Steve Reich - Music For 18 Musicians (1978)

Steve Reich's big break, both in terms of drawing together all his compositional ideas up until then into a masterpiece, and also in the public consciousness, this ECM release reaching his widest audience yet.  Deutsche Grammophon were actually responsible for this premiere recording, and had been sitting on it for a year or two when Manfred Eicher spotted its potential.  The 56-minute continuous piece became a hit with audiences who heard a warmth and accessibility that until then wasn't generally associated with the more austere forms of minimal music.

 

Music For 18 Musicians starts by setting out the pulse that will sustain it for the duration, as well as the sequence of eleven chords that will be slowly cycled through in its subsequent sections.  Arch forms, organum and cantus inspired by Perotin and section cues on the metallophone inspired by gamelan music all give the music its gorgeous symmetry.  Phrase lengths are determined by the bass clarinetist and human voices, dependent upon how long they can breathe for, adding to the organic feel of the music as if the whole ensemble were one living, breathing organism.  Section VI, at the 31 minute mark, is always my favourite in its joyous rhythmic/vocal focus, but Music For 18 Musicians is always best experienced as a whole.  Back in the vinyl era, this ran up against the same problem as E2-E4 later would, namely that flipping the record over temporarily broke the spell, but in the digital era there's no such drawback as it all runs in one sublime track.

link

pw: sgtg

Previously posted at SGTG:
Drumming, Six Pianos etc
Octet etc
Tehilim
Variations for Winds, Strings and Keyboards
Vermont Counterpoint / Eight Lines

The Desert Music
Sextet / Six Marimbas + bonus concert feat. Music For 18 Musicians
Nagoya Marimbas

City Life

Karel Goeyvaerts - Pour Que Les Fruits Mûrissent Cet Été, etc (2013 compi, recordings from 1973 & 77)

Great reissue of all of one album and his half of a shared album by Belgian composer Karel Goeyvaerts (1923-1993).  Goeyvaerts studied at Darmstadt in the 50s, striking up a friendship with Stockhausen, and went on to work in serialism, electronic music and latterly minimalism.

Three works in excess of 20 minutes each give a nice immersion in Goeyvaerts' sound in the 1970s, starting with Pour que les fruits mûrissent cet été (1975-6).  Written for an ensemble of Renaissance instruments in an "evolving repetitive technique", it's a really enjoyable, mellow listen that brings to mind Julius Eastman if he'd decided to go pre-baroque.

Ach Golgotha (1975) is next, and was originally paired with Pour que... on LP in 1977.  Named after a part of Bach's St Matthew Passion that it very loosely morphs around, it's a slow, minimal percussion piece with organ and harp that again isn't far off Eastman's DIY-minimalism, or even the track at the end of that Jon Gibson album.  Lastly, we get to hear Goeyvaerts' electronic/tape music in Op Acht Paarden Wedden, from a 1973 split LP with fellow Belgian Lucien Goethals.  Lots of great queasy drones, electronic whines and tape manipulation of instruments make for an engrossing end to a highly recommended collection.

link

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Steve Reich - The Desert Music (1985)

Steve Reich kicked off his relationship with Nonesuch, which continues to this day, in grand style.  The Desert Music, composed 1982-84, augmented his usual ensemble with the chorus and members of the Brooklyn Philharmonic.  The sung text is extracted from William Carlos Williams' poems Theocritus: Idyl I, The Orchestra and Asphodel, That Greeny Flower.  It was Reich's most ambitious work so far, and remains one of his most impressive and thrilling to listen to.  Set in an arch structure, bookended by that trademark Reichian pulse, The Desert Music takes everything Reich had been experimenting with up until the early 80s and creates a true epic journey.

link
pw: sgtg

Previously posted at SGTG:
Drumming, Six Pianos etc
Octet etc
Tehilim
Variations for Winds, Strings and Keyboards
Vermont Counterpoint / Eight Lines
Sextet / Six Marimbas + bonus concert feat. Music For 18 Musicians
Nagoya Marimbas

Philip Glass - Analog (2006 compilation, rec. 1975-81)

Compilation released by the Philip Glass archive label Orange Mountain Music, centered around the 1977 LP North Star which originally came out on Virgin Records.  North Star comprised of soundtrack music for a 1975 documentary about the sculptor/assemblage artist Mark Di Suvero, and as such contains much shorter pieces than any other Glass release of the era.

Listening to North Star, in fact, is like a series of miniature trailers for Einstein On The Beach (link below) - the preponderance of tracks based around electric organ and simple vocal phrases definitely points the way forward to Einstein.  There's some really lovely variations on the Glass sound of time too, such as River Run and the flute tapestry of Are Years What (For Marianne Moore).  Like Glassworks, this is an ideal album for listeners who might enjoy the early Philip Glass sound, but be put off by a single idea stretching across 20-odd minutes.

The bonus on Analog is Soho News, an EP from 1981 containing "two minor works originally written in the mid-70s".  The three parts of Dressed Like An Egg are in a similar vein to the organ/voice pieces on North Star, and the real treat is an early organ rendition of Mad Rush.  Perhaps best known as a piano piece since the release of Solo Piano (link below), it was originally intended to be an organ work, and is presented here in its full 16 minute recording (Soho News originally edited it down to seven minutes).

North Star, original LP cover, 1977

Soho News, original 12" cover, 1981

link
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Previously posted at SGTG:
Music With Changing Parts
Two Pages, Contrary Motion etc
Music In Twelve Parts
Einstein On The Beach
Dance Nos. 1-5
Solo Piano
Dance No. 4 (Christopher Bowers-Broadbent)
How Now, etc (Steffen Schleiermacher)
Glassworks (live 2017)
Symphony No. 3 (live 2020)

Philip Glass - Solo Piano (1989)

Been getting majorly reacquainted with this album of sublime, beautifully relaxing piano over the last few weeks, so it's well due a posting.  Just composer and instrument, nothing else.  Half an hour of gradually evolving meditations on Kafka, with some themes from his Thin Blue Line soundtrack.  Thirteen minutes of achingly gorgeous flowing waves originally written as an organ piece for the Dalai Lama's visit to New York City in 1981.  Then seven minutes of gospel-inflected loveliness written in collaboration with Allen Ginsberg (the version with his voice would appear the following year, on Hydrogen Jukebox).  I could listen to this album forever.

link
pw: sgtg

Previously posted at SGTG:
Music With Changing Parts
Two Pages, Contrary Motion etc
Music In Twelve Parts
Einstein On The Beach
Dance Nos. 1-5
Dance No. 4 (Christopher Bowers-Broadbent)
How Now, etc (Steffen Schleiermacher)
Glassworks (live 2017)
Symphony No. 3 (live 2020)

Bang On A Can All-Stars / BBC Concert Orchestra - Bang On! (recorded live, 28 Feb 2020)

A fantastic concert given last Friday at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, London, in which the BBC Concert Orchestra were paired with the Bang On A Can All-Stars.  The group's parent organisation Bang On A Can, founded in the late 80s, have performed works by Reich, Riley, Glass and many others, as well as a famous full-album cover of Brian Eno's Music For Airports.

John Adams' The Chairman Dances proves to be the perfect curtain-raiser for the show, played just by the BBC Concert Orchestra with great swing and verve - find the original recording here.  The main event concludes the first half of the concert, with the orchestra backing the All-Stars in the European premiere of Julia Wolfe's (one of the BOAC founders) Flower Power.  Written as a tribute to 1960s counterculture, it starts in woozy drones that reminded me a bit of Fausto Romitelli, before kicking into gear and embarking on a stunning journey through rock and psychedelia, dramatic orchestral evocations of protest and social upheaval, some gorgeous reflective passages and much more.

The group and orchestra play separately in the second half, with Bang On A Can All-Stars up first.  They play Horses Of Instruction, a work written for them in 1994 by a composer I only discovered last year, Steve Martland.  Like Martland's Babi Yar on that album, the influences of muscular, driving rock and Martland's teacher Louis Andriessen are both very much in evidence, but this work is much less dark in tone.  Made me think of a more melodic version of 90s King Crimson at times.  To close, the strings of the orchestra perform Philip Glass' Symphony No. 3.  I've largely avoided symphonic Glass over the years, but for all the received wisdom of this facet of his ouevre being interminable stodge, it was an enjoyable listen and a nice reflective comedown to end such a spectacular concert. Highly recommended, especially the Julia Wolfe centrepiece.

link
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Daniel Lentz (performed by Arlene Dunlap) - Point Conception (1984)

An epic 36-minute work for nine piano parts played in octaves, overdubbed in a 'cascading echo system', Point Conception was written by Pennsylvania-born composer Daniel Lentz in 1979.  It was named for the headland on the California coast that separates Southern and Central CA, and the layers of piano performed by Lentz's longtime collaborator Arlene Dunlap ably evoke the ebb and flow of the great tides.  The seemingly endless waves of sound are often like a grander version of John Adams' early piano pieces, e.g. Phrygian Gates.  Stirring stuff.

link
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Previously posted at SGTG: Music For Three Pianos, with Harold Budd & Ruben Garcia

Paul Dresher - This Same Temple (1996 compi, rec. 1981-85)

Great overview of some of Paul Dresher's earliest works, as compiled by Lovely Music.  Like Dark Blue Circumstance and Casa Vecchia, Dresher's take on Fripp/Pinhas/Gottsching guitartronics is represented, this time by Liquid And Stellar Music.  This stunning 20-minute track, which opens proceedings here, evolves from ambient drift to echo-delay tour de force, and was originally released on Dresher's debut cassette release in 1981.

Next up is Destiny, a brief dance commission from 1983.  Dresher on guitar is accompanied by a drummer, and it's a very nice polyrhythmic oddity that sounds closer to Talking Heads or even the then-new King Crimson sound than anything else I've heard Dresher do so far.  Water Dreams, an electroacoustic/radiophonic piece from 1985 follows, constructed from rain sounds and other field recordings in a similar way to Other Fire from the Casa Vecchia disc.  Lastly, This Same Temple is one of Dresher's first ever compositions from 1977, a piano duet that he admits had a significant Steve Reich influence.  A different version of it originally appeared on the aforementioned cassette release in 1981.

link
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John Adams - Shaker Loops/Light Over Water (1987 compi, rec. 1979 & 1983)

Early Adams at his hypnotic best, starting in 1979 with his well-known Shaker Loops in its original score for string septet.  Starting life as a piece called Wavemaker, intended to evoke a ripple effect on a body of water, it was retitled both in reference to the shaking effect of the strings and the ecstatic dancing of the Shaker sect.  Compare & contrast with the through-composed (the original here has a modular score), orchestrated version that had its recorded premiere under Edo DeWaart - links below.

This compilation pairs the original Shaker Loops with a 1983 dance commission, for Lucinda Childs' Available Light.  The music, which Adams titled Light Over Water, was originally released on its own LP in 1985, and to my ears is the Adams work that sounds closest to Philip Glass.  Much of this is due to the kind of music the dance work required, in a continuous arch rather than in small discrete movements. 

Adams also used synths as the primary instruments, then fleshed out the 46-minute piece with judicious use of a brass septet, to act as "the music's shadow".  For a much more in-depth discussion of Light Over Water, and Adams' relationship to electronic music, there's a great piece by Ingram Marshall here.  Adams might have found this a daunting commission, and wasn't a huge fan of working electronically, but the results were sublime.  Highly recommended.

link
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John Adams at SGTG:
The orchestral version of Shaker Loops
Grand Pianola Music 
The Chairman Dances, etc
Road Movies, etc
Harmonium etc (scroll past main post)

Terry Riley - Shri Camel (1980)

Some more (see last two links below) of Terry Riley's just-intonation electric organ flights into deepest inner space.  Shri Camel began as a commission for Radio Bremen in 1975, with an early performance the following year; this CBS studio recording dates from 1978, and was finally released two years later.

This puts its sound closest to Descending Moonshine Dervishes, also dating from 1975 but not released until the early 80s.  By the mid 70s, Riley had fully integrated his earlier studies under Pandit Pran Nath into his tape delay (and then digital delay) sound on the organ, and could play ever more intricate counterpoint and variations over the ongoing pattern.  In the studio for Shri Camel, this unique Eastern-Western fusion was still all recorded live to 16-track - no overdubs, just Riley and the delay system.

The mind-melting sound that emerges works just as well here on the four shorter tracks required by a single LP as it did on Riley's hour-plus concerts.  Anthem Of The Trinity effectively acts as a 9-minute prologue, before the 11-minute Celestial Valley takes off in earnest, spinning endless notes into the cosmos.  The album's second half repeats the same formula, with the seven minutes of Across The Lake Of The Ancient Word setting the listener up for the epic finale of Desert Of Ice.

Live performance of Shri Camel, Holland Festival 1977

link
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Previously posted at SGTG:
In C
Rainbow In Cologne
Descending Moonshine Dervishes

Terry Riley - In C (1968)

One of the foundational texts of minimalism, and one that still gets interpreted afresh every so often.  A large part of the enduring appeal of In C to new generations of musicians is that the basic score is so open to interpretation: it simply consists of 53 phrases, to be played in numbered order; skip some if you like, and change the instrumentation around at will.

This, though, was the album that preceded them all.  Recorded just four years after Riley devised the score (with a little help from Steve Reich who suggested the underlying 'pulse'), this March 1968 recording was Riley's first album for CBS Masterworks, and significantly raised his profile.  Riley plays sax, Jon Hassell trumpet, Margaret Hassell 'the pulse', and the other instruments are oboe, bassoon, clarinet, flute, viola, trombone, vibraphone and marimbaphone.  The piece spends its opening minutes gathering momentum, and then opens out into a self-sustaining fractal web of hypnotic bliss.  More Riley next week.

link
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Previously posted at SGTG:
Rainbow In Cologne
Descending Moonshine Dervishes

Paul Dresher - Dark Blue Circumstance (1993 compi, rec. 1983-92)

A collection of some key early works by Paul Dresher (b. 1951, Los Angeles).  It was actually that gorgeous cover image that first drew me to this one - photographer's website here - and the music is equally lovely.  The title piece is the odd one out here, and represents the side of Dresher that liked to experiment with electronics & tape loops.  It's a solo electric guitar piece developed between 1982-87, and offers Dresher's take on Frippertronics - not the most original idea, but the overlapping layers are well structured and sound absolutely beautiful as the piece builds.

Everything else on the album is scored for orchestral instruments, and in one case voices.  Firstly, Double Ikat (1988-90) takes its name from the South East Asian style of weaving, and started life as a dance commission.  The violin, piano and percussion dart around each other in the uptempo movement, then create a haunting atmosphere in the (mostly) slow movement.  The latter reminded me of Morton Feldman in places, although Dresher credits Lou Harrison, who I've still to get into, with the inspiration.

Channels Passing is another choreographical commission, for small ensemble, that will appeal to fans of late 70s Steve Reich.  Lastly, Night Songs (1979-81) for soprano, two tenors and six instruments is the longest work here at 28 minutes.  In four sections, it takes fragements of Native American/African/Polynesian verse and allows the singers to free-associate the words, effectively turning them into dream imagery as the instrumental backing alternately pulses and ripples along. On the evidence of this collection, I'll be on the lookout for more Dresher albums - highly recommended.

link
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Ilitch - Periodikmindtrouble (2000 compi of recordings 1974-1978)

Two and half hours of phenomenal organ/guitar drones, ambient sounds and other strangeness, from French artist Thierry Müller and associates.  Originally a photographer and graphic designer, Müller started making music in the early 1970s, sometimes assisted by his brother Patrick on synth and recording engineer Ruth Ellyeri.  Their first album as Ilitch, Periodik Mindtrouble, was released in 1978.

This double-CD collects all the material released on the LP along with outtakes from it and other early recordings.  Taking the CD running order then, the first thing here is the 25-minute title track which originally filled Side 2 of the LP.  Starting with some frantic, stabbing organ improvisation, it settles down after a few minutes and then begins a hypnotic drone that Terry Riley would've been proud of, adding guitar in the final minutes.  This is followed by the three-part, 23-minute Ballades Urbaines, originally planned for the LP but ditched in favour of newer material, in which environmental recordings are paired with near-formless reverbed guitar.  A further 20 minutes of unreleased material from 1974 rounds out Disc 1, with more organ, this time in gloomy dark ambient mode, bookended by guitar experiments.

All of the 1975-78 material on Disc 2 comes under the heading of 'Innerfilmsequences', and it was from this group of recordings that the finalised first side of the LP took shape.  The CD tracks that appeared on the LP are 2-3, 5, 8-10, although the last one there appears to be a 1999 re-recording.  More guitar and synth abounds, along with harmonium, occasional percussion and tape manipulation.  The unreleased material reveals an absolute treasure trove of lengthy drone pieces: To I Dien for organ, synth and tape and Impasse Raga for harmonium and percussion, both 8 minutes; and two stunning 16-17 minute tracks, which are my favourites on Disc 2, Trans Sud Omnibus for organ and synths, and Voyage (Limit Speed Disintegration) for organ, synth, guitar & tapes.  A hugely recommened collection, especially to fans of Heldon/Richard Pinhas.

Disc 1 link
Disc 2 link
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John Adams - Grand Pianola Music / Steve Reich - Vermont Counterpoint, Eight Lines (1985)

Adams & Reich always complement each other well on disc, so here's a great recording from the 80s, originally issued on LP in 1984 without Vermont Counterpoint, then as an expanded CD a year later.  The main work is John Adams' 32-minute Grand Pianola Music, composed in 1981.  The creative spark was a dream Adams had, of being pursued on the interstate by black limousines transforming into pianos.  It does chug along with the lightness of an atmospheric dreamscape, assisted by wordless female voices.  The more forceful third movement gives it a dramatic conclusion.

Steve Reich's Vermont Counterpoint was commissioned in 1982 by flautist Ransom Wilson, who plays it here.  When performed live, the piece can either be played by eleven flutes or a soloist with a tape backing, the parts weaving in and out of each other to create another dreamlike atmosphere.  Closing this collection is Eight Lines, which was a slightly rewritten version of Octet from Reich's time at ECM (see links below).  The main difference is that Eight Lines doubles the string quartet to make performance easier; this is a fine version, but I think I prefer the original, maybe just from familiarity.

Original CD cover, 1985

link
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John Adams at SGTG:
The Chairman Dances, etc
Road Movies, etc
Harmonium etc (scroll past main post)
Steve Reich at SGTG:
Drumming, Six Pianos etc
Octet etc
Tehilim
Sextet/Six Marimbas + bonus concert feat. Music For 18 Musicians
Adams & Reich:
Variations/Shaker Loops

Jon Gibson - Variations I & II / Thirties (1996 compi, rec. 1972-3)

Jon Gibson has featured on this blog before, but never as a headline artist - usually tucked away as a member of the Philip Glass Ensemble.  In fact, he was a key player in several minimalist landmarks, as the liner notes of this compilation state: no-one else played on the premieres of Einstein On The Beach as well as Terry Riley's In C and Steve Reich's Drumming.  His compositional output might have been modest, but on the evidence here it's well worth a visit.

Visitations I & II were recorded in March 1973, and released on LP that year by Glass' Chatham Square label.  If you're expecting, as I was, given the company Gibson moved in, two decent slabs of repetitive minimalism, think again.  The two Visitiations pieces, subtitled 'A 16-Track Multi-Textured Environmental Soundscape' are concerned with pure sound in vast, beatless landscapes.  Cymbals and percussion do abound, but purely as texture, with flute and other sounds, environmental and electronic, floating over the top.  Very early Popol Vuh comes to mind - a lush but alien ambient trip through the environs of some ancient civilization or far off planet.

A reissue of that on its own would've been impressive enough, but the CD adds a third piece, boosting the running time by half an hour.  Thirties was recorded at the ICES festival for experimental music in London, August 1972 - apparently AMM also recorded one of their releases at the same festival.  The recording quality is rough and ready, but this doesn't detract from the piece - in fact, the distortion in places adds a very enjoyable edge.  In contrast to the reissued LP, Thirties is highly rhythmic, and Gibson describes it as an open-ended "skeleton" that was used in many situations, the only set progression being a structure around divisions of the number 30.  On this live recording, it comes across as an engrossing percussive jam, and I'm reminded of early Kraftwerk more than once - perhaps a more driving, engaged version of their second album, or even the pre-Kraftwerk Organisation sans organ.  Julius Eastman comes to mind too - Femenine in particular. Well worth your time.

link
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Katrina Krimsky - Four Moons (1992)

If you enjoyed Terry Riley's A Rainbow In Curved Air courtesy of that live version the other week, good news: here's another one.  This time it's not played by Riley himself, but by pianist/composer Katrina Krimsky (b. 1938), until now only known on this blog for being one of that fascinating, select group of musicians who make a single appearance on ECM then seemingly fade back into obscurity - check the gorgeous Stella Malu if you haven't already.

Krimsky's arrangement of ARICA starts out with gently rippling piano, before gradually being joined by flute, sitar and tabla.  Her group of musicians on this beautiful rendition of Riley includes one Krishna Bhatt, who we'll be hearing more from in a week or so.  Some vibes join the mix for the closing minutes when the ARICA arrangement revs up closest to its originator's version, sounding interestingly close to 80s Steve Reich.

The other two pieces on this album are Krimsky originals, with the 20-minute title piece up next.  The same basic palette of flute and tuned percussion colour the impressionistic piece, its four sections dedicated to the main four moons of Jupiter.  The addition of the gentle, unobtrusive sitar makes me think of Popol Vuh at times, or Jan Garbarek & co circa Song For Everyone once the percussion kicks in.  Every twist and turn in the arrangement adds fresh beauty to the piece, making me wish there were more CDs available of Krimsky's compositions, as does the third piece, Elise's Dream.  As hinted in the title, it's based on variations of the opening line of Beethoven's Für Elise.  Seriously, can't recommend this whole album highly enough.

link
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Terry Riley - Rainbow In Cologne (rec. 1971, rel. 2016)

Mentioned this archive release way back when posting Descending Moonshine Dervishes, so it's long overdue a post of its own.  Rainbow In Cologne presents just under two hours of Terry Riley performing on "church organ" (more likely modified electric organ on Disc 1), venue(s) unspecified, recorded some time in 1971, presumably for WDR or suchlike - yep, it's one of those archive releases that raises more questions than it answers!  Whatever the recording details were, Riley's delay system is very much in evidence to create long drones and loops over which he could improvise further in these long, hypnotic raga-like compositions.

This recording surfaced three years ago on a slightly dubious label, and I suspect it's out of print now - prices have jumped right up of late.  Despite some mastering issues (i.e. glitching on Disc 1 that the label tried to explain away as part of the original recording), it's nice to have something like this available, and hear Terry Riley in a raw live recording from this early in his career.

First up is the slow to catch fire, minor-key Journey From The Death Of A Friend, which would be released the following year on a French soundtrack LP.  After 37 minutes, the continuous performance segues into Riley's breakthrough composition A Rainbow In Curved Air.  Even with the lower fidelity, this and Disc 2's run through Persian Surgery Dervishes still make for stunning listening when those flurries of organ notes take flight.

Disc 1 link
Disc 2 link
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Steve Reich - Sextet/Six Marimbas (1986)

This is probably my favourite album from Steve Reich's time on Nonesuch (which continues to this day), with the much more sombre and poignant Different Trains a close second.  The five-movement Sextet, completed in 1985, saw Reich return to the smaller, percussion-based ensemble playing of his work from the previous decade. 

Reich gives this sound a fresh perspective by introducing longer, sustained tones via synth and electric organ, and also bowed vibraphone.  The writing is more chromatic than before, giving it a jazzier hue which is especially effective in the upbeat first movement.  Following Sextet, the album features a rescoring of 1973's Six Pianos for marimba.  A very enjoyable update, Six Marimbas is ten minutes shorter than its progenitor, and creates a much more meditative mood.

link
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Bonus Reich: London Sinfonietta concert

This performance was given last Wednesday at Birmingham Symphony Hall.  Its first half featured the early Reich piece Clapping Music and a much more recent ballet work, Runner.  The second half was given over to a fine rendition of Music For 18 Musicians.  Broadcast live on BBC Radio 3.  One mp3 file, no pw, here.

Philip Glass - Two Pages, Contrary Motion, Music In Fifths, Music In Similar Motion (1994 compilation)

More early Philip Glass, as promised last Monday.  Following the 1971 release of the Changing Parts double-LP, the next additions to the composer's embryonic discography were Music In Similar Motion/Music In Fifths (rel. 1973, again on his own Chatham Square imprint), and Solo Music (rel. 1975 on the French label Shandar).  This Nonesuch CD reissue takes these four sides of vinyl and presents them in reverse order - presumably a programmatic decision to let the listener experience the gradually developing complexity of the music and addition of extra instruments.

So taking them in this order, first up is Two Pages (written 1967/8, rec. 1975), one of the earliest expressions of Glass' MO of expanding and contracting little units of composition, inspired by Indian music and in particular meetings with Ravi Shankar.  With subtle assistance from Michael Riesman on piano, Two Pages isn't actually solo music in the strictest sense, but the following Contrary Motion (written '74, rec.'75) definitely is, and has more harmonic complexity in its theoretically endless 'open form' experiment in Bach-like counterpoint.

On to the two ensemble pieces then, which actually featured in solo organ form on this blog a while back, as interpreted by Steffen Schleiermacher.  Music In Fifths (written '69, rec. '73) as presented here doesn't in fact feature the full Philip Glass Ensemble, just two saxophones alongside the composer's organ, but they fill out its tight structure quite nicely.  The full ensemble then arrive for the finale of Music In Similar Motion (written '69, rec. 71), which has the most eventful structure of all the four pieces here, as the different instrumental voices gradually introduce themselves and shape the changes in the piece.

Music In Similar Motion/Music In Fifths, original LP cover 1973

Contrary Motion/Two Pages, original LP cover 1975

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Philip Glass - Music With Changing Parts (1971)

Before there was Einstein On The Beach, before there were any parts of Music In Twelve Parts; before, in fact, there were any other recordings of Philip Glass' music available, there was the 1971 double-LP pictured below (later reissued as the uninterrupted hour-long CD pictured above).

This 1970 composition had been doing the rounds of NYC lofts and other art spaces on tour with an embryonic version of the Philip Glass Ensemble, sometimes running over two hours, when it was recorded for the composer's debut release on his own label.  The gradually expanding and contracting cells of composition that would become tightly controlled were noticeably looser at this stage, with no overall score, but simply 'unassigned lines' distributed among the ensemble.  Glass would control the major section changes from the organ, with a nod to the other musicians.  They were free to - not improvise per se, as Glass disliked that, but to bolster any new harmonic shapes that were emerging from the melting pot as they saw fit.

This gives Music With Changing Parts an organic feel closer to Terry Riley than anything Glass would go on to become world-renowned for.  The sound is rougher in texture too, not just in the occasionally audible limitations of the 1971 master recording, but in the grungy cheap electric organ hammering away, and the lack of finesse in the ensemble playing relative to how they'd sound just a few years later at the outset of Twelve Parts.  This is the Glass Ensemble at its most primitive and thrilling, creating a hypnotic hour of constantly-shifting music that contains all the seeds from which the composer's mature work would grow.  More next Monday, in a compilation of two more early LPs.

Original double-LP cover

link
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