11 ms·
This was very funny, but what I thought the point of repetition in Glass' stuff was for was to create a microtonal harmonic drone as the effect of the performan
by motohagiography 4y ago
This was very funny, but what I thought the point of repetition in Glass' stuff was for was to create a microtonal harmonic drone as the effect of the performance. The analogy I think of is if sound could have an umami taste. You get this with Bach and Vivaldi in a much lighter way, where the emphasis on perfect rhythm by the performer creates the structure that makes that transcendent effect of the music possible. Comparing Bach to Glass is like comparing a sauturnes to truffle oil, but this effect that floats above the senses is what I think the point of all that repetition in Glass' earlier work was.
Consider that when he was writing his minimalist pieces, the Velvet Underground were also a big deal, and their whole schtick was hypnotic microtonal effects, wall of sound production techniques were everywhere, and with WWII still in living memory, I think there may even have been an underlying urgency to meet and respond to the horrific awe that Wagner's use of giant droning techniques inspired. This sounds like a stretch, and I think Glass is still around to say I'm full of it, but while the jokes are still funny, I always thought there was some specific intent to how he wrote, and not that he was being tedious.
His recent homage to Arvo Part in "The Teacher" is consistent with his other works, where I think he makes those beautiful effects accessible to entry level players, and that feeling of the instrument just resonating by itself as you hammer on it is what I think inspires beginner musicians to become great ones.
- kjellsbells 4y agoI wouldnt call it homage, but Glass studied Bach intensely under Nadia Boulanger and it shows through in places, in a very respectful way. I feel there are several places in Akhnaten that are essentially like a Bach Passion aria. Honestly, if you wanted to create an archetypal American composer, you would soak them in a wide variety of music from childhood, get them studying instruments early, dispatch them to Europe to study under Boulanger, and then dump them in an artistically febrile New York. Which is exactly Glass' story.
- motohagiography 4y agoSo interesting, I don't know Glass' operatic stuff. As I play and learn more about what various composers are writing about, it's like they are engaged in a conversation over the ages about these just f'ing massive existential and ontological themes, where the bar to entry to joining it is being able to perform some of the most complex human achievements in centuries. This guy who drives a cab in NYC to support his musical interests is writing an opera about the spiritual insights of a specific Egyptian pharoh, while contrasting them against the scientific discoveries of a physicist who reoriented our entire species place in the universe. It's not just handwavy either, as you need to have the competence to play the pieces to begin to understand what they are expressing. It's not science or theology either, it's something else. Is there a there there without getting into mystery cult stuff?