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I think the mistake of the last section of the article is to present its conclusions as absolutes rather than personal experience. I have the exact same problem

• andybak 12y ago
  I've always found Akhnaten a bit bombastic but I love Satyagraha (composed a few years before Akhnaten) and I saw it live last year. It absolutely works. Interestingly I saw Einstein on the Beach the year before. Beforehand I was worried whether the near-4 hours would be tortuous (I love the work but tend to have it on while doing other stuff - I've never say and listened to it like one would a shorter or more narrative piece) In the event it was actually a really lovely experience and if anything it went much quicker than expected. You do have to listen differently but it's still music and does all the things that 'normal' music does. Create anticipation, build up tension then release it, evoke emotion. Just on a different scale and over a different timespan. It's no different to learning to appreciate classical when you're used to pop, Early Music when you're used to the Romantics or Be-bop when you're used to Swing ;-)
• zwieback 12y ago
  I grew up in Stuttgart, where many of Glass' operas were performed. Akhnaten was amazing, I went back to see it many times but I never listened to the recording. I think those pieces were meant for live performances, the sets were stunning as well.