Philip Glass: Dracula [Soundtrack]

Philip Glass (Composer), Kronos Quartet (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Kronos Quartet
• Composer: Philip Glass
• Audio CD (August 31, 1999)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Soundtrack
• Label: Nonesuch
• ASIN: B00000JZCI
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (29 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,592 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #5 in Music > Dance & DJ > Techno > Minimal Techno
  • #11 in Music > Jazz > Avant Garde & Free Jazz

Track Listings

1. Dracula - Philip Glass

2. Journey to the Inn

3. The Inn

4. The Crypt

5. Carriage Without a Driver

6. The Castle

7. The Drawing Room

8. 'Excellent, Mr. Renfield'

9. The Three Consorts of Dracula

10. The Storm

11. Horrible Tragedy

12. London Fog

13. In the Theatre

14. Lucy's Bitten

15. Seward Sanatorium

16. Renfield

17. In His Cell

18. When the Dream Comes

19. Dracula Enters

20. Or a Wolf

See all 26 tracks on this disc

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

30 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars The King of Vampires meets the Master of Minimalism, February 27, 2001

By 

Dr. Christopher Coleman (HONG KONG) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Philip Glass: Dracula (Audio CD)

This CD features music written by Philip Glass as a live accompaniment to the 1931 film Dracula. In a rather interesting turnabout from the typical situation, the music was written years after the film was made. Glass is riding the recent wave of interest in vampires that was probably spawned by author Anne Rice with her book Interview With the Vampire. The 1931 movie Dracula is not a silent film--there is dialogue, but the only music originally used was a selection from Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake played during the opening credits. I should preface my remarks by noting that although I have seen the film (lo, those many years ago) and heard the music, I have not experienced the two together, as Glass intended. However, the folks at Nonesuch have released this as a CD, and so we must judge it as best we can on that basis.

The film, directed by Tod Browning and starring Bela Lugosi as the vampiric count, is a relic of an earlier time, like Dracula himself. It reflects an aesthetic approach that has become foreign to us; that we might even think naive. It is not a technicolor gore-filled splatterfest, not at all. No blood is shown, no corpses decay in slow motion. Indeed, Lugosi's Dracula doesn't even have fangs, and he meets his death out of camera view. Things are implied rather than revealed and explained in detail. And for this, Glass's music seems quite appropriate. It is picturesque--music for a film is so almost by definition. But it is a black-and-white picture, full of shadows concealing things unseen. Not for Glass a huge romantic orchestra in melodic ecstacy, or the full organ trembling a series of diminished chords. Instead, the music for Dracula is scored for string quartet alone, playing the typical minimalist arpeggios and harmonic formulae. At its best the music can be very interesting and completely appropriate to the scene, as in the selection depicting Dracula's driverless carriage transporting the film's hero, Jonathan Harker, to Castle Dracula. The spinning wheels of the carriage are so clearly portrayed, and the sense of menace so obvious, that we don't actually need the visual images to recognize and respond to the meaning conveyed. Glass also opens up his composititional tool kit more widely than he usually does, which makes much of the music on this disc more interesting than much of his other work. Although melody is only ever present in the barest of shreds, Glass uses a quite wide dynamic range, a broader palate of tone colors and articulations and a more varied harmonic world than he does customarily. "Horrible Tragedy" is another example of understated, quiet menace; and also quite different from what we've come to expect from Philip Glass. The unrelenting parallel dissonance, high register and soft dynamics in this movement create a very eerie and somewhat unpleasant sensation completely appropriate to the supernatural subject.

However, I must say that although there is a lot of interesting music on this disc, there is also far too much that lacks any interest at all. Quite a lot of the middle of the disc is obviously there because the movie needed music, but without the context of the visual element of the film the music is like a mindless zombie. Almost half of the disc is made up of the kind of Glass's music that many classical music lovers have come to loathe--filled with endlessly repetitive arpeggios at a soft dynamic level using the same harmonic progressions over and over. Sure, it's good music to put on while you are reading a book or folding laundry--but too much of this music for Dracula is completely toothless. Before the demonic hand of marketing rose unbidden from its corrupt grave and took over the world of classical music, composers used to write suites. Suites are made up of only the best of the music from a longer piece. A suite from this CD would have been very welcome; but the evil marketing geniuses have decided that we need to suffer through the whole thing. Alas, here's a case where the aesthetic of reserve would have benefited both the music and the listener. Furthermore, the Kronos Quartet performs with questionable accuracy during some of the fastest arpeggiated passages.

But having said that, there is much of worth here, and not only for fans of Philip Glass. Approaching this music with appropriate expectations will reward the listener with a tasty bite.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Definetely worth picking up, January 19, 2003

By 

epsy (Turner, ME United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Philip Glass: Dracula (Audio CD)

As years go by it seems as if almost every premise for something great has been overused and beaten to death, it's really cool to see an old classic like this given the right treatment without making a mockery of it. Even if you've memorized the entire movies dialogue before this score was introduced, you'll still have visions of Bela Lugosi on the screen when you listen to this soundtrack after seeing it in conjunction with the film. As usual, Kronos Quartet works feverishly with the composer's true intent behind them and churn out quite a great soundtrack that is not only enjoyable as a soundtrack, but an album that stands on it's own just as well.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars FANGS FOR THE MEMORY, MR. GLASS!, June 16, 2000

By 

Melvyn M. Sobel "Melvyn M. Sobel" (Freeport, New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Philip Glass: Dracula (Audio CD)

Being a Universal horror movie buff, I rather cringed when I heard that Philip Glass had composed a score for Lugosi's DRACULA, a film I know word for word (which is fairly pathetic when one considers it, actually--- but, ah, such are the loves and passions of my youth--- before the video generation). However, giving the devil his due, I must admit that Mr. Glass has written, minimalist though it is, a series of gothic set pieces brimming with atmosphere, gloom and vampires. The thematic material, woven in and out by the exceptionally attuned Kronos Quartet, goes through typical Glass permutations but never seems to become tiresome; in fact, the more one listens, the more one hears. Glass has caught something quite intangible here and it deserves a listen.... best at night with your headphones on.... and with garlic hung from windows and doors!

[Running time: 67:03]