Philip Glass: La Belle et la Bête

Philip Glass (Composer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Composer: Philip Glass
• Audio CD (April 18, 1995)
• SPARS Code: DDD
• Number of Discs: 2
• Label: Nonesuch
• ASIN: B000005J2Y
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #129,273 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #23 in Music > Classical > Historical Periods > Modern, 20th, & 21st Century > Composers > Glass, Philip

Track Listings

Disc: 1

1. Ouverture

2. Les Soeurs

3. La Demande En Mariage D'Avenant

4. Le Voyage Du Père

5. Le Domaine De La Bête

6. Le Retour Du Père

7. La Belle Va Au Château

8. Le Dîner

9. Les Tourments De La Bête

Disc: 2

1. Promenade Dans Le Jardin

2. La Saisie Des Meubles

3. La Confiance De La Bête En la Belle

4. Belle Retourne Chez Son Père

5. Belle Raconte Son Histoire

6. Le Plan

7. La Passion D'Avenant

8. Le Magnifique Apparaít

9. Le Miroir

10. Le Pavillon

See all 19 tracks on this disc

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Glass' Lifetime Masterwork, April 23, 2002

By 

Arnold Hendrick (Belmont, CA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Philip Glass: La Belle et la Bête (Audio CD)

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After being disappointed by Glass's Dracula, I passed this work up for too long. Imagine my horror when I discovered that this is the composer's career masterwork. LBeLB is more than movie music. It's more than an opera, although it makes a better opera than any previous Glass work in that category. This piece is nothing less than the composer's retrospective on his own life and work.

If it weren't for his trademark appegiation and instrumentation, a listener might not believe this is the same Philip Glass who wrote those repetitive, minimalistic works of the 70s and 80s. This Philip Glass uses his now-traditional forms to create an intensely, tragically romantic atmosphere whose haunting melodies will stay with you for a lifetime.

As a devotee of the ultraromantics, this work drew me in much faster than any other Glass work. The rich harmonies, pulsing chords and soaring lines are just as satisfying as Chopin, Rachmaninoff or Ravel, while achieving a dynamic power that would impress Liszt or Wagner. In "The Beast's Anguish," noone can listen to intense trebel lines, counterpointed melodies, oceanic bass and piercing electrified flute and remain unmoved.

In decades hence, when Glass is seen as the Beethoven of the late 20th Century, students will mine this piece for musical symbolism that adds multiple layers on the original story. In the jacket notes, Glass observes that Cocteau's movie was a self-portrait of an artist betrayed by his times. Students of composer will find that he reprises much of his own previous work, bringing forth previous leitmotivs and juxtaposing them to tell his own story on top of Cocoteau's interpretation of the ancient fairy tale.

Not since Mishima has Glass seemed so perfectly married to his subject. Obviously Glass identifies personally with the subject. The frequency and stridency of his detractors from all musical camps can't but hurt his soul, even if he secretly hopes that once he's safely dead those same critics will begin industriiously studying and revering his works. This work is his portrayal of the essential tragedy in any artist's life.

Regardless of whether you're new to Philip Glass, or long-standing student of his work, this is his life's masterwork. You owe it to both him and yourself let his musical world wash through yours.

- Arnold Hendrick, 2002

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Extraordinary music, but get the DVD movie, not the CD, November 26, 2003

By 

Robert Moore (Chicago, IL USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Philip Glass: La Belle et la Bête (Audio CD)

I agree with previous reviewers that this represents Philip Glass at his very best, but I want to warn potential buyers that there is a much better way to get the work, and that is by buying The Criterion Collection 2002 DVD version of the Jean Cocteau BEAUTY AND THE BEAST (the 1998 version does not contain the Glass work). That disc contains not only the fully restored film but contains as an alternative soundtrack the Philip Glass opera. Since Philip Glass originally composed the opera as a mixed media presentation of opera to accompany that film, this is unquestionably the preferred format. Seeing the movie while listening to the opera brings home the enormity of Glass's achievement. Incredibly, his music creates a second great film, one that stands as a monument to the genius of the original film. Moreover, Glass's composition perfectly complements the film, meshing with it completely in mood and tone.

Philip Glass is unquestionably one of the most interesting and least consistent musical talents in the world today. He is capable of being repetitious and boring, but he is equally capable of producing something profound and sublime. Perhaps because he was composing a piece to mesh with another work, limitation in this case inspired him to be more creative than usual. The music consistently attempts to mimic the organs that once provided the musical background for silent films in the Golden Age of cinema, and does so magnificently.

So, while I can't recommend the musical work highly enough, I do strongly recommend getting it in the 2002 Criterion DVD version. On top of the advantage of getting the film and a ton of extras, the two sets cost about the same, so there is no financial disadvantage to getting the DVD.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Buy the DVD Not the CD... Here's why, March 9, 2005

By 

Jeffrey C. Vandegrift (Acton, MA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Philip Glass: La Belle et la Bête (Audio CD)

I bought the CD as soon as it came out about ten years ago. One day when I was sick at home (before computers demanded we work during sick days), I pulled out an old VHS tape of La Belle et la Bete and the new CD and attempted to play them with a tolerable degree of syncronicity.

It was quite a challenge at times, but the magic of the original film is captured so incredibly well in the music I wished that Glass had procured the rights to sell the film with his alternate soundtrack. In fact, according to a Terry Gross interview on Fresh Air, it took some effort to persuade the Cocteau heirs to allow Glasss to just do a few live performances (opera singers and the silenced film together).

I just found out today that the combined product has existed for a couple of years and it is already in my shopping cart.

I can't wait!