Should I go see Philip Glass and Terry Riley?

In C is one of the classic 'minimalist' pieces - each performance can be quite different but generally it's a lovely harmonic thing. I'm sure that BoaC will do a fine job.

The 2 glass pieces are my favourites of his - both are quite mechanistic and reasonably fast paced with some dramatic changes. Not sure how BoaC will perform this one - most things they've done (that I've heard) have been quite 'tame' in comparison to how the early 70s Glass ensemble played.

This is what I wanted to hear. I haven't heard much early Glass and I know I'm kind of a heretic because of that. I keep meaning to pick up Music in 12 Parts, but it's hard to remember what with the amnesia.

Phil, I just read somewhere else that BoaC were performing with Riley somewhere, so I assume that means they will both be there, though I can't imagine Glass will be playing. It's pretty common knowledge that he does not have the chops he once did and delegates the hard stuff to Michael Reisman, word is that Kurt Munkasci(sp) turns him down in the mix, and on the early 90s version of Einstein, he only played, like the first note.

Last night was pretty crazy, besides those performing, people like Lou Reed and John Adams were in the audience, the guy who runs Nonesuch got an award, it was all very avant-garde establishment self-congratulatory fun. However, there were plenty of empty seats and by the day of the show, they were practically giving tickets away. I'd already payed by 100 bucks, but don't mind as it was a benefit after all.

A quick rundown of the show, minus all the speaches and excerpts on video of Bill T. Jones and Keith Haring running around:

Steve Reich and 3 others play Drumming 1. I think the other three were orig performers on the piece. It was AMAZING. While clapping afterwords I couldn't help but go into some Reich-ian rhythms.

Pauline Oliveros-Tuning Meditation. Where Pauline makes everyone in the audience sing vowels and tune to each other, then sing notes nobody else is singing. I did this with her at Oberlin in 96. Suprisingly, it worked and was really cool.

Meredith Monk-Dolmen Music. Again w/ a few original performers, this was utterly amazing. I've been a big fan of the album for years, though usually gravitating to the poppier pieces, Travelling, The Tale, Gotham Lullabye. It was amazing how much of a performance this was, with all the weird babbling dialogue being acted out in their gestures towards each other.

Intermission

Robert Ashley-Love Is a Good Example. I'm not a huge fan and this piece that was just 3 spoken vocals w/ some processing was somewhat boring to me. But now I can say I've seen Joan La Barbara

Laurie Anderson-I forget the name, a "work in progress." I was really not excited for this...but it was fantastic. her monologue was funny, political and insightful. She spoke over pretty standard electronic new synth drones, then whipped out the violin and played with some sort of pitch-shifter/harmonizer/delay, and it was really really good.

Philip Glass-Some very "pretty" piece with a Kora player, a sax player and Reisman playing some kind of synth. Nicely done, but neither interesting enough or emotional enough.

Sounds like a great show.

They also had a CD for sale made in conjuction w/ the anniversary concert. It's on Orange Mountain Music (.com) which claims to exit for people to study Philip Glass's music. This 2 CD set however features late 70s recordings from all the above and Palestine and Conrad and Niblock etc etc.

I don't think I have the Jon Gibson because I passed on a super-water-damaged copy at a thrift store in Chicago some years ago.

One time I was browsing at In Your Ear in Cambridge, Mass. in maybe spring 1998 and they had like EVERY Terry Riley LP, except for Reed Streams. Still kicking myself for not taking Persian Surgery Dervishes home.

haha, his website rules

I know 'harp' owes a debt to the previous piece, but 'harp of new albion' instantly sends me into a much deeper state.

The highlight was In C. Philip Glass at the baby grand and Terry Riley on an electric piano and vocals with Bang on a Can doing the rest. Unbelievable.

On this topic, my WFMU record fair finds included one nice relevant thing...Peter Zummo's Zummo with an X LP which features a sidelong piece of Zummo playing horn, somone playing tabla and Arthur Russell playing cello and vocalizing. Composed by Zummo, but it's all about Russell. The same dealer also had the original Philip Glass Music with Changing Parts 2xLP on Chatham Square for 35 bucks.

I enjoy both versions for different reasons; tighter, faster performances & extended flow on the Nonesuch, but the vocal performances are much more compelling & alien on the Tomato & I prefer the Farfisa arrangements. There are times where the vocal performances on the Nonesuch really bug me, it's not like the original is free from pretensions but it remains mysterious, on the new one Einstein now presents itself as a coagulated classic.

But everyone I've heard from simply prefers the first version they've heard, so y'know.

See, yes. Listen to, no.

Riley and In C were the second half. Riley was good, and his singing was great - really made explicit the connection between his music and traditional Indian music. These Bang on a Can performers, though - ugh. Ziporyn adds all these horrible faux-klezmer accents to the ends of Riley's little phrases and doesn't stay in tune. The cellist has a vibrato straight off the conservatory assembly line - not well-suited to Riley's music at all. And the guitarist is awful, sub-Mackeyan, like he hasn't heard any other electric guitarist since 1982 but he's got all the hip gear and he's set to ROCK your local car dealership commercial. All the peaks and valleys in Bang on a Can's performance seem scripted and inevitable.

And for what it's worth, I wonder if Riley should have made adjoining cells more similar to each other - they're really different, so that there isn't much difference when the performers are playing cells 30-35 as opposed to 35-40. There isn't enough possibility for meaningful textural contrast.

to download a 1970 radio broadcast of a Steve Reich concert, pretty amazing.

Also, just received this from Mr. Brian Chase, drummer of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, who, when he's not off being a rock star, has volunteered at the Dream House, you coming Joel?...

>TERRY RILEY & MICHAEL HARRISON
>NIGHT RAGAS CONCERT
>
>Sunday May 9, 9pm, $20
>Faust Harrison Pianos
>205 West 58th St., NY
>212-489-3600
>
>A rare & intimate unpublicized & unamplified concert
>No reservations required ~ Limited seating on a first come first serve
>basis
>Doors open at 8:40pm
>
>Terry Riley, voice
>Michael Harrison, voice
>Naren Budhkar, tabla
>Zarifah Manzella & Dean Klopsis, tamboura
>
>California composer, keyboardist and raga singer Terry Riley launched
what
>is now known as the Minimalist movement with his revolutionary classic
“In
>C” in 1964. This seminal work provided a new concept in musical form
based
>on interlocking repetitive patterns. It's impact was to change the
course
>of 20th Century music and it's influence has been heard in the works
of
>prominent composers such as Steve Reich, Philip Glass and John Adams
and in
>the music of Rock Groups such as The Who, The Soft Machine, Tangerine
>Dream, Curved Air and many others. Riley’s hypnotic, multi-layered,
>poly-metric, brightly orchestrated Eastern flavored improvisations and
>compositions set the stage for the New Age movement that was to appear
a
>decade or so later. In 1970, Riley became a disciple of the revered
North
>Indian raga vocalist, Pandit Pran Nath and made the first of his
numerous
>trips to India to study with the Master. He appeared frequently in
concert
>with the legendary singer as tamboura, tabla and vocal accompanist
over the
>next 26 years until Pran Nath’s passing in 1996. Riley now regularly
>performs raga as a vocalist and recently appeared in concert with
tabla
>virtuoso Zakir Hussein. Riley was listed in the London Sunday Times
as
>"one of the 1000 makers of the 20th Century."
>
>Through his work with alternate tuning systems and harmonic resonance
>Michael Harrison has revolutionized the piano. Having made a lifelong
>study of both Western classical and North Indian classical music,
Harrison
>has developed a distinctive voice as a composer and performer. He was
a
>protégé of minimalist godfather La Monte Young and a disciple of the
late
>master Indian vocalist Pandit Pran Nath with whom he studied from 1979
>until Pran Nath’s passing in 1996. He continues to study and perform
today
>as a disciple of one of India’s preeminent vocalists, Ustad Mashkoor
Ali
>Khan. As an internationally acclaimed composer/pianist Harrison’s
work is
>performed throughout the U.S. and Europe.
>
>Naren Budhkar as a tabla player represents a link of the East West
cultural
>bridge. As a classical percussionist cultivated by the tradition of
Indian
>music and culture, Naren possesses the aesthetic sense to complement
his
>drumming to vocalists, instrumentalists and dancers alike. He has
>performed and recorded in a wide range of styles from Indian classical
to
>jazz, folk, country and rock music. He has been cited in The New York
>Times, aired on CNN, and heard from clubs to concert halls and from
folk
>festivals to Yoga retreats.

:(

Emily Manzo [a.k.a. The First Lady of Cuntry, a.k.a. "Emily" of
"Emily & Christie" (ex-l'il fighters)] will be giving a recital up at
Columbia University TODAY, Friday May 14th, at 7pm in Horace
Mann room 435 (directions below).

Rob Thatcher (aka Fat Bobby of Oneida fame) will join Emily for
Reich's Piano Phase. Emily will also be giving a preview of the
Sofia Gubaidulina Extravaganza (collaboration with other
Oberlin-grads set for Chicago in July) with her Piano Sonata,
plus some Chopin and Ligeti Etudes.

This event is free!

Directions to HORACE MANN, ROOM 435, Teacher's
College, Columbia University, 120th St btwn Broadway
and Amsterdam:

Take the 1/9 to 116th Street, stay at the front of the train,
exit right after turnstiles, up left staircase. Walk up to
120th Street, turn right, walk half way down the block to
the Main Hall Entrance (on the north side of the street).
You'll have to check in with the security guard, and from
there I will post many, many signs to guide you to the
room. You will be rewarded with refreshments, and, of
course, piano music.

Will you ever do it again?

What if I start a new music concert series for hipsters?

btw, is that the correct spelling of Thatcher? Sabine's post to nyhappenings had it as Thacher.

If you start a new music series for hipsters, I'm out, but if you start one for unqualified drunks, I'M IN!!!

See, it's phasing...

jwilliams: Steve Reich, about whose music I don't actually know a ton, wrote a bunch of pieces which use sound phasing between really simple repetitive parts to create fantastic, otherworldly ghost melodies. Piano Phase is two pianos playing a simple 12-note phrase in unison (very quickly); one piano slowly speeds up, and the phasing effect between the two instruments cancels certain tonal elements as the sound changes in really wondrous ways.

When the sped-up piano reaches a point where it's hitting note number one in the pattern as the slower piano hits note twelve, that person slows back down so the two are again playing rhythmically in unison -- but this time in a melodic counterpoint rather than unison.

Then repeat the process again and again, until eventually the two are finally playing the pattern in tonal unison again. Then piano one changes to an even simpler 8-note pattern, piano two joins, and they cycle through again. Then the same with a four note pattern, and one more time around the horn.

It sounds really sterile/conceptual, but the sound is incredible -- and I can tell you that live, with two grand pianos, it is a hell of a lot richer and more complex than the recording I have, so if you have a chance to hear it (or any other like pieces by Reich) live, DO IT.

End of the longest post I've ever made...

The phasing idea began with his early tape loop pieces, where the spacing of the tapes and slight adjustments to tape speed caused the same phrase of spoken music to go out of phase and create interesting effects.

This lead to what would be called process music, where a process would be set up, as described above, and subtle changes would be made to create an infinate number of possibilities and unexpected structures. Music as a Gradual Process:

http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~abauer/MusicasProcess.htm

At first it was simple elements, the two pianos of Piano Phase, the 4 Organs of 4 organs, the 6 pianos of 6 Pianos, etc.

In the early 70s he also studied west african drumming which affected his work where he'd do similar gradual process pieces that was more about rhythm then melody(though it was always about melody as well...) In Drumming, a single drum would be hit, then a few measures later, another beat would be added, before you knew it a million complex rhythms would be jumping around, and the addition of a single drum beat would completely change the feel of the pattern.

Through the 70s he expanded these pieces and taking the rhythmic pulses and gradual process to great heights while placing more emphasis on actual melodic composition. The peak was probably Music for 18 Musicians.

His next influence would be the human voice, first in the hebrew chanting of cantors as shown in Tehilim, and later in the actual sampling of voices. This breakthrough was first used in the piece Different Trains with the Kronos Quartet, where he'd have samples of people talking, creating a narrative, then the music would pick up the melody and rhythmic quality of the spoken phrase. His wife added video when they extended this idea to the Cave, and again most recently, for Three Tales.

I'd say the best introductory releases would be Music For 18 Musicians and the Different Trains/Electric Counterpoint CDs.

http://www.sonicyouth.com/dotsonics/lee/art/organs.html

Riley's also performing a solo piece for prepared piano somewhere on the upper west side.

http://oberon481.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/2008/04/20/satyagraha070803.jpg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VsU7wczwbNI&feature=related

the met's been broadcasting their shows in HD, I hope this becomes commercially available

I remember buying the Satyagraha box when I was in high school and sort of mortified when I dropped the needle to hear traditional bel canto operatic singing, I was expecting another Einstein. sat through the whole thing sort of nonplussed and thinking I'd just completely wasted my money, until I got to the third LP which very gradually worked me over. the second it was over I went back and listened to all of the first LP again

i have a question and a joke to share. the question is, has anyone heard the phillip glass/leonard cohen collaboration? i am intrigued and would appreciate any insight. the joke, from the new documentary glass by scott hicks, is ~

knock knock
who's there?
knock knock
who's there?
knock knock
who's there?
knock knock
who's there?
knock knock
who's there?
knock knock
who's there?
phillip glass

has it been four years? I had forgotten this thread. That Terry Riley/Philip Glass concert was definitely a turning point for me. "In C" especially was responsible for warping my 17 year old mind.