Last week I listened to a piece by a composer I am very (or at least “somewhat”) familiar with, Johannes Brahms (HERE). It turned out that I had, in fact, heard the piece before. I’m just not a big fan of Brahms, so I didn’t put it together that his Piano Concerto No. 1 was “oh – that piece.” This week I thought I would pick a piece by a composer I know little to nothing about so I landed on a violin concerto by Philip Glass. I have heard of Philip Glass, but I really don’t know anything about him – other than that he is a twentieth century composer. If I’ve heard anything by him it’s just been on the radio as I’ve listened with music on in the background. I can’t say that I can name anything by him. I just searched his name on YouTube, and then selected his violin concerto at random. Prior to listening I also searched “Philip Glass” on Google, and surprise surprise, the first thing to pop up was an article in Wikipedia that includes this: “He is widely regarded as one of the most influential composers of the late 20th century. Glass's work has been associated with minimalism, being built up from repetitive phrases and shifting layers. Glass describes himself as a composer of ‘music with repetitive structures.’” The complete article is HERE. What did I think of this concerto? My comments and rating will be posted soon, so stay tuned! SPOILER ALERT: While the Brahms' Piano Concerto went from "marvelous" to "meh," the opposite is true with the piece by Glass. It goes from "good" to "great." #justsaying I've listened to the Glass concerto a few times now, and there is something hypnotizing and satisfying about listening to minimalist music – especially if the composer hits on just the right combination of intriguing chords, mesmerizing harmonies and innovative rhythms. Minimalist music can be captivating, pleasing and/or provocative – akin to staring at the works by Rothko in the visual arts world.
Glass has done this with his violin concerto from the start – although in the first and second movements I would like to have heard a bit more repetitiveness. Glass has, in those movements, composed and orchestrated some intriguing chord progressions, hypnotic harmonies and seductive rhythms, but it all moves on too quickly. A bit more repetition would allow listeners to become more absorbed with and entranced by the sound (the second movement achieves this to a greater degree than the first). And then there is the third movement. I became engrossed by third movement. It moves at a clip – a real foot-tapper – and it is a whirlwind of fury, fervor and drama. As I was listening, I stopped what I was doing and just focused on the video and the sound. A listener commented under one of the videos of the work I watched, “Staggering, divine, hypnotizing, should never end.” Like all good things (well, like all things, really) the work does come to an end. Glass slows the tempo down quite a bit and quiets the orchestra as the concerto fades, and he allows the listener to catch his breath. I loved it.
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A New Hope:As the header above says, each week I will listen to a piece of classical music that I've never heard before, and then I will report out what I thought about it. Archives
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