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I 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 seve

I 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 ago
So 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?