philip Glass Performer: Alessandra Celletti , piano

Alessandra Celletti studied piano at the Santa Cecilia Music Conservatory in Rome. After graduating she continued her studies with Vera Gobbi Belcredi, specializing in French piano works of the late 19th and early 20th Centuries. In 1994 she released Les sons et les parfums, an album of pieces by Debussy, Ravel and Satie. Since then she has followed an irregular artistic path, characterized by sudden departures from classical music. Her second album, Viaggio a Praga, an exploration of the work of Bohemian composers, saw Alessandra awarded a scholarship by the Czech Republic in 1997. On returning to Italy she began working with Kha Records, releasing four albums dedicated, respectively, to the music of Gurdjieff/De Hartmann, Erik Satie, Scott Joplin and Philip Glass. Her collection Esotérik Satie proved hugely popular in France , and Gnossienne #1 was used by Guy Ritchie in his 2005 movie Revolver.

Philip Glass - The Poet Act - Alessandra Celletti

As a performer, Alessandra Celletti’s repertoire ranges from classical music to contemporary, with the works of the XX Century canon and Minimalism holding a special place in her heart.

a revelation and revolution of sound
author: john stErling

alessandra celletti raises the bar with every new release, and her interpretations of phillip glass's work is nothing short of astonishing... as with all of celletti's releases, her joy in playing her piano shines throughout the program, sombre and mysterious, playful and adventurous, familiar, yet alien in approach and execution... an absolute must for anyone with open ears and an open mind.....

"This album is played with expression and conviction by the gifted young
Italian pianist Alessandra Celletti"
( John Pitt - Editor, New Classics - UK )

"An intimate introduction to Glass music skillfully played"
( Jose Jimenez Mesa - Glasspages.org )

"A great album!"
( Mario Dal Bello - Città Nuova - Italy )
"A very beautiful, intense performance.”
( Pietro Acquafredda – Suono – Luglio 2005 )

minimal

1.Opening (6:10)
2-6.Metamorphosis (29:00)
7.The Poet Acts (3:22)
8.Dead Things (4:02)
9.Modern Love Waltz (4:35)
Total Time: 47:17
Track 1-6, 9 © Dunvagen Music Publishers Inc.
Track 7, 8 © Famous Music (from The Hours, arr. by Michael Riesman)

--------------------------------------------------------------------
Obras Maestras / Oeuvres Majeures (1995)

El ejercicio del antologo se presume fascinante cuando en las musicas a compilar prevalece la huella intemporal de la obra maestra. En la trayectoria musical de Philip Glass (Baltimore, 1937) esta distincion — reservada a muy pocos compositores contemporaneos— se convierte en una constante habitual.

Paralelamente, el privilegio recae en la audiencia, tanto si la intencion surge de la necesidad de aproximarse al universo glassiano con animo iniciatico, como si la experiencia implica el simple deleite de una musica ya reconocida de antemano. Para unos y otros, el presente compendio asegura la fascinacion, una sensacion esta. que emana de la personalidad de un compositor e interprete dotado de inspiracion inagotable, profundo conocedor de su capacidad para la transgresion generica, mas alla de su formacion clasica, impregnada de la ortodoxia patente en la musica culta norteamericana de este siglo. Philip, el niño prodigioso que a los 6 años se entretenia con el violin, a los 8 con la flauta y en los avatares de la adolescencia descarto para su carrera las tecnicas dodecafonicas, Philip, que es ahora mismo paradigma de modernidad y figura emblematico de una faccion de compositores contemporaneos que a ambos lados del Atlantico han fraguado su voz a caballo entre las disciplinas de la reiteracion y las artes visuales promovidas desde los atriles de la vanguardia. Posiblemente sea Glass el unico de esta generacion artistica marcada por la postguerra cuya naturaleza musical ha permitido eludir el poso de marginalidad inherente al resto de musicas innovadoras.

El unico compositor capaz de articular un discurso avanzado, en el que abrigar el poder magico de la comunicabilidad sin perder fuste. Un talento, una facultad para la transmision que se pone totalmente de manifiesto en este florilegio magistral, paseo hipnotico por los senderos musicales recorridos durante mas de veinte años, siempre en la brecha, siempre en la cresta de la ola. Las primeras notas con que el organo de "Opening" rompen el silencio previo a toda audicion, advierten que el recorrido sera intenso. No hay otro orden= que el puramente emocional, no se precisa del rigor cronologico para que Glass como musico, como compositor, esporadicamente como instrumentista, exhiba a modo de episodios, su vision del ritmo, unas veces desnudo, otras, engarzado en finas melodias.

Sabiamente definido como un compositor de imagenes, su fecunda labor en el campo de la "musica para teatro" — termino con el que prefiere definir la realidad de la opera contemporanea— ocupa buena parte de la recopilacion. Desde "Bed", breve apunte de la monumental "Einstein en the Beach" escrita en colaboracion con Robert Wilson. hasta sus piezas para danza, pasando por los extractos seleccionados de "Satyagraha" y "Akhnaten" el oyente descubrira las dotes incomparables del maestro Glass para sintetizar una musica que es complice de una imagen. Su sentido innato para enfatizar la plastica del teatro o de la danza moderna, se intercala con la parcela mas intima de su legado. Despunta entonces el instrumentista en clave de piano-solo, el ejecutor que inspirado en la "Metamorfosis" kafkiana se despoja de falsos virtuosismos para plasmar en delicadas melodias la esencia de una tradicion que identifica la America profunda y populista. Como es de ley en una antologia que se precie de puntual, no falta el Glass mas reciente, el aclamado hombre orquesta que un dia hiciera de taxista para pagar las deudas de una obra posteriormente reconocida y que ahora, ampliamente sobrepasados los cincuenta, se muestra sensible a la inquietud social de los años noventa. Asi se deduce del mensaje contenido en "ltaipu". cuya colosalidad instrumental — en buena parte debida a la versatilidad de la Sinfonica y Coros de Atlanta con Robert Shaw al frente— preserva una sutil vocacion ecologica, coherente con los rasgos que definen el concepto de musica global, sobre el que debera asentarse la musica del siglo XXI.
— Carles P. Illa

minimal

TRACKS:

CD ONE

1. Opening 6:24
2. Metamorphosis one 5:39
3. Protest 4:19
4. Metamorphosis two 7:21
5. Evening song 4:06
6. Metamorphosis five 5:05
7. Akhnaten 4:14
8. The lake 10:03
9. Mato Grosso 11:41
10. Closing 5:56

CD TWO

1. The photographer 3:14
2. Façades 7:20
3. Dance I 1:10
4. Dance II 5:42
5. Bed 3:39
6. Dance VIII 4:58
7. Kuru field of justice 6:04
8. Tolstoy farm 4:54
9. Metamorphosis three 5:31
10. To the sea 5:39
11. Metamorphosis four 7:01
12. Island 7:38

Glass in works

2009-06-21T15:16:00.008+02:00

Glassworks (1982)

Music by Philip Glass
The Philip Glass Ensemble
Michael Riesman, Conductor

In 1982 Philip Glass became the first composer since Aaron Copland to join the CBS Masterworks label. Glass had formed the Philip Glass Ensemble in 1968, but it wasn't until his opera Einstein on the Beach (1976) that he achieved great critical and popular success. His first album for Masterworks, Glassworks, tripled all sales projections, pleasing audiences, critics and Glass himself:

"I'm very pleased with it, the way it's received in performance. The pieces seem to have an emotional quality that everyone responds to, and they work very well as performance pieces."

Gramophone magazine concurred:

"... the Glass works gathered together on Glassworks make an excellent introduction to the sharp, hard sonorities, densely packed, slowly changing patterns and seemingly unstoppable linear flow of this important aspect of contemporary music."

Performed by The Philip Glass Ensemble. Michael Riesman: piano, electric organ, bass synthesizer. Jack Kripl: piccolo, soprano sax, clarinet, bass clarinet. Philip Glass: electric organ. Jon Gibson: soprano sax "Floe," "Rubric". Richard Peck: tenor sax. Sharon Moe: French horn. Larry Wechsler: French horn. Violas: Linda Moss, Lois Martin, Julian Barber, Al Brown, Maureen Gallagher. Cellos: Seymour Barab, John Abramowitz, Fred Zlotkin.

minimal

TRACKS:
1 Opening 6:25
2 Floe 5:59
3 Islands 7:40
4 Rubric 6:05
5 Façades 7:21
6 Closing 5:59

Glassworks Vol. 2 (2005)

All music composed by Philip Glass.
Conductor: Michael Riesman, Russell Davies, Robert Shaw...

Include recopilation works from: 'Akhnaten' 'Einstein on the beach' 'Itaipu' 'Songs from liquid days'' "The photographer'...

minimal

TRACKS

1. (09:00) 'funeral of amenhotep III' from act I scene 1 of 'akhnaten'
2. (13:22) 'spaceship' from act IV, scene III of 'einstein on the beach'
3. (11:47) 'the dam' from 'itaipu'
4. (09:59) 'changing opinion' from 'songs from liquid days'
5. (05:46) 'floe' from 'glassworks'
6. (19:16) 'act III' from 'the photographer'

Riesman Play Soundtracks

2009-06-20T23:45:00.001+02:00

Michael Riesman - Philip Glass Soundtracks (2008)

Michael Riesman is the conductor and producer of nearly every Philip Glass soundtrack recording, including the Academy-Award nominated scores to KUNDUN, THE HOURS and NOTES ON A SCANDAL. PHILIP GLASS SOUNDTRACKS presents his own transcriptions for solo piano of some of the best Philip Glass film scores.

Performer: Michael Riesman
Conductor: Michael Riesman
Composer: Philip Glass

minimal

TRACKS:

01. Anima Mundi 8:42
02. Jenipapo: No.14 2:18
03. Overture to La Belle et La Bete 3:56
04. Neverwas Set 6:25
05. Notes on a Scandal: I Knew Her 3:03
06. A Brief History of Time Selections 6:03
07. Mishima: Closing 2:50
08. Naqoyatsi: Primacy of Number 6:00
09. The Illusionist: Finale 3:44
10. The Fog of War 3:23
11. No Reservations Combine 3:02
12. Candyman: Helen's Theme and More 3:11

Icebreaker play Glass

2009-06-19T21:45:00.004+02:00

Philip Glass - Icebreaker - Music with Changing Parts (2007)

Score by Philip Glass
Music by Icebreaker

Icebreaker’s newest release, Philip Glass’ Music with Changing Parts is representative of an exciting new generation’s interest in one of the most important composers of our time.
Icebreaker is considered by many to be the United Kingdom’s leading new music ensemble. The 13-piece group, which tours extensively, has been an active champion of many of today’s most important composers.
Philip Glass’ 1970 score Music with Changing Parts has been part of the group’s touring repertoire for years. This recording brings a vivid re-imagining and fresh interpretation to one of Glass’ greatest scores.

minimal

TRACKS:

1. Music with Changing Parts, Pt. 1
2. Music with Changing Parts, Pt. 2

Glass, A Film by Scott Hicks

2009-06-19T17:51:00.004+02:00

Glass: A Portrait of Philip In Twelve Parts (2009)

Performer: Philip GLass
Orchestra: Philip Glass Ensemble, Bruckner Orchester Linz, Michael Riesman, Dennis Russell Davies
Composer: Philip GLass

For 18 months director Scott Hicks (Shine, No Reservations) followed composer Philip Glass around with a video camera capturing all aspects of his life. His film provides an intimate look at Glass as a family man, delves into his spiritual life and produces some insights on how he composes music. Orange Mountain Music’s soundtrack to “GLASS: A Portrait of Philip in Twelve Parts” contains much of the music from the film including a wide variety of music from every part of Philip Glass’s career. Included on this collection are selections from Einstein on the Beach, Etoile Polaire, Glass’ music for solo piano, and more.

minimal

TRACKS:
01."Knee 1" from Einstein on the Beach 2:25
02."Train 1" from Einstein on the Beach 6:15
03."Knee 4" from Einstein on the Beach 2:41
04."Aria" from Einstein on the Beach 2:53
05."Etoile Polaire" from Analog 2:53
06."Mon Pere, Mon Pere" from Analog 3:56
07."Are Years What?" from Analog 4:04
08."Etude No.2" from Etudes for Piano, Vol.I, Nos 1-10 4:54
09."Houston Skyline" from Music from The Thin Blue Line 4:44
10."Movement I - A Musical Portrait of Chuck Close" from Portraits 4:17
11."Melody 11 - Melodies for Saxophone" from Saxophone 1:14
12."Movement I" from Symphony No.8 19:27
13.Orphée's Bedroom" from The Orphée Suite for Solo Piano 1:40
14."Orphée and the Princess" from The Orphée Suite for Solo Piano 4:37
15."Floe" from Glassworks Soundtrack 8:44
16."Metamorphosis No.2" (Shot Live by Scott Hicks) 2:49

Glass by Steffen Schleiermacher

2009-06-19T12:52:00.005+02:00

Philip Glass: Dances & Sonata (2007)

Performer: Steffen Schleiermacher , organ, piano
Composer: Philip Glass

The fact that Philip Glass' music stands up so well in a variety of arrangements is a testament to its durability. German composer and pianist/organist Steffen Schleiermacher offers a recital of two dances from Dance, Glass' monumental 1979 multimedia collaboration with choreographer Lucinda Childs and visual artist Sol Lewitt, arranged for organ, and Sonata, a transcription for piano of one section from each of Glass' three portrait operas, made by Paul Barnes. The dances, which frame the Sonata on the CD, are especially effective when performed on the organ, due to the grandeur of which the organ is capable, its ability to sustain notes without decay, and the fact that its sound is closely related to the electronic keyboards used in the original.

minimal

01-Dance No. 2 (1979)
02-Trilogy Sonata (2000)-I. Knee Play No. 4 from Einstein on the Beach
03-Trilogy Sonata (2000)-II. Act III conclusion from Satyagraha (1980)
04-Trilogy Sonata (2000)-III. Dance from Act III of Akhnaten (1983)
05-Dance No. 4 (1979)

Complete Koyaanisqatsi

2009-06-10T20:03:00.004+02:00

Koyaanisqatsi (complete original soundtrack) life out of balance
1983 Original sound recording. 2009 Expanded Edition
(this and last Glass discs from XploringUru Torrents)

Original music composed by Philip Glass.
Produced by Kurt Munkacsi & Philip Glass.
Conductor: Michael Riesman.

The new release from Philip Glass’s record label Orange Mountain Music, presents for the first time, the complete original soundtrack from the classic Godfrey Reggio film KOYAANISQATSI.
The LP release of this Glass score was released in the 1980s in a severely truncated form with only 6 tracks and 45 minutes of music. This newly re-mastered recording features 13 tracks and over 76 minutes of music including the original sound-effects and additional music used in the film. This version of Koyaanisqatsi is the most complete and representative recording of the soundtrack to this seminal film.

TRANSLATIONS:
Ko.yaa.nis.qatsi (from the Hopi language), n. 1. Crazy life. 2. Life in turmoil. 3. Life disintegrating. 4. Life out of balance. 5. A state of life that calls for another way of living.

This album contains the original and most complete soundtrack of the motion picture Koyaanisqatsi... a film that, without dialogue or narrative structure, produces a unique and intense look at the super structure of modern life.
Koyaanisqatsi lets you experience the acceleration and density of modern society in a new way. It invites you to consider the benevolence of technology and the notion of progess in the world we live in. A world out of balance.

Voice of "Koyaanisqatsi": Albert de Ruiter. Chorus: The Western Wind Vocal Ensemble. Keyboards: Michael Riesman. Saxophone, Flute, Clarinet: Jack Kripl. Saxophone: Jon Gibson / Richard Peck. Saxophone, Bass Clarinet: Bob Mintzer. Piccolo, Flute: Tom Nyfenger. Trumpet: Lew Soloff / Charles Lewis / Lowell Hershey / Mark Gould / Allan Dean. French Horn: Sharon Moe / Peter Gordon / Russell Rizner / Brooks Tillotson / Albert Richmond. Trombone: Bob Smith / Keith O'Quinn. Bass Trombone: George Flynn. Trombone: James Pugh. Tuba: Warren Deck / Samuel Pilafian. Viola: Jill Jaffe / Sue Pray / Theodore Israel / Jean Dane. Cello: Seymour Barab / Beverley Lauridsen / Kermit Moore / Frederick Zlotkin. Bass: John Beal / John Bongiorno.

minimal

TRACKS:
01. (03:27) Koyaanisqatsi
02. (04:57) Organic
03. (04:37) Clouds
04. (06:36) Resource
05. (08:12) Vessels
06. (07:50) Pruitt Igoe
07. (01:17) Pruitt Igoe Coda
08. (03:19) Slo Mo People
09. (03:24) The Grid - Introduction
10. (18:05) The Grid
11. (01:47) Microchip
12. (10:34) Prophecies
13. (02:11) Translations & Credits

2009-06-10T12:20:00.003+02:00

Another Look at Harmony - Part IV (1975) (2008) 60'

Music by Philip Glass

Christopher Bowers-Broadbent Organ, Howard Williams Conductor

"Another Look at Harmony" is a project started in 1975. The approach has been to link directly rhythmic and harmonic structure. In doing so, easily audible root movement (chords or "changes") was chosen in order that the clarity of their relationship could easily be heard. Here, as in earlier periods of Western music, melodic material is, for the most part, a function or result of the harmony. However, it is clear that some of the priorities of Western music (harmony/melody first, then rhythm) have been reversed.

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1. Opening Section: choral plainchant in minims
2. Choral plainchant elaborated with quaver movement
3. Harmonic and rhythmic exploration, leading to -
4. Oscillating and repeated chords; then new melodic line added
5. Organ interlude on C pedal with gentle cross-rhythyms
6. Choral re-entry in repeated sequences with organ obligato
7. Final section - choir & organ with shifting harmonic roots

Glass in others hands

2009-06-10T11:43:00.004+02:00

Philip Glass: Portrait (2008)

Angele Dubeau (Artist), La Pieta (Artist), Philip Glass (Composer)

Angele Dubeau & La Pieta's Potrait opens with the overture from Glass's multimedia opera La Belle et la Bete (1994) arranged for string orchestra by one of Glass's closest collaborators since 1974, Michael Riesman. The rich orchestration and dramatic fluidity of the music sets the tone for the rest of the album. Riesman also arranged the works The Secret Agent, The Hours Suite, and Closing found later on the album. Following the the overture is The Hours Suite; a beautiful work for orchestra and piano composed for the film starring Meryl Streep, Julianne Moore, and Nicole Kidman. Its sombre sound makes for a calm and reflective atmosphere. Also on the album is Glass's Mishima, which was initially used for a film titled Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters in 1984. The work's inherent rhythmic monotony is balanced by lyrical melodies and beautiful harmonies. Throughout Portrait, you'll notice the impeccable performances by Angele Dubeau & La Pieta. Formed in 1997, La Pieta is a group of outstanding female musicians from all over Canada.

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1. La Belle et la Bête "Ouverture"
2. The Hours Suite: Movement I
3. The Hours Suite: Movement II
4. The Hours Suite: Movement III
5. Mishima: 1934-Grandmother and Kimitake
6. Mishima: 1962-Body Building
7. Mishima: Blood Oath
8. Mishima: Closing
9. The secret Agent
10. Echorus
11. Company: Movement I
12. Company: Movement II
13. Company: Movement III
14. Company: Movement IV
15. Closing

Glass & Twyla Tharp Again, dance Glass

2009-06-10T01:01:00.006+02:00

Philip Glass - In The Upper Room
(2009)

Commisioned by the Twyla Tharp Foundation
The first recording of all nine movements of the complete original score.

In The Upper Room is a dance/theater collaboration between choreographer Twyla Tharp and composer Philip Glass. This new recording is the first complete musical document of the 1986 ballet. The first recording of the work, released on Sony's Philip Glass "Dance Pieces," presented only five of the nine movements of the work. That music was extracted from the pre-recorded soundtrack that the Twyla Tharp Dancers performed to at live performances.

In approaching this Orange Mountain Music release, the producers examined the original recording and discovered that that recording relied heavily on synthesizer reinforced acoustic instruments (including strings, brass, and woodwinds) to thicken the orchestral sound.

It was decided to make this new recording using only acoustic instruments, as it was scored, and with the additional goal of presenting all the movements. I - IX for a complete recording of In The Upper Room.

The piece was commissioned by the Twyla Tharp Foundation and premiered without a title at Saratoga Arts Center Little Theater on August 28, 1986. Tharp's creation for 13 dancers is a remarkably high-energy work which synthesizes perfectly with Philip Glass' music. As on of the most enduring of Glass collaborations, this ballet has been performed the world over in the last 20-plus years and continues to inspire new generations of dancers and musicians.

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TRACKS:

1. (1:11) Dance I
2. (5:44) Dance II
3. (2:21) Dance III
4. (7:33) Dance IV
5. (3:23) Dance V
6. (2:12) Dance VI
7. (2:45) Dance VII
8. (4:59) Dance VIII
9. (8:08) Dance IX

The last Glass Opera (With Moran)

2009-06-10T00:10:00.004+02:00

The Brothers Grimm - The Juniper Tree (2009)

An opera by Philip Glass and Robert Moran
Libretto by Arthur Yorinks
Commissioned by the American Repertory Theater, Cambridge Massachusetts.

The Juniper Tree is an opera composed by Philip Glass and Robert Moran with a libretto by Arthur Yorinks, and is based on the tale by the Brothers Grimm. The opera was first produced in 1985 at the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge Massachusetts.
This very grim story of death, rebirth, and love is accompanied by wonderful music. This collaboration between composers Philip Glass and Robert Moran yielded an incredibly lyrical and compelling score

“The mood is more than sustained by the two composers, whose music dovetails remarkably well. Basically, Mr. Glass handles passages full of wonder and benign magic, and Mr. Moran takes the darker, more dangerous turns in the tale. But Mr. Glass has the mother's death, and Mr. Moran wrote the innocent celebration at the end.” - The New York Times, 1985

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TRACKS:
Act One
1. (17:02) Prologue (Glass)
2. (12:39) Scene One (Moran)
3. (13:04) Scene Two (Moran)
4. (03:34) Scene Three (Glass)
5. (02:08) Bird Song (Glass)
6. (03:18) Epilogue (Moran)

Act Two
7. (07:48) Scene One (Glass)
8. (02:19) Interlude (Moran)
9. (07:13) Scene Two (Moran)
10. (04:26) Final Scene - Trio (Moran)

CAST
(In order of appearance)

THE WIFE Jayne West, soprano
THE HUSBAND Sanford Sylvan, baritone
THE SON/JUNIPER BIRD Lynn Torgove, soprano
THE STEPMOTHER Valerie Walters, mezzo-soprano
HER DAUGHTER Janet Brown, soprano
THE GOLDSMTIH David Stoneman, baritone
THE COBBLER Thomas Derrah, tenor
THE MILLER William Cotten, tenor
VILLAGE FOLK Chorus

Conducted by Richard Pittmann

Delicius!!!!!

Romantic Soundtrack Glass (Atipical)

2009-06-09T23:58:00.005+02:00

Neverwas

(From the Philip Glass Recording Archive Vol.IV) (2008)

Music by Philip Glass

Philip Glass’ score to the film NEVERWAS is the fourth release from the Philip Glass Recording Archive. Neverwas, a film starring Ian McKellen, Aaron Eckhart, Nick Nolte, Brittany Murphy, Jessica Lange and William Hurt , is a fantasy-mystery with a bold, playful and fantastical score by Philip Glass. Neverwas never received wide distribution and was largely forgotten. The 53 minute Glass score possesses some of Glass most accessible and heartfelt music.
Release Date: September 2008

Atentos a esta nueva banda sonora del maestro, SORPRENDENTE...dejando el minimalismo un tanto al lado...oidla unas cuantas veces...y contadme

minimal

TRACKS:

Main Title Neverwas 4:07
"I Want the Job" 2:21
"Hi Gabriel" 1:42
Meeting Maggie 2:33
First Patient 3:55
Records Room 3:27
The Pierson Estate 1:54
Remembering Thomas 2:27
"I am the King" 2:14
"Weirder and Weirder" 2:45
"You're a Reporter!" 4:45
Dungeon Break 4:29
The Riverknight 2:31
Discovering Neverwas/Ghastly Arrives 2:55
The Castle/"My Name is Zachary Small" 3:51
End Titles 4:18
Neverwas Restored 2:03

Mas New Nyman

2009-06-09T23:41:00.004+02:00

Acts of Beauty / Exit no Exit (2006)

ACTS OF BEAUTY
Cristina Zavalloni soprano
Sentieri Selvaggi
Carlo Boccadoro conductor

EXIT no EXIT - Premiere recording
Andrew Sparling bass clarinet
Nyman Quartet

Music composed by Michael Nyman

The album Acts of Beauty/Exit no Exit couples two world premiere recordings.

Acts of Beauty is a song cycle based on miscellaneous texts on beauty from a 1556 text of Vincenzo Cartari, which looks at the measurements of beauty by comparing buttocks to beauty in the urban environment as viewed by Kurt Scwitters and Dzuga Vertov to Martial’s Epigrams on another kind of sexual measurement: the weighing of penis. It presents an entirely different Nyman approach to vocal writing than is found in Six Celan Songs/The Ballad of Kastriot Rexhepi.

Exit no Exit began life as Beckham Crosses, Nyman Scores, a ‘homage’ to the England football team as part of an extended documentary broadcast on BBC Radio 3 to celebrate the end of the World Cup finals in Japan/Korea in 2002. Nyman decided to take extracts from John Motson’s commentary to the England v Argentina match and sample, loop and ‘instrumentalise’ them in the manner of Steve Reich’s Different Trains: translating the loops repeating rhythmic and melodic patterns played without variation.

Rewritten for the Shobana Jeyasingh Dance Company in 2006, John Motson’s voice is now replaced with a bass clarinet which not only imitates the commentator’s highly idiosyncratic speech patterns, but also takes off from these with a concertante part of some virtuosity. A completely new, multi-section closing 10 minutes sequence was written specially for Exit no Exit, premiered on 7 February 2006 at Brighton’s Gardner Arts Centre.

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Tracking

Acts of beauty - 01 - Due fligliuole di un contadino
Acts of beauty - 02 - Halt, we are specialists
Acts of beauty - 03 - We are at a film studio
Acts of beauty - 04 - Life's chaos
Acts of beauty - 05 - Marulla's hobby
Exit no exit - 06 -
Exit no exit - 07 -
Exit no exit - 08 -
Exit no exit - 09 -
Exit no exit - 10 -
Exit no exit - 11 -
Exit no exit - 12 -
Exit no exit - 13 -
Exit no exit - 14 -
Exit no exit - 15 -
Exit no exit - 16 -

New Michael Nyman

2009-06-09T11:44:00.005+02:00

Thanks to Sr. Egon Blant

Mozart 252 (2008)

The Michael Nyman Band, Hillary Summers contralto, Andrew Slater bass-baritone

Mozart ha sido siempre un referente importante para Michael Nyman, por eso la BBC le encargó una recopilación de todas sus obras inspiradas en la música de Mozart con motivo de los actos del 250 aniversario del nacimiento del genio salzburgués, en 2006. Con el título Mozart 252 (por los dos años de retraso en presentar el proyecto) Nyman edita esta nueva grabación que incluye, entre otras piezas, la fantástica "In Re Don Giovanni" y la música para el film "Drowning by Numbers" de Peter Greenaway.

minimal

Track Listing:

1. In Re Don Giovanni
2. Revisiting the Don
3. Trysting Fields
4. Not Knowing the Ropes [otherwise known as 2M6]
5. Wedding Tango
6. Wheelbarrow Walk
7. Fish Beach
8. Knowing the Ropes
9. O my Dear Papa
10. I am an Unusual Thing
11. Profit and Loss

8 Lust Songs: I Sonetti Lussoriosi (2008)

Michael Nyman Band, Marie Angel

Música compuesta por Michael Nyman para dar forma musical a los poemas eróticos del poeta Pietro Aretino (siglo XV). Los poemas están inspirados en los dibujos eróticos de Marcantonio Raimondi que representan diversas posturas sexuales. Se consideran como el Kama Sutra del renacimiento. Los dibujos causaron gran escándalo al publicarse y fueron prohibidos por el Vaticano que ordenó la destrucción de todas las copias. Se consideran los textos eróticos más importantes de la época y han sido fuente de inspiración para escritores y artistas durante siglos. Marie Angel canta las partes femeninas y masculinas. I Sonetti Lussoriosi fue comisionado por la Bienal de Venecia 2007 y se estrenó el en Arsenal de Venecia el 4 de octubre de 2007 bajo la dirección de Michael Nyman y con la Orquesta di Santa Cecilia con la soprano Marie Angel.

minimal

tracking

01 No. 1. Questo Cazzo
02 No. 2. Fottiamoci A
03 No. 3. Io 'l Voglio
04 No. 4. Tu Pur a Gam
05 No. 5. Dammi la Lin
06 No. 6. E Saria Pur
07 No. 7. Mettimi un D
08 No. 8. Apri Le Cosc

Nyman Live!!!!

2009-06-07T23:15:00.004+02:00

Michael Nyman - Live (1994)

The Michael Nyman Band
Michael Nyman: piano
Jonathan Carney: violin
Bill Hawkes: violin
Catherine Musker: viola
Antony Hinnigan: cello
John Harle: soprano, alto sax
David Roach: soprano, alto sax
Jamie Talbot: soprano, alto sax
Andrew Findon: baritone sax, piccolo, flute
Nigel Barr: trombone, tuba, euphonium
Martin Elliott: bass guitar

Extra Musicians on tracks from The Piano
Gueorgui Stoianov Boiadjiev: violin
Nanko Milkov Dimitrov: violin
Evelina Nedeva Arabadjieva: violin
Kantcho Stefanov Kantchev: violin
Nediltcho Suilianov Hristov: viola
Stefan Todorov Jilkov: viola
Marieta Mihaylova Ivanova: cello
Emilia Hristova Radilova: cello

Musicians from Orquesta Andaluzi de Tetouan on Upside Down Violin
Abdessadak Chkara: violin
Abdellah Chekara: laud
Jelloul Najidi: kanoun
Ahmed Taoud: violin
Driss Aaufi: saxophone
Ahmed Mrabet: clarinet
Abdesslam Beniisa: cello
Mohamed Achaalh: banderita (tambourine)
Jalla Chekara: violin
Nour-Din Aghbal: violin
Abdelouahid El Bazi: derboliga (drum)
Mohammed Chkara: cello

Concierto similar al que tuve el gusto de ver hace un par de años con la orquesta andalusi de Tetuan. Asombroso.
Gracias a Ratso por el enlace

The piece was commissioned for Expo ‘92 in Seville where it was first performed in September of that year.
A cursory examination of the Arab-Andalusian tradition from which the Orquesta Andalusi De Tetouan derived its music -a learned, classical tradition developed in southern Spain in the 19th. Century- showed me the inadvisability, the impertinence of imposing my music on musicians conditioned by a totally different musical culture. Nor could I borrow, or appropriate their music.
So I set out to adjust my compositional language in some way to Moroccan conditions: to write (for the first time) purely melodically / monodically with a phrase-rhythm and model structure from which I hoped the Orquesta would not be alienated.
In rehearsal I encouraged the musicians to play melodies -which they had learned with a diligence made necessary by the fact that our respective musical systems were so different- with the individual performance style they naturally brought to their own music: to make my music theirs.
I then added the material for the Michael Nyman Band -discovering in the first movement especially that my harmony-less melodies implied no harmonies other than notes to be sustained from the melodic lines themselves- an important discovery for me.
Structurally the work is divided into three movements, the first and second of which end with material invented by the Moroccan musicians themselves according to my instruction ‘make music related to, or suggested by, the music you have just played’.

Thanks to Ratso
minimal

1. In Re Don Giovanni 3:01
2. Queen Of The Night 7:25
3. Water Dances: I) Dipping 4:55
4. Water Dances: Ii) Stroking 7:13
5. The Upside Down Violin: I) Slow 6:58
6. The Upside Down Violin: Ii) Faster 3:53
7. The Upside Down Violin: Iii) Faster Still 6:30
8. The Piano: I) To The Edge Of The Earth 4:23
9. The Piano: Ii) The Promise / The Heart Asks Pleasu2:53
10. The Piano: Iii) Here To There 3:28
11. The Piano: Iv) Lost & Found 3:03
12. The Piano: V) The Embrace 3:06
13. The Piano: Vi) All Imperfect Things 4:21
14. The Piano: Vii) Dreams Of A Long Journey 4:02
15. The Piano: Viii) Here To There

PHILIP GLASS A Chamber Evening CONCERT

2009-05-13T22:12:00.006+02:00

Música contemporánea en el Festival Internacional de Musica y Danza de Ubeda

PHILIP GLASS
A Chamber Evening

Philip Glass – Piano
Wendy Sutter – Cello
Mick Rossi – Percusión

Domingo, 24 de mayo de 2009.
Auditorio del Hospital de Santiago. Ubeda, España 21,00 h.

PROGRAMA

Una velada de Música de Cámara con Philip Glass

“Tissues,” from Naqoyqatsi violonchelo & percussion
Metamorphosis, II, III, IV piano
Etudes, II & X piano
Songs and Poems for Cello violonchelo
The Orchard violonchelo, piano, & percussion
“Closing,” from Glassworks violonchelo, piano, & percussion

Duración aproximada: 80 minutos sin pausa.

PHILIP GLASS,piano

WENDY SUTTER, violonchelo

MICK ROSSI, percusión

Steve Roach - Dynamic Stillness (2009)

2009-04-26T18:00:00.004+02:00

Thanks to rowlandr-kelly

Total Time: 145:45 min

minimal

CD1:
01. Birth Of Still Places
02. Long Tide
03. A Darker Light
04. Opening Sky

CD2:
01. Nature Of Things
02. Further Inside
03. Slowly Revealed
04. Canyon Stillness

Anne No Nikki (akka The Diary Of Anne Frank)

2009-03-29T23:36:00.004+02:00

thanks, thanks, thanks to soundtracklover

Soundtrack, Japan anime from 1995

minimal

1. Amsterdam Dawn (03:54)
2. Anne's Birthday (02:22)
3. The Schoolroom (03:22)
4. Letter from Germany (01:53)
5. Goodbye Moortie (02:54)
6. Candlefire (02:54)
7. Renewal (01:09)
8. Light of Love (03:12)
9. Chatterbox Waltz (02:25)
10. Hanukah (01:26)
11. Spring Freedom (02:10)
12. Concentration Camp (02:51)
13. If (04:26)
14. First Kiss (02:22)
15. D-Day (01:44)
16. The Diary of Hope (03:34)
17. Silent Separation (02:04)
18. Lament for Lost Youth (01:58)
19. Why (05:23)

When I can, reload the dead links, ...patient my friends

For Request, Nyman (nobalgina archive)

2008-06-17T17:03:00.005+02:00

ENEMY ZERO (Piano Sketches) 1996

Michael Nyman

Thanks to nobalgina
minimal
pass: novalgina

Tracks:
01. Love Theme 3:44
02. Laura's Theme 4:04
03. Digital Tragedy 2:41

Glass by Alter Ego

2008-06-16T13:00:00.003+02:00

600 Lines / How Now
(2003)

Music composed by Philip Glass.
Music performed by Alter Ego:
Manuel Zurria, flute; Paolo Ravaglia, clarinet; Francesco Peverini, violin; Francesco Dillon, cello; Oscar Pizzo, electric keyboard; Giuseppe Pistone, electric guitar; Fulvia RicevutO, vibraphone, marimba.

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TRACKS:

1. 600 Lines 40:13
2. How Now 20:14

NOTES:

While a few of Philip Glass's classic early scores such as Music in Similar Motion (1969) and Music in Twelve Parts (1974) have remained relatively well-known and have earned something of a cult status, a number of works he wrote beforehand are hardly known, or known about. The two above-mentioned scores, as anyone who has heard them will undoubtedly agree, demand a phenomenal degree of virtuosity from the players. Such virtuosity —a term which in the present case in particular covers stamina, structural sensitivity and a relaxed quality recalling certain kinds of jazz— was something that, as the composer readily points out, had to be worked towards in the interests of developing his new musical language.

Both 600 Lines and How Now fall into the category of works written to assist this development. In that in, for example. Music in Twelve Parts and Another Look at Harmony (written one year later, in 1975), Glass explores ways of reinventing harmony (Glass referred specifically to modulation and cadence in the case of the latter), these two works from the 1960s are even more radical in that they reinvent monody. And this was clearly perceived as being radical at the time. As the composer has observed, "I was beginning to work in a highly reductive, repetitive style that made most of the musicians who encountered it very angry. They wanted nothing to do with it." It is characteristic of Glass that he cheerfully admits this and, more importantly, that he courageously continued along this path in spite of such negative reactions. These two pieces were, in fact, the very first composed for the Philip Glass Ensemble, in 1968. The Ensemble has been a fundamental part of Glass's work ever since, fully vindicating his vision.

The uncompromising, punchy opening of 600 Lines lets us know that we are in for a concentrated experience. The scoring is the antithesis of a classical formation such as the string quartet. Originally for winds and synthesizer, in this recording the works is scored for violin, cello, flute, clarinet, electric guitar, organ and marimba. This is, however, real chamber music. Not only is Glass stretching the limits of chamber music making, but he is also relating obliquely to tradition by writing what are very much melodies, little though they may coincide with traditional expectations of melody. Their highly complicated rhythmic structure emphasizes, paradoxically, the velvety smoothness with which the composer requires the musicians to play. In listening to Alter Ego's performance, one is struck not only by the way in which the players so successfully bring out the work's melodic quality while maintaining an astonishing rhythmic tension, but also by the tremendous subtlety of the phrasing, which accompanies every unexpected twist and turn of the music.

How Now, while equally rigorous (and equally taxing on the players, though it is half the length of 600 Lines), is a gentler work. It makes more obvious play with dynamic contrast, and at times hints at those worlds of Gamelan and Indian music with which Glass was and is familiar but has never quoted verbatim. Scoring this time is violin, cello, flute, clarinet, electric guitar, organ and vibraphone, and this contributes in no uncertain terms to the more meditative quality of the music and, in some respects, a certain inner sonic richness absent from the other work. The contrast between the ethereal sounds of vibraphone and organ are, for example, complemented and to some extent contradicted by the pulsing of the electric guitar, and the brasher interventions of the clarinet and flute provide initially unexpected temporal as well as sonic contrast.

Robert Maycock, in his recent book on the composer, devoted an entire chapter to listening to Glass's music, during the course of which he gave the same answer several times, couched each time in different terms. At its clearest, it reads "Accept what you are hearing and let it lead you in its own way." Further on, he puts his finger on another and very important aspect of Glass's work: "However fast its moves, it develops a massive calm and certainty. And however abrasive and in-your-face the sound, it seems to have a character of quiet inner joyousness." These observations are as valid for 600 Lines and How Now as they are for Music in Twelve Parts, Einstein on the Beach, Satyagraha or The Hours.

One more, related, point is worth making in this context: Glass's present lyrical style did not materialize from nowhere. Without the "deconstruction" at work in the pieces of the 1960s and 1970s, the subsequent reconstruction of a musical grammar in Einstein on the Beach (1976) and the refinement of that grammar through his large output of both concert and stage works written later, it would simply have been impossible.

— Ivan Moody
Estoril, April, 2003

NOTES ABOUT Alter Ego

2001 marks the tenth anniversary of the foundation of the ensemble Alter Ego which has earned a reputation as one of the major European chamber groups performing twentieth-century classical compositions and works at the cutting edge of new directions in music. Alter Ego has given concerts at principal venues in Italy, Europe and elsewhere, such as the Scala in Milan, the Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome, the Beethovenhalle in Bonn, De Yjsbreker in Amsterdam, Musica in Strasburg, Nybrokaien 11 in Stocklholm, the Akademie der Kunste in Berlin and the lllkom in Tashken, Takefu Japan. Nonthetess, the ensemble has never felt that its sole purpose was to perform music in a traditional manner or setting, its prime objective being the development of creativity in contemporary art. This has constantly meant new, stimulating experiences as the ensembte works with artists from various disciplines, such as Italian rapper Frankie HI-NRG, DJ Robin Rimbaud (aka Scanner), visual artists Michelangelo Pistoletto and D-Fuse and performers synonymous with the musical avantgarde such as violinist Irvine Arditti or the Accroche Note ensemble. Such wide-ranging collaborations are also the result of Alter Ego's conviction that the language of contemporary music will make greater sense if perceived as part of a total performance and a cultural event and will thus be understood by a broader audience than normally associated with the genre.

The Alter Ego ensemble also works closely with many of the major composers of our time, including Alvin Curran, Philip Glass (gramophone 2001), Giya Kancheli, Louis Andriessen, David Lang, Frederic Rzewski and Kaija Saariaho. And Italian composer Salvatore Sciarrino has declared that Alter Ego's performances of his works are the benchmark by which all others are to be judged. It is thus wholly fitting that Alter Ego's recording of various compositions by Sciarrino, "Esplorazione Del Bianco" on the Stradivarius label, should win the unanimous approval of both critics and record buyers.

Waiting for the Philip

2008-06-16T10:46:00.005+02:00

WAITING FOR THE BARBARIANS
(2008)

An opera in two acts by Philip Glass
Music by Philip Glass
Libretto by Christopher Hampton based on the novel by John M. Coetzee

Philharmonisches Orchester Erfurt
Opernchor des Theaters Erfurt
Conducted by Dennis Russell Davies

new minimal (flac)

minimal1
minimal2
pass:rapidsharemp3.com

TRACKS:
CD1
ACT I
1. (5:07) Prelude
2. (6:38) Scene One - "In fact, we never had a prison"
3. (3:44) Scene Two - "Dreamscape No.1"
4. (8:49) Scene Three - "You sent for me."
5. (4:27) Scene Four - "You're working late."
6. (3:29) Scene Five - "Normally speaking, we would never approve of torture..."
7. (7:11) Scene Six - "Take off your cap"
8. (2:37) Scene Seven - "Dreamscape No.2"
9. (8:46) Scene Eight - "Do you like living in the town?"
10. (5:47) Scene Nine - "...To demonstrate our strength to the barbarians"
11. (4:09) Scene Ten - "Did you have a good evening?"
12. (2:47) Scene Eleven - "Dreamscape No.3"
13. (2:40) Scene Twelve - "What is it?"
14. (4:00) Scene Thirteen - "Can you see them? (Trip into the mountains)
15. (2:00) Scene Fourteen - "Who gave you permission to desert your post?"

CD2
ACT II
1. (6:42) Scene One - "Here, In the dark"
2. (2:14) Scene Two - "Dreamscape No. 4"
3. (8:00) Scene Three - "What is going on?"
4. (4:58) Prologue to Scene Four
5. (6:41) Scene Four - "Perhaps you would be so kind"
6. (4:42) Scene Five - "Enemy, Barbarian Lover!"
7. (6:09) Scene Six - "So we're still feeding you well?"
8. (3:42) Scene Seven - "Dreamscape No.5"
9. (8:08) Scene Eight - "Tell me, what has happened"
10. (5:12) Scene Nine - "You don't have to go"
11. (5:07) Scene Ten - "Our town is beautiful"

CAST:
Magistrate/Prefect: Richard Salter
Colonel Joll: Eugene Perry
Warrant Officer Mandel: Michael Tews
Barbarian Girl: Elvira Soukop
Cook: Kelly God
Star: Marisca Mulder
Old Man: Andreas Mitschke
Guards/Soldiers:
Peter Umstadt, Maté Solyom-Nagy, Manuel Meyer
Small Girl: Grit Redlich
Child Extra: Titus Laeven

NOTES:
John Coetzee, the South African writer and Nobel Prize Winner for Literature 2003, first published Waiting for the Barbarians as a novel in 1980. I contacted John Coetzee about adapting his book into an opera back in 1991 and made my first treatment of the opera that same year. I'd begun to do this kind of social/political opera in 1979 with Satyagraha, an opera that takes place in South Africa, concerning the life of Gandhi and the possibility of social change through non-violence.

My aim then, as it is now, was to preserve Coetzee's bold allegorical approach while dramatizing the classic themes of confrontation, crisis and redemption so the audience itself is left weighing the meaning of good and evil in their own lives. To reduce the opera to a single historical circumstance or a particular political regime misses the point. That the opera can become an occasion for dialogue about political crisis illustrates the power of art to turn our attention toward the human dimension of history.

— Philip Glass

zachip again, Glass in Score

2008-06-15T13:31:00.004+02:00

Jenipapo
(From the Philip Glass Recording Archive Vol. III, film scores) (2008)

Philip Glass’ original score to Monique Gardenberg’s 1995 political thriller “Jenipapo”, starring Henry Czerny, brought Glass another opportunity to composed against the backdrop of the Brazilian landscape and the tumult of political upheaval. The story of the film follows a reporter in his search to track down an influential priest who has gone silent during a political battle over Brazil’s forests. Glass’ score reflects the political implications of the film as well as the vast canvas against which the it is set.
Directed by Monique Gardenberg
Music by Philip Glass

Thanks to zachip
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TRACKS:
01. (4:30) Jenipapo
02. (1:51) Coleman's Theme
03. (1:05) Political Connections
04. (1:20) Father Stephen Lewis
05. (1:24) Disappearance
06. (0:59) Land-Grab
07. (1:55) Remaining Silent Now
08. (0:32) Connected Politically
09. (3:39) Coleman's Dilemma
10. (1:13) The Reclamation Bill
11. (0:32) Journalism
12. (0:37) Bahia
13. (1:32) Coleman's Consequences
14. (2:56) The Interview
15. (0:27) Where We Go
16. (2:03) Jenipapo Finale
17. (3:11) Ignorant Sky (featuring Suzanne Vega)

BOOK OF LONGING by ...zachip

2008-05-27T18:22:00.002+02:00

BOOK OF LONGING by Philip Glass

Basado en la poesía y los dibujos de Leonard Cohen

Concepción, composición e interpretación: PHILIP GLASS
Texto e imágenes: LEONARD COHEN
Dirección musical: MICHAEL RIESMAN
Dirección de escena: SUSAN MARSHALL
Cantantes: WILL ERAT, TARA HUGO, DANIEL KEELING y DOMINIQUE PLAISANT
Músicos: TIM FAIN, PHILIP GLASS, ELEONORE OPPENHEIM, MICHAEL RIESMAN, MICK ROSSI, KATE ST. JOHN, ANDREW STERMAN y WENDY SUTTER
Escenografía: CHRISTINE JONES
Diseño de iluminación: SCOTT ZIELINSKI
Diseño de vestuario: KASIA WALICKA MAIMONE

TRACKS:

DISC 1
1. Prologue - I Can't Make The Hills 3:09
2. I Came Down from the Mountain 2:58
3. A Sip of Wine 8:41
4. Want to Fly 2:09
5. The Light Came Through the Window 4:10
6. Puppet Time 2:38
7. G-d Opened My Eyes 2:35
8. You Go Your Way 0:07
9. I Was Doing Something 4:19
10. Not a Jew 3:02
11. How Much I Love You 3:52
12. Babylon 5:46
13. I Enjoyed the Laughter 1:49

DISC 2
1. This Morning I Woke Up Again 5:15
2. I Want To Love You Now 5:57
3. Don't Have The Proof 2:44
4. The Night of Santiago 5:09
5. Mother Mother 3:44
6. You Came to Me 10:27
7. I Am Now Able 3:20
8. Roshi's Very Tired 2:38
9. Epilogue - Merely A Prayer 3:55

Thanks to zachip
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Philip Glass / Jay Gottlieb

2008-05-10T11:32:00.004+02:00

Philip Glass - Piano Music (1999)

Jay Gottlieb (piano)

The second track is from The Official Music Of The XXIIIrd Olympiad -Los Angeles 1984
Composed by PHILIP GLASS

Thanks to Dervish_NL
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01 Opening
02 The Olympian
03 Metamorphosis I
04 Metamorphosis II
05 Metamorphosis III
06 Metamorphosis IV
07 Metamorphosis V
08 Mad Rush
09 Witchita Vortex Sutra

VideoGame's Nyman

2008-05-09T19:47:00.005+02:00

Michael Nyman
ENEMY ZERO

Michael Nyman & Michael Nyman Orchestra
Sarah Leonard (soprano)

VideoGame, very rare soundtrack from the clue of a anonimous friend

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01 laura's theme.
02 confusion.
03 aspects of love.
04 digital tragedy.
05 enemy zero.
06 lamentation.
07 love theme.
08 digital complex.
09 invisible enemy.
10 laura's dream.
11 agony.
12 malfunction.
13 battle.
14 the last movement.

ENEMY ZERO (Piano Sketches) 1996

Michael Nyman

Thanks to nobalgina
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Tracks:
01. Love Theme 3:44
02. Laura's Theme 4:04
03. Digital Tragedy 2:41

Glass from Dr Cravinhos

2008-05-08T12:27:00.011+02:00

Songs and Poems for solo cello' (2007)

Wendy Sutter - (cello), David Cossin - (percussion), Philip Glass - (piano)

The pieces on Orange Mountain Music's new album glimpse the essence of the Glass's poetic vision in the form of a single voice - performed by a gifted soloist on a remarkable instrument. Composed for Wendy Sutter, 'Songs and Poems for solo cello' (2007) premiered in New York after almost a year of collaborative sessions. Glass has remarked frequently on the comparison of the range of the cello to that of the human voice. A certain singing quality pervades his solo writing: the seven-movement work, at once introspective, pensive and self-analyzing, flows with timelessness and unrepentant musicality. 'Tissues', for cello, piano and percussion (2002) were written for the original soundtrack recording to Godfrey Reggio's Naqoyqatsi but of the numerous solo cello pieces Glass composed for the film, only two were recorded and used in the final cut. Tissues contain some of his most intimate and lyrical writing. Throughout the work the 'singing' cello is accompanied by dynamic Glassian figures played by percussionist David Cossin with the composer playing the piano.

A native of Seattle, cellist Wendy Sutter is a soloist and chamber musician, at numerous festivals worldwide including New York's Music Today series, Tanglewood, and with Bang on a Can All-Stars. As soloist with the White Oak Chamber Ensemble, she premiered Jerome Robbins' A Suite of Dances, an onstage duet for herself and Mikhail Baryshnikov at New York's Lincoln Center. She tours as a soloist with Tan Dun performing his "The Map" and "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" cello concertos and the solo part in Water Passion. Sutter performed on the OMM disc of Glass's Book of Longing. For this CD she played a remarkable cello from 1620 by Nicolo Amati, the famed teacher of Antonio Stradivari, an instrument known as the "ex Vatican Stradivarius".

Glass Cello Concerto: Wendy Sutter Interview

Glass Cello Concerto: Philip Glass Interview

Thanks to zachip for CD link
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TRACKS:

Songs and Poems for Solo Cello
1. Song I 3:30
2. Song II 5:52
3. Song III 2:01
4. Song IV 3:01
5. Song V 5:47
6. Song VI 3:47
7. Song VII 5:11

Tissues (from Naqoyqatsi)
8. Tissue No. 1 4:30
9. Tissue No. 2 3:07
10. Tissue No. 6 3:13
11. Tissue No. 7 3:12

Thanks to Dr.Cravinhos
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PROGRAM #2790, Glass & Sutter (First aired on Wednesday, 4-16-08)
ARTIST(S)

RECORDING
CUT(S)
SOURCE
Philip Glass
Songs and Poems for Solo Cello

Songs I-VII [32:00] Tissues 7+6 [3:00 + 3:00]

Composer Philip Glass and cellist Wendy Sutter present Glass's major new seven-movement work for solo cello, "Songs and Poems" for this edition of New Sounds. The pieces are intense, dark, and beautiful, at times reminiscent of Bach and but also steeped in the romantics. There is definitely an awareness of using the cello’s range to sing and approximate the human voice, and Sutter’s playing is lyrical and warm, invoking comparisons to late Mstislav Rostropovich, and less brutal Janos Starker. We’ll hear highlights from the recording, which also contains “Tissues,” for cello, piano and percussion (2002), written for the original soundtrack recording to Godfrey Reggio's Naqoyqatsi.

Dr.Cravinhos

Nyman from Dr.Cravinhos

2008-05-08T11:56:00.007+02:00

Nyman Brass (2006)

Wingates Band

The two main sequences on the album are from the scores to The Ogre [Volker Schlondorff, 1996] and The Libertine [Laurence Dunmore, 2005]. The Ogre was never seen in the UK and the soundtrack not released here, so this will be the first time many people will have heard this music. Originally composed for brass ensemble with saxophones, Wingates Band's performance is not hugely different from the original.

The album is completed with the Michael Nyman Band classics, In Re Don Giovanni and Chasing sheep is best left to shepherds from The Draughtman's Contract [Peter Greenaway, 1982], where the music sounds very different from the original performances. Michael Nyman says, 'the whole sound-world was transformed. Things like repeated rhythms which I originally gave to piano are punchier, edgier, more dangerous on cornets and trombones.'

Wingates Band was formed in 1873 by the members of the Bible Class of Wingates Independent Methodist Church in Westhoughton, Bolton, in response to a challenge from the members of Westhoughton Old Band, which had been in existence since 1858. By the turn of the century, led by legendary 'giant' of the British brass band movement Willaim Rimmer, Wingates had been turned into one of the top bands in the country. In 1906 the Band achieved national fame by winning the 'double': the British Open and the British National Championships. The following year Wingates astounded the brass band world by completing the double again. www.wingatesband.org.

Michael Nyman described it as 'a privilege' to work with Wingates. Although his music was very different from the kind that the players were used to, he said they 'picked up the style, especially the formality of the music, and it soon sounded second nature to them… I loved the spirit of the playing, the instant dedication and the energy in what is a very new sound world for me.'

Thanks to dr. Cravinhos
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Track Listing:
From The Ogre
1. Knights at school (7:35)
2. Child bearer (3:33)
3. Magic forest (1:03)
4. Göering's hunting party (2:20)
5. Abel's revolt (3:59)
6. Meeting the moose (4:37)
7. Into the woods (1:17)
8. Abel carries Ephraim (5:30)

From The Libertine
9. Upon nothing (1:27)
10. My Lord all-pride (1:34)
11. A satire against reason (3:36)
12. The mistress (5:53)
13. Against constancy (2:47)
14. Signior d (2:07)
15. A satire against mankind (2:50)
16. In Re Don Giovanni (2:21)

From The Draughtsman's Contract 17. Chasing sheep is best left to shepherds (5:16)

Michael Nyman
Love Counts , an opera in two acts (2005)

Libretto: Michael Hastings
Andrew Slater, bass baritone
Helen Williams, soprano
Michael Nyman Band
Paul McGrath, conductor

Love Counts is a love story between the unlikeliest of couples: Avril, a lecturer in mathematics at a major college who has divorced a man who physically abused her, and Patsy, a middle-weight fighter at the end of his career who cannot read or recognise numbers.

Michael Nyman uses Riemenschneider's collection of 371 Bach chorale harmonisations to help Patsy find his voice – they are harmonically fragmented, sped up, slowed down, overlaid with themselves. Just as Dr P, the Alzheimer's suffering protagonist of Nyman's The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat, has 'his' Schumann, so, in Love Counts, Patsy, a parallel sufferer, has 'his' Bach.

Thanks to Dr.Cravinhos
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Tracklisting:
Act 1 (CD 1)
1. "Excuse me. Excuse me."
2. "This lah-di-dah dame"
3. "Wore these my first pro win"
4. "How much does this bill say?"
5. "This is a set"
6. "Patsy, my love"
7. "Let's suppose for today"

Act 2 (CD 2)
8. "They say nothing is secret"
9. "Forty seven", "sixty three"
10. "It's for you. Why is it for you?"
11. "Now, in Hebrew mathematical art"
12. "You didn't tell me you did this every morning"
13. Instrumental 1
14. "You look as though you have lost something"
15. "Give me my card back!"
16. "Hello, guv'nor, yes, it's me"
17. Instrumental 2
18. "I've tried to tell you what I think"
19. Instrumental 3
20. "I've spoken to the guv'nor at the gym"
21. "There you are... and that tree"

Michael Nyman
The Piano Concerto / Where the Bee Dances (1998)

Musicians
John Lenehan, piano
Simon Haram, saxophone
Ulster Orchestra conducted by Takuo Yuasa

Thanks to Dr. Cravinhos
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Track list

Where the Bee Dances 16:36
The Piano Concerto - The Beach 11:24
The Piano Concerto - The Woods 6:21
The Piano Concerto - The Hut 8:01
The Piano Concerto - The Release 4:36