Customer Reviews

Philip Glass : Orion

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Philip Glass is Philip Glass, and no matter how many different global styles and instruments he incorporates into its work, you've still got the regular rhythmic patterns, ascending and descending melodic lines, and minimalist development. Glass fans won't be raving about this work for its originality, but rather because it's just GOOD. From Uakti's homemade percussion instruments to Chinese pipa to Grecian vocals to Australian didjeridoo, "Orion" is blessed with a variety of timbres and styles that keep it from becoming horribly repetitive, as it otherwise might have been. It helps to have seen a live performance of it (not that this is easy-the American premier was only a couple months ago) and to watch the interactions of the musicians and their instruments, but as a purely auditory experience this is a solid work with some remarkable soloists. I do recommend.

What do a Celtic fiddler with bleached hair in combat boots and a kilt, an old Aborigine with a didgerido in a ratty t-shirt, and an entire backing ensemble dressed completely in white have to do with each other? Absolutely nothing? You're right! But that is what makes "Orion" so amazing.

I saw Orion at the Melbourne International Arts Festival while studying there and it was, by far, the best act I saw the entire festival. The entire cast is nearly 20 people and while one may not think that all these different instruments could possibly function together, let alone make music--Glass shows you that they can and do. The personalitites of each of the instrumentalists comes streaming out while they play amid and with each other.

This concert was, by far, the most musically intensive and yet flawless concert I have ever seen. When I heard the CD afterwards, I was shocked to find that they really do sound on the CD like they do in real-life (a noble and dying art, it is sad to say).

Overall, this was the best CD I have ever bought. I recommend it to anyone who likes classical--and any other type of music. The fundamental parts blend seamlessly with the character of the entire group in a whirlwind experience that can only be described as "Orion."

Saw this performed in Brooklyn and i was ASTONISHED. One of Philips most rewarding compositions. Lush, gorgeous, intriguing, beguiling, entrancing, enchanting with a phenominal closing section featuring a greek singer. This piece builds up and ebbs down while featuring musicians from around the world, each world music section is delightful and skillfully played. Seemed to me each musician played their instruments in a non-traditional way but i dont know enough about some of these instruments to know for sure. Like all the Philip Glass compositions that i love, this one was slighty repetitive in a good way, with each section building slowly, ever so slightly changing to delight and hypnotize you into its magical spell. To think i was "dragged" to this show and wasnt looking forward to it and now i've been listening to the cd all weekend. A VERITABLE TRIUMPH. I wish i could give it 7 stars, one gold star for each country represented in the incredible musical piece known as Orion.

Well, He didn't disappoint. Actually if you are not a hard core minimalist fan, you can still enjoy this album quite a bit. It is Philip Glass style with a big influence from world music, many beautiful songs, Greece and India songs are to die for, Australia also kicks ass... I think it is a must have for Philip Glass fans, and a good starter for those who don't know him well.

Now why didn't he record "monsters of grace"?

The music of Philip Glass usually polarizes listeners -- you either love it or hate it. I am firmly in the "love it" class, and I'd like to reach out to the other side and ask you to give Glass another chance.
"Orion" is perhaps the most accessible of Glass's works. There's more melody here than in most of his previous music, and the addition of the different world instruments gives the piece more tonal color than Glass usually uses. It's amazing how well Glass's electronics mix with sitar and the handmade instruments of Brazil's Ukati. And when everything comes together for the finale, "Greece," the music soars.
"Orion" is a magnificent musical experience, and you owe it to yourself to give it a listen. Even if you're not a Glass fan, you should be able to enjoy "Orion."

Just as the constellation Orion can be seen from both the northern and southern hemispheres, this collaborative work can appear within the aesthetic range of many musical continents. In widening the threshold; however, subtlety of contrast is lost. Celestial music need not sound like "space music" and , unfortunately, there are stretches of such stooping to popular tastes. Beautifully performed. Helpful liner notes. Brilliant juxtapositions--my favorite being "Canada", "Interlude: Canada & The Gambia", "The Gambia". How often do we get to have Ashley MacIsaac and Foday Musa Suso on the same album, much less playing in the same piece?

While some of the new music on this new "Around the World"
album is "Glassy", much of it is not, and I found some of the
departures away from the Glass style to be a bit of a foray.
While the return of the Uakti group from his previous album
was a plus in the Brazilian track; I found the Chinese and "Irish Jig" sounding sections in the Canadian section to be annoying. The Ghambian section was melodic and interesting,
but the Dhidjeridou intro was overdone and not effective. The
Greek Vocalist ending album was listenable but "Yanni-esque"

BASS FREAK ALERT

I don't remember whether my first known exposure to Phillip Glass was the vinyl album of the soundtrack to Koyaanisqatsi or a cassette a friend loaned me of the album Glassworks shortly before I went to see a live performance of the Phillip Glass Ensemble about 1980. Glassworks was interesting but has never been on my list of favorite albums, the live performance impressed me greatly, and Koyaanisqatsi blew me away. At any rate, I have liked the music of Phillip Glass a lot and for a long time and own about 30 CDs of his music, including maybe 5 I don't ever plan to listen to again. So I recently bought Orion, enjoyed it greatly 2 or 3 times and expect to keep listening to it periodically. If you like his music, you'll probably like this one, and especially if you liked Aguas da Amazonia, music of Glass played by Uakti. If you don't care for his other music, you'll want to give this one a pass, too.

Unless maybe you are a bass freak. A fair number of Glass albums have strong bass lines. If you have a good wide range audio system, you'll notice that track one, "Australia", has a prominent bass line. I have such a system and I noticed it, so I turned on my subwoofers, which are pretty flat from about 25 to 40 hz and then drop off sharply above 40 and below the lower 20s. For most music, having the subwoofers on or off makes very little difference because there is not much happening musically in that bottom octave from 20 to 40 hz. This track is one of a handful of exceptions to that general rule. If you have flat frequency response in the bottom octave it sounds like an entirely different piece of music. For much of the rest of the 2 disc set, it doesn't make any difference whether the sub-woofers are on or off--there isn't much for them to do. But on "Australia", the difference is astonishing. Mind you I'm not talking about any old subwoofers--many subs give you bass from 40 or 50 or even 60 hz up to 100 or 200 hz--forget about them. If your subs give you flat frequency response in the octave BELOW 40 hz, you probably value and enjoy honest deep bass, and you are in for a treat with this album, at least on track one where there are lots of strong fundamentals going down to 24-25hz. Otherwise you'll just think "Nice bass" and not give it a second thought. For another album with significant musical content in the deep bass see my review of Ammerland.

Koyaanisqatsi

Aguas da Amazonia

Ammerland

Ammerland

Though I'm a huge fan of Glass, and love most of his work, I feel that there were portions taken directly from other songs. I know that he is a minimalist composer, but Brazil, on the album, sounds like he took an excerpt from Aguas de Amazonia and added a couple more repeats in there.

Yes, I feel harshly about a portion or two of the CD, but it is an overall enjoyable piece of music to listen to. Glass does do a wonderful job at portraying the places of the world that he inteds in the music. So, as I said: overall, very enjoyable, but not his best work.

For many, the music of Philip Glass is an acquired taste. It often takes one awhile to get the hang of the subtle variations within virtually endless repetitions of what...in comparison to more well known classical music...seems to be a few limited themes. But if one sticks with it long enough, one will begin to discover the emotional alchemy at work in these pieces. That's when the genius of it is revealed. The trick, of course, is to stick with it long enough.

"Orion" is Glass' exploration and extrapolation of musical phrases that are more or less based upon traditional music of the places he names (e.g. India). Repetition is downplayed in this work and it surges playfully forward from movement to movement, thanks in part to shorter "bridge pieces" that link the longer thematic ones.

If one has wondered about Glass' music, "Orion" is a splendid entry point...perhaps followed by "Passages" (with Ravi Shankar). The only decision that remains is which format to purchase.

As an unabashed audiophile, I normally purchase CDs (or SACDs when available). For a variety of reasons, I purchased the MP3 download of "Orion". It was RIPed with a variable bit rate algorithm and seems to tach out between 192 and 256 KBPS with a few spurts to 320 KBPS. As such, it exhibits minimally competent fidelity compared to a middle-of-the-road CD. On the other hand, it was delivered instantly and sounds good enough that I continue to listen to it through isolation headphones while working. If I was going to listen to it critically, I would re-order "Orion" in CD format.

Bottom line: in any format, this is good stuff and an excellent way to become acquainted with the work of this important living composer.