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I saw two performances of Einstein on the Beach during its revival. Glass intended it to be like Indian classical theater where you can get up and walk around w
by ejfkcisodk 6y ago
I saw two performances of Einstein on the Beach during its revival. Glass intended it to be like Indian classical theater where you can get up and walk around whenever you want. I stayed except for a bathroom break, while friends left to smoke. I think Glass was trying to make a state of mind, not just have people hanging onto every note.
Even during Mozart’s time, opera was such a social event that people complained you could hardly hear the music.
I’m all for careful listening, but we shouldn’t invalidate people who listen to Glass the way he intended.
- rolfea 6y agoI really understood early Glass a lot more when I got the chance to visit a Richard Serra sculpture in LA. Literally walking in the piece helped me understand this idea you're talking about - when I listen to that music now it's a helpful framework to think of exploring a sonic space, rather than tracking linear music like I would with other composers.
- kindall 6y agoI saw that too if it's the one that was at the Ohio State University in 1986 or 1987. I was just a kid who had never heard of either of those guys, but I still remember it thirty-some years later.
- User23 6y agoInterestingly that used to be the custom for opera in Europe too. Opera wasn't some kind of reverent Church-like experience, it was the TV on in the background at the bar.