Customer Reviews

Philip Glass: Dances Nos. 1-5

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"Dance" is an extraordinary epic composition from one of the most revolutionary composers of the late 20th century to the present, Philip Glass. From the mid 1960's onwards, Glass has revolutionized a form of composition that has become known as 'minimalism' (although Glass himself denies being a composer of minimal music). Several of Glass's works have gone on to be standards of modern Classical music.
One such piece is "Dance". Comprised of five parts or movements, this 110-minute long piece is based around short repeated arppegios with slight changes and variations when played each time. The First, Third and Fifth movements were performed by members of Philip Glass's own ensemble consisting of various keyboards, wind instruments (notably saxophones and flutes) and female voice. The voice does not sing lyrics per se but uses syllables (do-re-mi) to complement the fast-paced rhythmic excursions.
The second and fourth movements are for solo organ. Movement 2 is performed on a small electronic organ and runs through a series of arrpeggiated variations with a slight hint of drone. The fourth movement was performed on a large pipe organ and has an overall majestic glorious sound.
Overall, "Dance No.1-5" is possibly Philip Glass's greatest musical acheivement. Glass has composed so many rich compositions, it is difficult to determine what the absolute best is. With "Dance" however, I think it comes pretty close to being what it is..the best.

This album is somewhere between Einstein on the Beach and Glassworks, both chronologically, and artistically. It features the relentlously spinning arpeggios of Einstein, and the more easily digestable charm of Glassworks.

In Dances, Philip Glass creates a sound world all to its own, and incapulates you in it. You get lost and then suddenly realize that you like being lost within the chords. When each dance finally ends, you are left wanting more. This feeling is impossible to describe, but Glass fans find nothing more satisfying that going into this world. If you get this feeling when you listen to Glass then you are seriously missing out if you do not have this recording, and for anyone who wants to experiement with Glass, this is a great place to start. If you are unsure, get Glassworks, and then get this cd. Either way, GET THIS CD.

Once you find yourself loving this music, you will never turn back. Take that as a beacon and a warning. I have had this cd on since I got it in the mail today, and I have no idea when it is going off.

It really is. I'm both a scholar and keen listener, familiar with several thousand hours of music across all centuries and Glass's Dance No.1, a 20 minute 1979 piece for soprano and quintet, is the work I've listened to more than any other. It has truly incredible magnetism and exhilaration, and creates an insatiable fascination with the attention transfixed and mesmerized by every last detail: possibly the most unturnoffable and compulsive thing ever written its returns are almost unique in music.

It's hard to imagine a more accomplished and sensitive performance and production, with Iris Hiskey's voice having some of the most ravishingly feminine, alluring harmonics in all singing: she touches in the notes precisely in line with the understated nature of the work's ecstasy and radiance, spiking the combination of febrility yet serenity and beauty.

The intense onward lines and intoxication parallel sexual and narcotic experience, with the solfage syllables sung having erotic overtones. Such is its communicative power it's the sort of piece that would be interesting to play at a nightclub with a massive sound system to see the reaction, the gripping rhythms and motivic fragments recognizable by the pop crowd; and what strong melodic voice Glass has, identifiable from just a few notes.

As a new genre minimalism has a limited number of great and significant works, but this is one. Good minimalism raises some interesting questions about the attention's workings- its remarkable involving quality may be related to the process of strong ideas being repeated before they can begin to be processed or reconciled intellectually, focussing the mind instead on the aesthetic content's inexhaustible interest. Some have difficulty with the surface homogeneity in place of traditional depth structure but this piece really crushes the objections of writers like Robert Fink or Roger Scruton.

Dances Nos 1,3 & 5 are designed to be played at high volume and with an edge on the treble balance: without this or on some steros much of the inner detail is lost and the result can be bland- playing in the car can be ideal with the sound bouncing off the walls. 3 & 5 are a little less interesting with 3 built around a powerful hypnotic sequence but more simply repetitive and less developed, and the ideas in 5 not quite as strong or inevitable- it's also not sung by Hiskey. Nos.2 & 4 are for solo organ, again full of interest and intelligence.

A real phenomenon, enhancing one's mood as almost nothing else ever written, this is music of sheer ascent as the booklet rightly says. A singularly fantastic piece, it is exhilaration incarnate.

For those of you looking to expand your Glass collection, Dance 1-5 seems to stand out as one you're likely to enjoy and that you probably don't have. The piece is nestled chronologically between Einstein and Koyanisqatsi. So if you like either of those works, your bound to enjoy Dance 1-5.

Somehow this work gets totally lost in the Glass anthology and I'm not sure why. My guess is that since it's sandwiched between the most famous music theater piece of the second half of the 20th century and one end, and one of the most seminal films on the other, people just somehow miss it. Also, since "Dance 1-5" is never performed as a theatre piece, audiences don't have much of a chance to see the work in its original context.

No matter, the music stands on its own as sunny, invigorating and joyful. In particular, Dance #5 maybe the closest composition to "The Grid" from Koyanisqatsi that Glass ever wrote.

Of further interest, Dance #4 has been recorded quite successfully using a real organ as opposed to an electric one. My understanding is that Glass himself performed this piece at St. John the Divine in NYC in honor of a visit there by the Dalai Lama. I wasn't there, but it stirs the imagination to guess what this terrific track must have sounded like on a full organ in that gigantic venue.

I was blessed to have lived in Washington, DC when this entire piece was performed in the early 80s. I attended panel discussions about it, saw all the performances, and was awestruck by the simplicity and the sheer beauty of the work.
Lucinda Childs did the most stunning choreography and Sol Lewit's video screen treatments provided a sense of mystery and wonder that made this artwork so incredible. And the music? Thrilling! I am delighted to have it back on CD. I only wish they had a DVD of it all! Mr. Glass? PLEASE!

I basically agree with the yea-sayers that this is a gorgeous piece of music, and one of Glass's best, along with In the Upper Room, Itaipu, Koyannisqatsi, Einstein, Satyagraha, and Akhnaten. Dance 1 - 5 is an interesting use of the sort of 5-movement structure to be found in Bartok's 4th and 5th string quartets, although more tonal than these works.

My only caveat is that the live performance of this work is a totally different experience (assuming that you do not set the volume on your stereo to MAX). At the performance I heard at Brooklyn Academy in 1979, the first four pieces were played somewhat too loudly, and the last one EXCRUCIATINGLY LOUDLY. One could not "quiet one's mind" under such circumstances; during Dance #5 one's mind was strongly focused on the exit door. One paradoxical effect of this was that you couldn't actually hear the music of Dance #5. I had to buy the CD to discover that it was really a pleasant, wistful composition.

Admittedly, Dance 1 - 5 is also not for those who dislike repetition, but you knew that already.

This recording is very similar to the Koyaanisqatsi style of minimalism that Glass originally caught my attention with. If you are looking for this era of Glass music, then this recording is what you need. I miss this era of Philip Glass music, since his more recent stuff is not really that great and has changed alot in a bad way.

Not to be confused with the shorter, snappier 'Dancepieces', this is interesting, in that it's one of his larger, non-operatic works. Although dating from the early eighties it's closer in style to his cyclic music of the 1970's - 'Music with Changing Parts' for example, and although there are five tracks, the first four are more or less the same - tightly-woven, fast-paced organ / woodwind arepeggios, none of which are particularlly 'danceable'. Musically, it's nothing revolutionary, in fact it all seems like a big step backwards - Philip Glass has a recognisable style, and this conforms to it strictly. 'Dancepieces' is more varied, and a lot cheaper, and is, overall, a better album.

Aargh! This is in my ears unlistenable, ultra-minimalism. This record could drive a man insane. All compositions are short themes that repeats, repeats repeats repeats on and on and on and on and on. 10 seconds of compositions makes a 20 minute piece. And three of the five 20 minute pieces sounds almost the same. And the themes are not developing at all, they just repeats... As
intresting as watching grass grow or watching paint dry or reading "all work and no play makes jack a dull boy".

Totally NOT recommended.