Glass Update

Everything about Leonard's 2006 book of poetry and Anjani's album
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dick
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Joined: Wed Sep 11, 2002 10:21 pm

Glass Update

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There is a Book of Longing connection.... see reference to it in NYTimes Review.

Several of us noted how "special" the cello solo was, and how dramatic it was for Wendy to turn her back to him. Now we find out they were in love!

Doesn't jive with the home scenes in the documentary!

PHILIP GLASS: ‘SONGS AND POEMS,’ ‘TISSUES’ FROM ‘NAQOYQATSI’
Wendy Sutter, cellist; David Cossin, percussionist; Philip Glass, pianist. Orange Mountain Music 0037; CD. New York Times June 1, 2008

PHILIP GLASS has written relatively little for solo instruments, perhaps because rhythm and texture are often crucial to the way his works unfold. But his recent “Book of Longing” (2006), a setting of Leonard Cohen poetry, included striking solo interludes, and one of the most ear-catching was a cello piece, performed in concert and on Mr. Glass’s recording by Wendy Sutter, the cellist in the composer’s ensemble.

Mr. Glass went on to write “Songs and Poems” (2007), a set of seven movements for unaccompanied cello (outpacing Bach by one in his six suites) for Ms. Sutter. The work is already freighted with lore: Mr. Glass and Ms. Sutter fell in love during its composition, affording future music students a 21st-century Robert and Clara Schumann story, except that Mr. Glass is not barking mad.

Oddly, given that undercurrent, Ms. Sutter is quoted in the notes describing the work as “massively tragic.”

Mr. Glass has never been a Schumannesque Romantic; even the most heartfelt, dramatically pointed scenes in his operas are the work of a careful rationalist. And at first the principal difference between this and earlier Glass works is that his repeated phrases are so intricately chromatic that repetition seems a necessity rather than a technique; you need to hear the music again to mine all its implications.

But the shift toward the dramatic begins by the third movement, and you finally see what Ms. Sutter means when you reach the work’s centerpiece, “Song V,” with its intensely arching melodies, implied dialogues and passionate double-stopped passages.

Ms. Sutter’s rich-hued, supple playing conveys that passion and drama vividly, and she is equally compelling in a varied selection of movements from Mr. Glass’s “Naqoyqatsi” film score (2002). ALLAN KOZINN

...............

Also -- interesting Boston radio interview link - both Phil and Wendy.
http://www.onpointradio.org/shows/2008/ ... b_main.asp
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dick
Posts: 1185
Joined: Wed Sep 11, 2002 10:21 pm

Re: Glass Update

Post by dick »

More from Glass website...including book of longing in Athens and Barbarians at the Barbican --

Glass Notes & PhilipGlass.com

http://www.philipglass.com

So much has happened in recent months. After the triumphant run of sold out performances of Satyagraha at the Met Opera, Songs and Poems for Solo Cello reached No.2 on iTunes Classical and continues to linger in the Top Ten, the LA Philharmonic performs the Violin Concerto at the Hollywood Bowl, Book of Longing heads to Athens for a series of performances, the Philip Glass Ensemble performs POWAQQATSI live to film in Brooklyn's Prospect Park in July, and Glass 2005 opera "Waiting for the Barbarians" is performed at London's Barbican in conjuntion with its CD release on Orange Mountain Music. For all the details, head to the calendar section http://www.philipglass.com
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