Philip Glass has had a huge 70th-birthday year, and now he's sharing his good fortune. Head over to Glass Notes, the official Glass blog, and you can download free of charge an exclusive unplugged performance of "Raising the Sail," a cue from Glass's score for The Truman Show, taped live in Gmuden, Austria during the late '90s.
The performance, according to blogmeister Richard Guerin, comes from one of three European concerts at which Glass and his group played acoustic. The explanation:
In the late 1990's the Philip Glass Ensemble had arranged a European tour in which there was not enough time for the group to transport its considerable gear from city to city. To compensate, they agreed to play 3 performances "unplugged" in which they played classic PGE repertoire acoustically. Until now, only those who attended those shows had ever heard this music performed in such a way.
It's a quiet, understated track with an appealing mix of timbres; those tubular bells take me right back to Glass's score for Paul Schrader's Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters. How about some domestic dates?
And more importantly, what about Part 12 of the iTunes exclusive Music in 12 Parts?
Playlist:
Grateful Dead - Road Trips, Vol. 1, No. 1: Fall '79 (Grateful Dead/Rhino)
Radiohead - In Rainbows CD 2 (W.A.S.T.E. discbox)
Neurosis - Given to the Rising (Neurot)
Miley Cyrus et al - Hannah Montana and Hannah Montana 2/Meet Miley Cyrus (Walt Disney)
Shakira - Love in the Time of Cholera EP (Epic/iTunes exclusive)
Carl Nielsen - Symphony No. 4; Jean Sibelius - Symphony No. 3 - Hallé Orchestra/John Barbirolli (BBC Legends)
Janel and Anthony - "Your Favorite Song," "Goodbye Angels," "Little Cottage in the Woods," "E Lydian" (MySpace streams)
Engelbert Humperdinck - Hansel and Gretel - Rebecca Evans, Jennifer Larmore, Jane Henschel, Philharmonia Orchestra/Charles Mackerras (Chandos)
Jonny Greenwood - Bodysong (EMI)
King Crimson - Veterans Memorial Coliseum, Columbus, OH, Apr. 28, 1974 (DGMlive.com download)
Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra & Tra-La-La Band - 13 Blues for Thirteen Moons (Constellation, due March 23)
Richard Wagner - Tristan und Isolde - Waltraud Meier, Michelle De Young, Ian Storey, Gerd Grochowski, Matti Salminen, Chorus and Orchestra of La Scala Milan/Daniel Barenboim (YouTube, per Parterre Box)
I found your blog when I was searching for John Zorn related content. Having read quite a bit, definitely enough to know you really know what you're talking about, I am just curious as to why/how you have Shakira and Miley Cyrus on your Playlist? Is there something I'm missing?
Posted by: Seamus | December 18, 2007 at 08:24 PM
1. Steve is a professional critic.
2. He's very open minded.
Posted by: Henry Holland | December 19, 2007 at 02:16 AM
Thanks for the vote of confidence, Henry. Seamus, Shakira is among my absolute favorite pop artists, bar none. I've followed her work for years and continue to do so; I say this with absolutely no irony or guilt.
The EP listed here features "Hay Amores" and "Despidida," two new songs Gabriel García Márquez personally asked Shakira to contribute to the soundtrack for the upcoming film version of his Love in the Time of Cholera, as well as a new arrangement of an older song, "Pienso en Ti," from her 1996 breakthrough album, Pies Descalzos. All three are written in traditional Latin American folkloric modes, which could come as a great surprise to those who only know Shakira for "Hips Don't Lie" and the like.
(Which is not to say that I don't also love "Hips Don't Lie.")
As for Miley Cyrus, that's a more recent fascination: addictively silly television sitcom, solidly professional pop songwriting from the Disney production house (see also: High School Musical) and a current concert tour breaking all-time records for ticket resale. Hannah Montana tickets have been scalped for as much as $4,000 apiece.
Curiosity about all of the above compelled me to look into the discs; the fact that "If We Were a Movie," "I Got Nerve" and "We Got the Party" (the first one especially) are also excellent little pop tunes is just an added bonus.
Posted by: Steve Smith | December 19, 2007 at 11:42 AM
Glad to be of service. I guess since the very first music that hit me, as 7-year old in 1967, was The Monkees, as a steppingstone as it were, to Cream and Hendrix via my sisters in 1968 (they both blew me away, my first musical obsessions) that I just don't get the "How can you like XXX when you like XXX" formulation. Good music is good music period.
I mean, I'm a huge fan of Birtwistle's music, especially his more recent stuff, but if I were to do a Favorite 50 Pieces of Music Ever list, Making Love Out of Nothing At All by Air Supply and Didn't We Have It All by Whitney Houston would be surefire entries.
Posted by: Henry Holland | December 20, 2007 at 08:08 PM