Customer Reviews

Dennis Russell Davies Performs Philip Glass

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There are passages on this album that make my heart sing! The concerto features themes that are classic Glass without being retreads of past work. Each movement has its moments to savor. Of the three pieces from "Passages" I like Meetings From the Edge the best, with its joyously boisterous woodwind passages. My collection of Glass' work is extensive and although this is the newest, it is already one of my favorites.

As has happened so many times over the years, Philip Glass continues to amaze and delight me with compositions that are at once familiar yet new. This album is further proof of how worthwhile it is to continue this decades-long journey.

I first heard this haunting and beautiful music several weeks ago when I attended the American Ballet Theatre's fall season to see the world premier of a new work of the popular Finnish choreographer Jorma Elo titled "Glo - Stop" that used a movement from a Mozart Symphony (#28) for the first part and the second movement of this amazing work- "The Tirol Concerto For Piano and Orchestra". Philip holds his own against Wolfgang. Glass's compositions are easily recognizable and this work compares favorably with "In the Upper Room" made famous by the talented choreographer Twyla Tharp. How does one describe the impact on one's emotions of music? I purchased this superb recording by Dennis Russell Davies who plays the piano while conducting the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra and play it over and over. The Concerto is just short of 29 minutes in duration. The Concerto was commissioned by the Tirol Tourist Board and had its world premiere in Austria in September 2000. The CD is rounded out by a 1990 work - "Passages" which Glass wrote in collaboration with Ravi Shanker. This 27-minute work is worth listening to although it does not hold the same spell over me, as does the piano concerto. Lastly, I have no idea why the spelling "Tirol" is used rather than "Tyrol".

I have never found an approach to Glass, firstly because of his stressed will to PLEASE. You feel his intention and you are... DISpleased. And secondly because of his lack of fantasy. Both can be heard on this record, too. I wonder how one can sit in a concert and listen to this music without getting bored after five minutes - missing the movie. ("There must be something more going on, more than this background music. Where is the movie screen? This can only be movie music!") - In one word: mediocre.

PS: Those Tyrolians speak German (a weird kind of German, but it IS German), and in German "Tyrol" is spelled "Tirol". Stress on the second syllable. ;-)