IDM Mailing Archive

On Mon, 12 Jul 1999, Jeff Gordon wrote:

quoted 5 lines Now I've said it before and I'll say it again: Glass

> > Now I've said it before and I'll say it again: Glass > is great, but the art composer who has some -really- > interesting electronic works is John Adams. >

In my fairly arrogant opinion, Philip Glass has done nothing but go downhill since, oh, "The Photographer." As much as I'm in love with minimalism, it seems like he had about 3 really ace ideas that he'd exhausted fully by 1980. Einstein on the Beach is amazing, Satyagraha is amazing, Glassworks has some of his best short work, and the rest of his work is retreads of the ideas that those records demonstrate. On the other hand, the concert I saw in the earl 80's of the Philip Glass ensemble was nothing short of amazing. Of course half of the audience left at intermission, but those that stayed were treated to some of his most lyrical works perfectly realized. When the finished up with the rocket launch from Einstein on the Beach everyone there had chicken skin. When it was done there was complete silence for 5 seconds, and then everyone in the place stood up and screamed at once.

quoted 2 lines On the other hand, the concert I saw in the earl 80's

> On the other hand, the concert I saw in the earl 80's > of the Philip Glass ensemble was nothing short of amazing.

On a related note, and continuing a thread from last week, can anyone vouch for the current state of Steve Reich's Muscians? Drumming is coming to the Lincoln Center Festival, along with triple Quaret and Proverb. The Kronos Quartet is playing some of the pieces too (probably Triple Quartet), and I'm trying to figure out if I should try to scam my mom into taking me. They're also performing the Cave, Desert Music and Tehillim on other nights. Are they worthwhile, or just overblown pieces from a composer past his prime? Is the Cave really the redefinition of opera that the blurb claims? Call me a skeptic. On one final tangent, cartoonists Ben Katchor and Art Spiegelman are both working on operas. Katchor with Bang on a Can, Spiegelman with lord only knows who. So, where's the ambition in IDM? Where's the drive to go for big multimedia spectacle, for the epoch shifting artistic event? Orbital and Gus Gus live don't quite cut it. IDM thinks too damn small sometimes. If nothing else, rock operas are beautiful for their sheer pomposity and grandiosity. Where's techno's Einstein on the Beach, or even its Hedwig and the Angry Inch? Think large! Sam