Perhaps we should start calling Philip Glass a “maximalist” composer. It would no doubt please Glass, who’s been complaining about his minimalist moniker for decades. But it might also be a more accurate description of the various Glass works we heard in Nashville last week.
It would certainly be an apt label for “Spaceship,” a 10-minute vertiginous swirl of arpeggios (excerpted from the opera Einstein at the Beach) that the Philip Glass Ensemble performed as an encore at Sunday’s fantastic concert at the Schermerhorn Symphony Center. You could say the same thing about “The Photographer,” another fiercely virtuosic finger-twister. You call this stuff minimal?
Glass was in town last week as part of a mini-festival of his music, and it was all a great success. The event featured Glass-scored films (Koyaanisqatsi, Kundun and The Thin Blue Line) at the Belcourt Theatre, and a new choral work called The Passion of Ramakrishna, co-commissioned by the Nashville Symphony Orchestra, at the Schermerhorn. Everything about the fest was terrific, but without question the highlight was Glass’ own appearance with his eponymous ensemble.
The famed avant-garde composer set the tone at the outset, with a performance of “Dance Piece No. 9” from the ballet In the Upper Room. This is bright, vigorous music—part J.S. Bach organ toccata, part hard-driving rock song—and Glass and his septet gave it a joyous reading. Glass in particular seemed indefatigable. He spent the entire concert behind his keyboard, his fingers moving nonstop at blistering speeds, his head bowing dramatically to cue the ensemble. Not bad for a guy who just turned 70.
Lisa Bielawa, the ensemble’s vocalist, was equally impressive. Throughout the evening, she used her diaphanous, Siren-like soprano as a virtuoso instrument, rattling off rapid-fire words and syllables, accompanying herself all the while on keyboard. Given the intensity of her performance, it was a wonder she didn’t strip any vocal gears. Jon Gibson, who’s been playing with the Glass ensemble since 1969, also deserves special mention for his deeply felt soprano saxophone playing in “Facades.”
Probably the best thing about the ensemble’s Sunday concert was the choice of repertory. With few exceptions, the pieces were mostly early Glass works, culled from the composer’s so-called stuck-record period of the late 1960s and ’70s. This is some of Glass’ most ferociously repetitive music. But it isn’t simple music.
On the surface, these early works—Music in 12 Parts, Music in Similar Motion and Einstein—may sparkle and titillate, but they also contain a minefield of off-kilter rhythms. Melodies in these works are constantly (though subtly) shifting, moving in and out of phase, threatening to unravel even the tightest ensemble playing. To their credit, Glass and his musicians (keyboardists Bielawa, Michael Riesman and Mick Rossi, and woodwind players Gibson, Richard Peck and Andrew Sterman) played everything with remarkable precision. It was exactly the kind of performance you’d expect from these musicians, who’ve been playing together for decades.
The Passion of Ramakrishna, which received its Nashville premiere Thursday courtesy of the Nashville Symphony Orchestra, is a product of Glass’ mature style, which is more melodic than minimal. Scored for large chorus, vocal soloists and orchestra, Ramakrishna was inspired by the writings of the 19th century Indian mystic Sri Ramakrishna. Despite its eastern influences, though, Glass’ Hindu passion proved to be a remarkably western work.
There was a cathedral grandeur to the piece that, in the words of conductor Carl St. Clair, called to mind the symphonies of 19th century Austrian composer Anton Bruckner. But there was also a melodic breeziness that was thoroughly (and unmistakably) American. It was Bruckner filtered through the prism of Leonard Bernstein to become the music of Philip Glass. St. Clair, for his part, led the NSO in a nicely nuanced performance of the passion, which also featured heartfelt performances from the Nashville Symphony Chorus, soprano Cynthia Haymon and bass-baritone Nathan Berg.
One other thing about the NSO concert: it featured the most polished playing I’ve heard from the orchestra all year. That was especially true of the opener, Beethoven’s “Egmont” Overture, which boasted an interpretation full of pianissimos and fortissimos and seemingly every dynamic gradation in between. Clearly, the marvelous acoustics of the Schermerhorn are already beginning to pay off.
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