Customer Reviews

Philip on Film: Filmworks by Philip Glass

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...it is worth considering this "limited edition (?)" box set, consisting of 99.5% previously released (and seperately available) material. Here you will find:

Disc 1: Koyaanisqatsi (complete 1998 recording)
Disc 2: Powaqqatsi (complete)
Disc 3: Dracula (complete)
Disc 4: La Belle et La Bete (about an hour of it)
Disc 5: Various excerpts from: Anima Mundi, Kundun, The Secret Agent, Mishima (3 tracks each), the Thin Blue Line (1 track), and 3 "previously unreleased" soundtrack selections.

The "unreleased" stuff consists of: a 5 minute "re-recording" of Facades with synthesizers instead of real strings and fewer repeats, and two 7 minute trifles also for lots of synthesizers which were apparently soundtracks to recent short films.

The rest of it runs the gamut from the best of Phil (Koyaanisqatsi, Dracula, Mishima, Secret Agent) to the worst of Phil (Powaqqatsi, Anima Mundi) and just wishy-washy Phil (Kundun, La Belle et La Bete).

The packaging is remarkably cheap and flimsy: a very thin cardboard "box" housing five mostly black glossy cardboard sleeves with tiny reproductions of the original cover art on them. The booklet is short and not very informative, either.

This may be the right thing for you if: you want a good overview of Phil's soundtrack works for a relatively low price per disc, you don't already have most of these individual CDs, and you don't really care about having the complete versions of Belle et Bete and the other excerpted soundtracks (this was me.)

Overall, however, a surprisingly unsubstantial and unnecessary collection.

Everyone who thinks of this as purely a repackaged box set doesn't fully understand the nature of this set. In the introduction, Philip Glass mentions that most of the works represented is from a series of concerts where the music is interpreted live while the movie is presented on a screen behind the performers. I personally attented these performances in Austin, TX and was very pleased with the results. The first night consisted of the Shorts, or the 5th disc of this set. The Man in the Bath, Passages, Evidence (Facades with synth), Diaspora, and Anima Mundi where all performed live by The Philip Glass ensemble with the movie itself in the background. The following 4 performances where of Powaqqasti, Le Belle et La Bete, Dracula, and Koyaanisqatsi. Seeing these films with the music has shed a new light on these scores for me, because I had previously heard almost all of them, but to the recording at hand.
This set of discs is something you might pick up at a live concert of your favorite local band, representing what they played that night in studio recording. This set of discs was released to accompany Philip's current world tour of Philip On Film. Although almost all of it has been released previously, this isn't just a way to make a "quick buck". This is a great way to get most of the music played at these performances and, most of all, is a bargin way to get a lot of his best music to date. I also don't personally agree with the "highlights" idea with Belle and Mundi, but to a person wanting post-Einstein Glass, this is a good way to start. Also, I would think that anyone who believes that Glass has written the same music since Einstein needs to listen more and generalize less because there is a wealth of music out there that you may not realize exists.

...which is uncalled for. IT IS SPED UP from its original recording, making some of the high notes hit by the female singers truly chipmunk-like. I can't believe they would release this...let's speed it up to fit it on ONE disk! What a GOOD idea. No. Not a good idea.

John Adams and Steve Reich were first introduced to me in detail through their respective Nonesuch 10-disc re-releases of previous material. These box sets were never intended to be some new experience for the seasoned Adams and Reich fans, but were instead created either to introduce these artists to those of us who hadn't previously heard their works or to serve as a nicely packaged collector's item.

Like both of the aforementioned box sets, the Philip on Film box set contains complete selections of a few recordings, some new material, and some other works stripped down (either by editing the tracks or by including a few complete tracks from each work). While this package could have easily been ten discs long, evidently Nonesuch was only interested in including those recordings which were featured on the Philip on Film Tour.

I encourage any new Glass listener to purchase this great set: it served as a superb intro to his works for me, as did the Adams and Reich sets.

Anyone who thinks that Powaqqatsi is "the worst of Phil" needs to have his head examined.

Okay, I give up! The world (or at least the music industry) wants to keep Philip Glass's star in ascendance, with new commissions, and new recordings, or expensive repackagings of previously issued recordings. Glass hasn't had a new idea since 1976, when his "Einstein on the Beach" was the freshest new sound imaginable. Basically, all he's done is re-write that work over and over (and over!) again ever since. While there are cool parts to some of these scores, most of this is the same arpeggiated chords he's been using for the last 25 years! Somebody wake me up when this guy gets a new idea!