Philip Glass : A Descent into the Maelstrom

Philip Glass; Philip Glass Ensemble (Artist), Philip Glass (Composer), Michael Riesman (Conductor), Philip Glass Ensemble (Orchestra) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Orchestra: Philip Glass Ensemble
• Conductor: Michael Riesman
• Composer: Philip Glass
• Audio CD (July 19, 2002)
• SPARS Code: DDD
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Orange Mountain
• ASIN: B00006CTD5
• Also Available in: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #110,537 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #16 in Music > Classical > Historical Periods > Modern, 20th, & 21st Century > Composers > Glass, Philip

Editorial Reviews

In continuing with their ongoing program of releasing vital recordings from the archive of Philip Glass recorded material, Orange Mountain Music is pleased to release "A Descent into the Maelström". In 1986 Mr. Glass was commissioned to create and bring a piece to the Adelaide Festival of Arts in Adelaide, Australia. He chose to write a piece based on the Edgar Allan Poe short story "A Descent into the Maelström" and invited collaborators dancer/choreographer Molissa Fenley, set designer Eamon D’Arcy and theatre director Mathew McGuire to participate. They transformed Edgar Allan Poe's vertiginous short story of being swept into a huge and terrible whirlpool by a raging hurricane that "the oldest seaman in Norway never experienced" into a Musical/Dance/Theatre extravganza.

This compelling, propulsive piece of music premiered in March, 1986 at the Adelaide Festival of Arts and was only performed by the Philip Glass Ensemble during the week of the festival in Australia. Consequently, it has had very little exposure to Philip Glass' audience. In the spring of 1986 after the Ensemble returned to New York it was discovered that the 24 track live recordings that were made of the performances were distorted, noisy and mostly unusable. At that point PGE musical director, Michael Riesman, Kurt Munkacsi and the Ensemble members set about replacing their parts on the recording. The newly recorded tracks had to be kept in sync with the live recording because the resulting mix would be used for a television broadcast of the performances. The finished recording is a studio/live hybrid. It is very similar to the mix that was made in 1986 for the video, but we've remixed the material taking advantage of the digital recording technology that is available today! .

This little known recording of this powerful piece of classic Glass music was made when the Philip Glass Ensemble was at one of its peaks. It was also done in possibly one of the best settings for Philip Glass and his musicians– musical theatre. It will be available for shipping July 19th, 2002

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars 1,000 Airplanes meets The Photographer, October 5, 2002

By 

Gary Schroeder "GS23" - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Philip Glass : A Descent into the Maelstrom (Audio CD)

Having nearly every CD that Glass has ever released, it's difficult for me to objectively evaluate this disc. On one hand, it's pleasant that the style is so familiar, but that's also it's main drawback. There's nothing extremely unique about this piece. I would describe it as an almost perfect synthesis between "1,000 Airplanes on the Roof" and "The Photographer", both written around the same time. If you liked these two discs, you'll probably enjoy Maelstrom, tracks from which could easily appear on either one of them, fitting in seamlessly.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars upwards or downwards or upwards or downwards spiral?, May 13, 2003

By 

EMV (Nancy) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Philip Glass : A Descent into the Maelstrom (Audio CD)

Well, true it is that I do not hold "Maelstrom" for PGlass's best work. In my ear it only manifests one or two musical ideas ('themes' I believe one calls them, if that can be applied to PG); which would be fine ('music with one or two changes'!), but for the use of synthesizers!! I hate synthesizers here!
I'm completely crazy about scores with plain electric organ ("Two pages" etc.) and with organ + orchestra ("Music with changing parts", "Einstein", "Akhnaten" etc.); but here, you get only some wind instruments and four synthesizers. These are fine for New or Cold Wave pop; but they sound so [inferior] in more complex compositions!
There are breathtaking accelerations of the score on "Maelstrom"; but all other moments seem to flop because they lack concrete sound matter, I mean those intertwining patterns of sheer sound which are so caracteristic of PGlass's mastery. Synthesizers (in the mid-80s) could never compete with the harmonic richness of conventional instruments. The same limitation shows on "1000 Airplanes".
Otherwise the record is perfectly clean, neat production from the Glass - Riesman - Munkacsi team. So 4 stars because I'm a PGlass fanatic!!
Yet could we dream of a organ + traditional ensemble version of the "Maelstrom"?

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Been waiting for this one., August 23, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Philip Glass : A Descent into the Maelstrom (Audio CD)

It's finally here. The full recording of a piece I have heard the Philip Glass Ensemble play an excerpt from many times. I have been waiting for this recording since the mid-eighties. It was always one of my favorite pieces to listen to the ensemble play. The catch is that I have not heard the full cd yet. I can tell you from the free excerpts available on the Amazon.com site that I will not be disappointed when I get the full recording. One of the things setting "Descent" apart from some other Glass works is a tenor saxophone jazz improvisation. I'm not kidding. It's very cool. I am hearing synthesizers here as well, which the Ensemble always made large use of when performing live. It reminds me of "1,000 Airplanes on the Roof", another remarkable Glass work. Very happy this has finally been released.