If Philip Glass was a Film (2019) [video](youtube.com)
youtube.com
If Philip Glass was a Film (2019) [video]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPtd6gVgKo8
71 comments
Thank you! I lack background in music theory, and as such, I find that analysis to be so objective and conclusive that it raises questions for me about whether this is "true" in a broader sense.
"A subdominant function is a chord that adds tension, demanding to be resolved"
I find this a strong statement that's hard to question or refute, or know how one would show that it's somehow anything more than a general feeling that might be shared by lots of people?
"A subdominant function is a chord that adds tension, demanding to be resolved"
I find this a strong statement that's hard to question or refute, or know how one would show that it's somehow anything more than a general feeling that might be shared by lots of people?
Music is fundamentally abstract, and its interpretation is subjective, so there is no final word on anything.
There are many musical traditions, and not all of them use those conventions, but classical European harmony is understood as explained in that comment.
Edit: here's the canonical [ I IV V7 I ] progression, a.k.a. the [ tonic => sub-dominant => dominant => tonic ] progression in C major: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFvm1cb80bc
The progression in the video is more subtle (and it uses a minor mode).
There are many musical traditions, and not all of them use those conventions, but classical European harmony is understood as explained in that comment.
Edit: here's the canonical [ I IV V7 I ] progression, a.k.a. the [ tonic => sub-dominant => dominant => tonic ] progression in C major: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFvm1cb80bc
The progression in the video is more subtle (and it uses a minor mode).
> I find this a strong statement that's hard to question or refute, or know how one would show that it's somehow anything more than a general feeling that might be shared by lots of people?
Let's divide and conquer:
1. The Youtube poster probably meant pre-dominant instead of "sub-dominant." Pre-dominant chords are a set of possible chords in a particular system of harmony-- called "common practice harmony"-- which essentially kick off the process of "asking a question" in the chord progression. This "common practice period" of music ran roughly the long stretch when Bach, Beethoven, and Brahms wrote music. Composers today can make use of that system if they wish, but as you'll see below Glass isn't doing this. (Digression: "Sub-dominant" refers to one particular chord choice in a given key, and it's not one which appears at the beginning of the Glass piece in the video. Neither is the dominant, at least in the function implied by the poster as "answering" or resolving the tonic. If anything the beginning of the excerpt sounds like a fragment of a descending tetrachord pattern that goes back to the middle ages, but without the final note. I.e., the bass line of Ray Charles' "Hit the road jack" leading up to but not including "no more, no more, no more, no more")
2. Glass' music in the excerpt is cyclic. You hear some 2-against-3 rhythms between the left and right hand for four measures-- the first 2 have the same chord, and the 3rd and 4th measures have different chords. Then you hear it all over again. This sets the basic rhythm and phrase structure for the entire excerpt-- everything cycles back around in predictable groups of 4 measures each, with the chords changing roughly every measure. Finally, each new phrase starts back at the same, predictable f-minor chord that began the entire excerpt.
3. The voicing of the chords remains in the same small range for the first half of the excerpt. You can play it with your hands close together in the middle of the keyboard, and it doesn't ever veer too far away from that position. This is what gives it that atmospheric, background sound that characterizes a lot of Glass' music. (Plus he seems to like long strings of alternating thirds in the melody.)
4. The chords used are fairly humdrum chords, and they do not follow the "common practice harmony" tonic/dominant tension/release pattern. The one chord in measure 3 happens to have a little tension, what with the d-flat in the bass creating a tritone with the g. But common practice harmony strongly implies a particular chord for the resolution, and Glass does not follow that pattern. From the standpoint of "common practice harmony," Glass actually leaves the tension hanging for that chord. So if you're hearing a tension-resolution pattern at the beginning of this excerpt, the thing that can decidedly not explain it is the common practice tension/release theory because this excerpt literally does the opposite.
5. In measure 4, there's an a-flat in the right hand creating a momentary embellishment that moves down to g in the second half of the measure. That kind of embellishment was known as a sighing motive in music from the Baroque period, and Chopin often utilized the right-hand alternation pattern on sighing motives that Glass does here.
To sum up: the music circles around itself in a predictable manner, always returning to the same place with pleasing, predictable chords in the mid-register of the piano. So almost regardless of which chords happen in measure 3 and 4, you're likely to hear a) a beginning with the "main" chord, b) a change when you hear different chords (plus that little sighing motive), and c) an answer that begins a new question when the cycle repeats. The cycles are relatively short, and the more cycles you hear, the more deeply you become aware of the pattern.
In conclusion-- the Youtube poster is literally wrong in their analysis of the chords, and wrong about the general category of tension/resolution in the excerpt. But the tonic-predominant-dominant tension/release pattern they suggest sounds similar enough to a "begin-change-repeat" pattern. Since you had a general feeling upon hearing the latter, and since the former suggests roughly a similar feeling, you took it to be objective.
Here's a counterexample with similar two-against-three rhythms:
https://youtu.be/0eEipRR9ebI?t=942
This excerpt uses a deeper range of the piano with a more sprawling voicing between the hands. Each phrase repeats, like the Glass excerpt. But each phrase is longer, and the chord progressions (and hidden melodies in each chord) do use the tonic/pre-dominant/dominant harmonic system that the poster alluded to. For one thing, the phrases don't always return to the same chord at the beginning. Moreover, each phrase pushes forward to the next to create a through-line, one that you can concentrate and listen to all the way through the excerpt to the end of the piece. It's a bit more nuanced that what I can write here, but there is a surprising amount of musical "stuff" happening in these passages that follow a loose set of guidelines for building tension within a phrase and across multiple phrases. The point is this-- if you wanted to make a parody video that put words to this Brahms Ballade, it would begin the same way as OPs video. But somehow, by the end, you'd have gotten a summary examination of Nietzsche's mature works. People from the 19th century thought about music making big, profound statements like that. And the music of that period utilizes an inventive and sophsticated harmonic language that invites that kind of interpretation. The difference between that and the uneventful, cyclic conversation by the guys in the video is for me is what makes the parody video funny.
Finally, lest I be misinterpreted-- Glass wrote his piece long after Brahms, and-- most importantly-- after a long movement of atonal composers took over the role of "serious" music in the U.S. and Europe. I think he was purposely turning the excitement level down to "chill mode" to show that the basic tenets of old school harmony still "resonate" (heh) and by no means were somehow "exhausted" at the end of the 19th century as a lot of pretentious composers claimed during that time. (Although perhaps those composers were just stressed out about the impeding world war and projecting, which is certainly understandable.)
Edit: make my comment even longer with some clarifications.
Edit 2: even longer with even more clarifications
Edit 3: add insult, rank speculation, and finally empathy about pre-war composers
Edit 4: remove footnote digression to get back to a sane comment length
Edit 5: because why not a few more clarifications
Let's divide and conquer:
1. The Youtube poster probably meant pre-dominant instead of "sub-dominant." Pre-dominant chords are a set of possible chords in a particular system of harmony-- called "common practice harmony"-- which essentially kick off the process of "asking a question" in the chord progression. This "common practice period" of music ran roughly the long stretch when Bach, Beethoven, and Brahms wrote music. Composers today can make use of that system if they wish, but as you'll see below Glass isn't doing this. (Digression: "Sub-dominant" refers to one particular chord choice in a given key, and it's not one which appears at the beginning of the Glass piece in the video. Neither is the dominant, at least in the function implied by the poster as "answering" or resolving the tonic. If anything the beginning of the excerpt sounds like a fragment of a descending tetrachord pattern that goes back to the middle ages, but without the final note. I.e., the bass line of Ray Charles' "Hit the road jack" leading up to but not including "no more, no more, no more, no more")
2. Glass' music in the excerpt is cyclic. You hear some 2-against-3 rhythms between the left and right hand for four measures-- the first 2 have the same chord, and the 3rd and 4th measures have different chords. Then you hear it all over again. This sets the basic rhythm and phrase structure for the entire excerpt-- everything cycles back around in predictable groups of 4 measures each, with the chords changing roughly every measure. Finally, each new phrase starts back at the same, predictable f-minor chord that began the entire excerpt.
3. The voicing of the chords remains in the same small range for the first half of the excerpt. You can play it with your hands close together in the middle of the keyboard, and it doesn't ever veer too far away from that position. This is what gives it that atmospheric, background sound that characterizes a lot of Glass' music. (Plus he seems to like long strings of alternating thirds in the melody.)
4. The chords used are fairly humdrum chords, and they do not follow the "common practice harmony" tonic/dominant tension/release pattern. The one chord in measure 3 happens to have a little tension, what with the d-flat in the bass creating a tritone with the g. But common practice harmony strongly implies a particular chord for the resolution, and Glass does not follow that pattern. From the standpoint of "common practice harmony," Glass actually leaves the tension hanging for that chord. So if you're hearing a tension-resolution pattern at the beginning of this excerpt, the thing that can decidedly not explain it is the common practice tension/release theory because this excerpt literally does the opposite.
5. In measure 4, there's an a-flat in the right hand creating a momentary embellishment that moves down to g in the second half of the measure. That kind of embellishment was known as a sighing motive in music from the Baroque period, and Chopin often utilized the right-hand alternation pattern on sighing motives that Glass does here.
To sum up: the music circles around itself in a predictable manner, always returning to the same place with pleasing, predictable chords in the mid-register of the piano. So almost regardless of which chords happen in measure 3 and 4, you're likely to hear a) a beginning with the "main" chord, b) a change when you hear different chords (plus that little sighing motive), and c) an answer that begins a new question when the cycle repeats. The cycles are relatively short, and the more cycles you hear, the more deeply you become aware of the pattern.
In conclusion-- the Youtube poster is literally wrong in their analysis of the chords, and wrong about the general category of tension/resolution in the excerpt. But the tonic-predominant-dominant tension/release pattern they suggest sounds similar enough to a "begin-change-repeat" pattern. Since you had a general feeling upon hearing the latter, and since the former suggests roughly a similar feeling, you took it to be objective.
Here's a counterexample with similar two-against-three rhythms:
https://youtu.be/0eEipRR9ebI?t=942
This excerpt uses a deeper range of the piano with a more sprawling voicing between the hands. Each phrase repeats, like the Glass excerpt. But each phrase is longer, and the chord progressions (and hidden melodies in each chord) do use the tonic/pre-dominant/dominant harmonic system that the poster alluded to. For one thing, the phrases don't always return to the same chord at the beginning. Moreover, each phrase pushes forward to the next to create a through-line, one that you can concentrate and listen to all the way through the excerpt to the end of the piece. It's a bit more nuanced that what I can write here, but there is a surprising amount of musical "stuff" happening in these passages that follow a loose set of guidelines for building tension within a phrase and across multiple phrases. The point is this-- if you wanted to make a parody video that put words to this Brahms Ballade, it would begin the same way as OPs video. But somehow, by the end, you'd have gotten a summary examination of Nietzsche's mature works. People from the 19th century thought about music making big, profound statements like that. And the music of that period utilizes an inventive and sophsticated harmonic language that invites that kind of interpretation. The difference between that and the uneventful, cyclic conversation by the guys in the video is for me is what makes the parody video funny.
Finally, lest I be misinterpreted-- Glass wrote his piece long after Brahms, and-- most importantly-- after a long movement of atonal composers took over the role of "serious" music in the U.S. and Europe. I think he was purposely turning the excitement level down to "chill mode" to show that the basic tenets of old school harmony still "resonate" (heh) and by no means were somehow "exhausted" at the end of the 19th century as a lot of pretentious composers claimed during that time. (Although perhaps those composers were just stressed out about the impeding world war and projecting, which is certainly understandable.)
Edit: make my comment even longer with some clarifications.
Edit 2: even longer with even more clarifications
Edit 3: add insult, rank speculation, and finally empathy about pre-war composers
Edit 4: remove footnote digression to get back to a sane comment length
Edit 5: because why not a few more clarifications
Thank you! I appreciate the level of depth and information you've provided!
Wow, super informative and interesting comment, thank you!
It's a general feeling that might be shared by lots of people. In the Classical era (think Mozart and early Beethoven), moving to the subdominant was seen as reducing tension.
The whole generation of tension in a Classical sonata form is by modulating to the dominant early on and gradually returning to tonic. Subdominant modulations would be used near the end to achieve a sense of resolution before a final, decisive dominant to tonic movement.
Those are massive generalizations, but that is kind of the point: the meaning of certain gestures changes with time, place, and culture. There are no hard rules in music, except when there are, but even then they're mostly relative.
The whole generation of tension in a Classical sonata form is by modulating to the dominant early on and gradually returning to tonic. Subdominant modulations would be used near the end to achieve a sense of resolution before a final, decisive dominant to tonic movement.
Those are massive generalizations, but that is kind of the point: the meaning of certain gestures changes with time, place, and culture. There are no hard rules in music, except when there are, but even then they're mostly relative.
The pinnacle of Philip Glass parodies, and an honest, nuanced one, was (the now forgotten?) P.D.Q. Bach's Einstein on the Fritz: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uumLxMLBv-Y
Glass's work in his earlier years was more iterative than repetitive, and often performed with the ferocity of a tornado. People mock his work, especially his later, softer work, but those early pieces as originally performed really rip. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRerJeYmUgY
Glass's work in his earlier years was more iterative than repetitive, and often performed with the ferocity of a tornado. People mock his work, especially his later, softer work, but those early pieces as originally performed really rip. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRerJeYmUgY
I love the earlier, even more minimal pieces like Music With Changing Parts: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Uy_Ag7ETA4
And I love the parallels to things like I Am Sitting In A Room by Alving Lucier: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fAxHlLK3Oyk (If you're not familiar with this piece, it might be worth reading about it first - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Am_Sitting_in_a_Room)
I hesitate to say this because it depends on your tastes, but I'd recommend setting aside the time to listen to these beginning to end if you can. You'll probably feel a bit fidgety for the first 10 / 15 minutes, but in my view it's really worth persevering because I find the payoffs are worth it.
And I love the parallels to things like I Am Sitting In A Room by Alving Lucier: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fAxHlLK3Oyk (If you're not familiar with this piece, it might be worth reading about it first - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Am_Sitting_in_a_Room)
I hesitate to say this because it depends on your tastes, but I'd recommend setting aside the time to listen to these beginning to end if you can. You'll probably feel a bit fidgety for the first 10 / 15 minutes, but in my view it's really worth persevering because I find the payoffs are worth it.
The first time I ever heard Philip Glass was a performance he did on Saturday Night Live.
To put it mildly, it was fucking wild. It blew my 13 year old mind. I had never heard anything like it.
I went over to my neighbor's house to get the TV guide the next day so I could read who the musical guest was because I had missed it.
It's known as one of the weirdest episodes of SNL ever: https://www.vulture.com/2013/03/the-weirdest-episode-of-the-...
It was a "lost" episode that I searched online for for decades.
Luckily a VHS copy emerged in 2020: https://archive.org/details/saturday-night-live-s-11-e-13-ge...
To put it mildly, it was fucking wild. It blew my 13 year old mind. I had never heard anything like it.
I went over to my neighbor's house to get the TV guide the next day so I could read who the musical guest was because I had missed it.
It's known as one of the weirdest episodes of SNL ever: https://www.vulture.com/2013/03/the-weirdest-episode-of-the-...
It was a "lost" episode that I searched online for for decades.
Luckily a VHS copy emerged in 2020: https://archive.org/details/saturday-night-live-s-11-e-13-ge...
That second link is a perfect example.
I was introduced to Javanese Gamelan before I ever heard Glass, and when I finally did it felt like someone had pushed it to the limits of speed and precision.
I was introduced to Javanese Gamelan before I ever heard Glass, and when I finally did it felt like someone had pushed it to the limits of speed and precision.
Came to say this. I think many people overlook the intensity of his early work. Einstein on the Beach is an evergreen favorite of mine. It feels thoroughly modern and holds up well. It's been a longtime desire to experience a full production someday.
It's on in Argentina this summer! You always wanted to visit Buenos Aires, right?
The P.D.Q. Bach is awesome; I’d never heard that. Maybe it is largely forgotten, but thanks for dredging it up. Shickele is a genius. (I couldn’t stand to sit though the whole movie in the OP.)
That Einstein on the Beach: Train piece exactly hits the sweet spot for me. I have some other stuff by Glass, Steve Reich and Keith Fullerton Whitman that are some of my most played songs but wasn't aware of that Glass piece - thank you! You've given me days of (cumulative) happy listening.
Philip Glass did the score for one of my favorite films, "Koyaanisqatsi"
Here is a YT cover of the opening song. I find the music has lots of feeling to it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KC0FroHjB94
Here is a YT cover of the opening song. I find the music has lots of feeling to it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KC0FroHjB94
Also one of my favorite films. In a similar vein, Baraka and Samsara are also great, but the score for Koyaanisqatsi is simply beautiful.
The ending sequence still gives me chills. Lots of scenes do, actually.
The ending sequence still gives me chills. Lots of scenes do, actually.
Those are also fantastic. Also, if you're into electronic music, RMB sampled Baraka a lot in one of his earlier albums.
One of those songs was a big inspiration to Delta, if you're into chiptunes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjPXW2yfE1I
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjPXW2yfE1I
Came to also mention - because IMHO Philip Glass is already a film.
I walked in to a frat party in 1983 and the movie was playing on a TV - and my mind was blown! I've watched it several times since. I also got to see that it could still blow minds when I saw my 14 year old daughter's reaction.
I walked in to a frat party in 1983 and the movie was playing on a TV - and my mind was blown! I've watched it several times since. I also got to see that it could still blow minds when I saw my 14 year old daughter's reaction.
I first saw the film in the mid 2000s. By that time, many elements of the film had become dated (the cars, the fashions, the hairstyles, etc.) For me, the dated elements are a major part of what makes the film so interesting. It's a sort of detailed historical record of life in the past.
It makes me wonder two things:
1. If the movie were recreated shot-for-shot in today's world, would still be it as interesting. Or would the contemporary elements make it less interesting.
2. What was it like to see the movie in the 1980s when the elements were still contemporary, and the film was absent of the historical-recordness. It's almost as if the passage of time has added something of value to the film which could not have existed when it was first released. And this film is unique in its ability to benefit from datedness. When I watch other 80s films and I see old fashions and hair styles, it sometimes takes value away from the film.
It makes me wonder two things:
1. If the movie were recreated shot-for-shot in today's world, would still be it as interesting. Or would the contemporary elements make it less interesting.
2. What was it like to see the movie in the 1980s when the elements were still contemporary, and the film was absent of the historical-recordness. It's almost as if the passage of time has added something of value to the film which could not have existed when it was first released. And this film is unique in its ability to benefit from datedness. When I watch other 80s films and I see old fashions and hair styles, it sometimes takes value away from the film.
The footage was certainly closer to "contemporary" in the 80's. But much of the footage was already pretty old. The Apollo 11 launch. The atom bomb. The St. Louis demolitions. The traffic and cars. It's mostly early to mid 70s.
I am disappointed that there's not been a modern reboot - even as a crowdsourced/pirate version. But considering the attention span of the TikTok generation, I don't think it would work.
I am disappointed that there's not been a modern reboot - even as a crowdsourced/pirate version. But considering the attention span of the TikTok generation, I don't think it would work.
Yeah, I came here to write that.. If he was a movie, maybe was that. I found out about the movie because I loved the music by Rob Hubbard, to the C64 game Delta, which is basically the theme from Koyaanisqatsi, but sped up.
I'm an old man now and a lonesome man in Kansas, but now I remember what it feels like to be a teenager and have people misunderstand your favorite artist that you feel you have a deep personal relationship with
I hope you don't mean this YouTube video misunderstands Philip Glass, because I think it actually speaks to a truth that most people miss. There is a monologue that runs through Glass's music, it's full of questions and exclamations and regrets and...
These guys captured that nicely -- and made it funny.
These guys captured that nicely -- and made it funny.
As a Philip Glass listener, I found the clip kind of funny. But also because they took one of his better pieces and just straight out missed it.
I don’t know what to tell you about loneliness and solitude. The most lonely years of my life were the ones I lived in the San Francisco Bay Area. The year during the pandemic that I lived in the Lost Coast was pretty good by comparison. So I will say that I hear you, wherever you are in Kansas.
I don’t know what to tell you about loneliness and solitude. The most lonely years of my life were the ones I lived in the San Francisco Bay Area. The year during the pandemic that I lived in the Lost Coast was pretty good by comparison. So I will say that I hear you, wherever you are in Kansas.
I hate to spoil it, but it's from a spoken word piece by the late Alan Ginsberg ("Howl") and Glass - Wichita Vortex Sutra #3
I’m an old man now, and a lonesome man in Kansas
but not afraid
to speak my lonesomeness in a car,
because not only my lonesomeness
it’s Ours, all over America,O tender fellows—
& spoken lonesomeness is Prophecy
in the moon 100 years ago or in
the middle of Kansas now.
Art is whatever you want it to be.
Cheers all the way to Kansas, I hope you have a rich life despite the loneliness.
Cheers all the way to Kansas, I hope you have a rich life despite the loneliness.
It is from a poem by some fella named Ginsberg.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-arPnTm0ZFI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-arPnTm0ZFI
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
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?
Be sure to checkout Koyaanisqatsi if you like experimental films and Philip Glass
Also be sure to check out The Hours.
And Truman Show! Epic soundtrack. Also Jane (documentary on Goodall), which is almost a reworking of the Mishima music.. extremely similar, but I still found it to be vibrant and fresh.
Also if you listen to The Truman Show main theme, you may find that it sounds very similar to The Leftovers main theme. I’m quite certain that Richter must have borrowed elements from it.
Also if you listen to The Truman Show main theme, you may find that it sounds very similar to The Leftovers main theme. I’m quite certain that Richter must have borrowed elements from it.
Also be sure to checkout Candyman if you like horror films and Philip Glass.
Also be sure to check out "They Came in Through the Bathroom Mirror" if you like Candyman.
( https://chicagoreader.com/news-politics/they-came-in-through... )
( https://chicagoreader.com/news-politics/they-came-in-through... )
Philip Glass did incredible work in the film, Kundun[0][1]. This movie has unfortunately been buried by Disney in the US and is not on any streaming platforms.
[0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqqUjQf43oo&list=PL50A4C9AF0...
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kundun
[0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqqUjQf43oo&list=PL50A4C9AF0...
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kundun
Given the cyclical/repetitive nature of time that Buddhism holds (AIUI), I always thought Glass was a good choice on a 'meta-level' (besides just being very talented).
While I'm not really into the entire work, I do like the "Act I: Prelude" of the opera Akhnaten:
* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Ql8TidvZto
Vox had a good video story on its production at the NY Met:
* https://www.vox.com/videos/2019/12/4/20995158/philip-glass-o...
While I'm not really into the entire work, I do like the "Act I: Prelude" of the opera Akhnaten:
* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Ql8TidvZto
Vox had a good video story on its production at the NY Met:
* https://www.vox.com/videos/2019/12/4/20995158/philip-glass-o...
That Akhnaten production is currently on at English National Opera in London. It is the /hottest/ of hot tickets now, albeit for a sad reason: the UK government are deeply cutting funding to the Arts and ENO is on the chopping block.
If you get the chance, go. For anyone else, look at YouTube or Met Opera on Demand. If you are in NYC right now the director of the production is doing a think at NYU Skirball discussing this production and Glass in general.
If you get the chance, go. For anyone else, look at YouTube or Met Opera on Demand. If you are in NYC right now the director of the production is doing a think at NYU Skirball discussing this production and Glass in general.
I never realized this was also the score used in the 07/27/1978 episode of Lasagna Cat [0] which is also a great watch.
[0] https://youtube.com/watcv=NAh9oLs67Cw
[0] https://youtube.com/watcv=NAh9oLs67Cw
I’m a huge fan of his works and this made me chuckle. Great parody.
What's interesting is that I absolutely love and adore Philip Glass's music, but I normally hate minimalism. I also dislike musicians who try to copycat Glass. It's like there is something deeper within Glass's music that they are unable to latch onto or something. And it goes without saying that I don't think the art of his music translates into the dialogue in the short film very well.
Phillip Glass is not original.
? he’s one of the most original composers of the post war period
There isn’t anything else quite like his music imo
Who would you say he copied?
I feel that this video inherits the spirit of Leonard Bernstein's lectures, particularly the Young People's Concert and the Norton Lectures at Harvard. Bernstein likened music to linguistics, calling each movement of a symphony "a musical sentence."[1] While Two Set Violin may have had facetious intentions, they have faithfully reenacted tensions within the music in their conversation.
[1] Check out the Norton Lectures especially, where Bernstein analyzes musical structure with references to Chomsky. The maestro was really well learned. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fHi36dvTdE&list=PLKiz0UZowP...
[1] Check out the Norton Lectures especially, where Bernstein analyzes musical structure with references to Chomsky. The maestro was really well learned. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fHi36dvTdE&list=PLKiz0UZowP...
For all the praise of Glass' score for Koyaanisqatsi and The Hours, he also composed one of my favorite contemporary ballets, Twyla Tharp's "In The Upper Room": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LiJDZOHVLk
Replying to %root% b/c all the Koyaanisqatsi references: I learned about the movie(s) and Glass' works when accidentally tuning in to a Koyaanisqatsi airing briefly before the Challenger scene some 20 years back.
My definition of the perfect storm. Still remember set and setting and everything else.
My definition of the perfect storm. Still remember set and setting and everything else.
Knock knock.
- Who's there?
Knock knock.
- Who's there?
Knock knock.
- Who's there?
Knock knock.
- Who's there?
- Philip Glass.
- Who's there?
Knock knock.
- Who's there?
Knock knock.
- Who's there?
Knock knock.
- Who's there?
- Philip Glass.
When I was young and foolish and ironed my own shirts, Philip Glass was the perfect soundtrack.
Reminds me of the play by David Ives[0]
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_Glass_Buys_a_Loaf_of_Br...
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_Glass_Buys_a_Loaf_of_Br...
Came here hoping for the Koyaanisqatsi link
That's kinda spot on (maybe a little more early Steve Reich than Glass), and the disappearance switching to another actor was clever (at least it looped!), but they could have dragged it out another 8 hours.
Also, King Missile took a funny jab at Glass, too:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aa5hjsm4tZY
Also, King Missile took a funny jab at Glass, too:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aa5hjsm4tZY
I thought this was going to be a link to the Sesame Street animation that he scored @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JWwOzEDGss
If I had access to this sixteen years ago, I would have recreated the animations in Flash, but after Flash died out, I stopped playing in that field.
If I had access to this sixteen years ago, I would have recreated the animations in Flash, but after Flash died out, I stopped playing in that field.
As an adult watching clips of Seasme Street like this, or the pinball animation counting from 1 to 12, or any of the other 70s psychedelia influenced bits, I convinced that I was "groomed" into being such of fan of the use of psychedelics starting in my teenage years. A giant bird that had an "imaginary" friend (elephant/mammoth to continue the trope) that was always high as a kite "Hiiiii, Birrrrrd". And I thank them for it.
I don’t get all the Philip Glass mockery here. He was a remarkably creative composer. He wrote his piece hundreds of times.
Philip Glass compositions may seem rather unvaried, but there are subtle geometric intricacies that may be more rewarding to listen and discover if listeners were aware of them. His works may not seem as eventful as Bach, Mozart or Beethoven, as it requires closer attention to observe such traits.
I actually dig this film, it didn’t bore me until the very final stretch. (Much like a Philip Glass work.)
Since others are just posting links to their favorite Phillip Glass performances.
I really like this performance of Knee Play 5[0]
[0]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afW7RGY-CQw
I really like this performance of Knee Play 5[0]
[0]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afW7RGY-CQw
Recently discovered Philip Glass through a BBC Essential Mix by Jamie XX (yes!)
This music is now forever in my mind: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SegECuY22Rs
This music is now forever in my mind: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SegECuY22Rs
Dive right in that’s just the beginning! The scope of his work is kind of overwhelming, and I don’t love 100% of it (I’d say at least 90% though :) ), but there’s so much of it that you can just thrown in a glass search on any of your listening choices and look for something new, and it’s bound to be incredible, refreshing, and at the least, worth listening to.
There are already several film versions of Philip glass, starting with koyaanisqatsi
Philip Glass is, musically, a fraud. Doesn't matter how much popular acclaim he gets, his music is as shallow as every bad pop song that hits the charts.
.
I'm trying to parse what you mean here.
Dave Matthews is an incredible musician, but what's the connection?
Also, strong disagree on Collier. No doubt there are people that love both, but I struggle to see any similarity. They each have strong harmonic development but their approach is completely different. What similarity do you find?
Dave Matthews is an incredible musician, but what's the connection?
Also, strong disagree on Collier. No doubt there are people that love both, but I struggle to see any similarity. They each have strong harmonic development but their approach is completely different. What similarity do you find?
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Dembai 3 years ago
To anybody who's wondering why they chose these specific words and the specific repeats: they're actually doing a musical analysis on the phrasing that he's using in the chords.
I'm a bit Rusty with analysis, but basically glass is constantly shifting between what we call tonic, dominant and sub-dominant functions.
A subdominant function is a chord that adds tension, demanding to be resolved. It is like a question. The next chord is the dominant function...pointing back to the tonic as an answer.
So Glass starts on the tonic but moves to a subdominant (a question) which recieves a dominant moment (an answer) which turns back into the tonic for just a moment....before sliding back into a sub-dominant question.
It never feels resolved because every resolution lasts only a moment before turning back into a question.
The music was already doing this. They just added lyrics, so to speak.