Hi,
we have been to the opera yesterday, to "Satyagraha" by Philip Glass, and the music totally blew me away. Absolutely amazing! The performance and effects were good, too, but the music is clearly the most important and most impressive part of this opera. The songs were sung in Sanskrit (with translations done using subtitles), and the "plot" was the life of Mahatma Gandhi - but to call it a plot is probably a bit much, as it was more a sequence of meditative scenes with repetitive singing, hypnotic visual effects and Glass' minimalistic music. I don't like classical operas much, but found this modern opera absolutely fantastic, as Glass' music creates a very dense, emotional soundscape which you can sink into. (My wife, who is more into classical operas, nearly slept away...
)
The only work I knew from Philip Glass before was the movie 'Koyaanisqatsi' from 1981, a very unusual, meditative movie with no real plot either. It consists only of beautiful time-lapse scenes depicting the conflict between nature and modern technology, and again it lives and dies with the hypnotic, minimalistic score from Philip Glass. (Actually, I first encountered this musical theme in the game "Delta" on the c64, where Rob Hubbard's game music was heavily influenced by Koyaanisqatsi)
I had been unable to get that music out of my head ever since, so when I saw that our local opera was playing a work from Glass, I immediately bought tickets although I've never heard naything else from him. Now, inspired by yesterday's experience, I did a Google search on Philip Glass and found his homepage, and was surprised to learn that he has done the score for more traditional movies (Truman Show, The Hours etc.) and has published several CDs as well. Does anybody know more of his works and can tell me if his other music is similar to Koyaanisquatsi? The music from Satyagraha was, but this opera had had its premiere only one year before Koyaanisqatsi had been published, so I'm not sure if his work from later years is in the same style. Unfortunately I cannot remember the music from Truman Show, and I haven't seen the other movies he did the music for.
I also learned that "Koyaanisquatsi" from 1981 is only the first part of a trilogy, with the third part "Naqoyqatsi" been produced only recently, in 2002. Has anybody seen the movie and could tell me about it? I know I won't be able to rent it from our local DVD store (they only have Hollywood mainstream movies), and I don't want to spend money blindly on a movie I know nothing about except that the music is from Philip Glass. ;-) But if it's Koyaanisqatsi done with modern technology, I would love it.
Since Koyaanisqatsi could be called a work from something like Realms Beyond Movies, I'd thought this might be the best place to ask. :P So, if somebody knows more about Philipp Glass' work, input would be much appreciated!
-Kylearan
we have been to the opera yesterday, to "Satyagraha" by Philip Glass, and the music totally blew me away. Absolutely amazing! The performance and effects were good, too, but the music is clearly the most important and most impressive part of this opera. The songs were sung in Sanskrit (with translations done using subtitles), and the "plot" was the life of Mahatma Gandhi - but to call it a plot is probably a bit much, as it was more a sequence of meditative scenes with repetitive singing, hypnotic visual effects and Glass' minimalistic music. I don't like classical operas much, but found this modern opera absolutely fantastic, as Glass' music creates a very dense, emotional soundscape which you can sink into. (My wife, who is more into classical operas, nearly slept away...
)The only work I knew from Philip Glass before was the movie 'Koyaanisqatsi' from 1981, a very unusual, meditative movie with no real plot either. It consists only of beautiful time-lapse scenes depicting the conflict between nature and modern technology, and again it lives and dies with the hypnotic, minimalistic score from Philip Glass. (Actually, I first encountered this musical theme in the game "Delta" on the c64, where Rob Hubbard's game music was heavily influenced by Koyaanisqatsi)
I had been unable to get that music out of my head ever since, so when I saw that our local opera was playing a work from Glass, I immediately bought tickets although I've never heard naything else from him. Now, inspired by yesterday's experience, I did a Google search on Philip Glass and found his homepage, and was surprised to learn that he has done the score for more traditional movies (Truman Show, The Hours etc.) and has published several CDs as well. Does anybody know more of his works and can tell me if his other music is similar to Koyaanisquatsi? The music from Satyagraha was, but this opera had had its premiere only one year before Koyaanisqatsi had been published, so I'm not sure if his work from later years is in the same style. Unfortunately I cannot remember the music from Truman Show, and I haven't seen the other movies he did the music for.
I also learned that "Koyaanisquatsi" from 1981 is only the first part of a trilogy, with the third part "Naqoyqatsi" been produced only recently, in 2002. Has anybody seen the movie and could tell me about it? I know I won't be able to rent it from our local DVD store (they only have Hollywood mainstream movies), and I don't want to spend money blindly on a movie I know nothing about except that the music is from Philip Glass. ;-) But if it's Koyaanisqatsi done with modern technology, I would love it.
Since Koyaanisqatsi could be called a work from something like Realms Beyond Movies, I'd thought this might be the best place to ask. :P So, if somebody knows more about Philipp Glass' work, input would be much appreciated!
-Kylearan
There are two kinds of fools. One says, "This is old, and therefore good." And one says, "This is new, and therefore better." - John Brunner, The Shockwave Rider
