Customer Reviews

Philip Glass - Monsters of Grace

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The performing version of Monsters of Grace was one of several collaborations between Philip Glass and Robert Wilson, debuting in 1998. Glass provided the graceful music--song settings to texts of the 13th century Persian poet and Sufi mystic known as Rumi. Wilson provided the monsters, in the form of visual effects in 3d that required the audience to wear special glasses for full effect. I never saw the performance and thus am not sure what point was being made by this clash of moods.

But the CD is no mystery: just gentle, graceful, tender music by Philip Glass brilliantly expressing the nuances of Rumi's deliciously evocative, often erotic, and always celebratory poetry. The text is full of unforgettable lines like: "Last night the moon came dropping its clothes in the street. I took it as a sign to start singing."

The orchestration, based in part on Middle Eastern instruments, has a chamber orchestra quality that also perfectly complements the gentleness of the music and clarity of the poetry. The singing is quiet and intimate. It seems as if we've been invited to a friendly and joyous gathering in someone's living room where a small group of musicians accompanies guests as they take turns offering songs to a group of their dearest friends.

This music is a lullaby and a gentle embrace--an act of love.

I was fortunate to see this performance at its premiere at Brooklyn Academy of Music, but tortured all these years wondering if it would ever be released on CD. Wait no more.

This performance contains many of the best characteristics of Philip Glass's music, with allusions to many of his previous best-loved works, such as Songs from Liquid Days (an excellent starter/sampler for Glass beginners), Hydrogen Jukebox, La Belle et la Bete, and many more. Set to the vivid poetry of Rumi, you may listen to this piece over and over to pick up more details in its complex tapestry of music and sung poetry.

The first track, "Where Everything is Music", is worth the price of the album, even if the rest of the songs isn't fully up to the same standard, I think overall the album is one of Philip Glass' best song collections. As five-star as five stars get in my book. I used to only like Philip Glass' instrumental music, but albums like this one are changing my opinion. The combination of the music and the voices is stunning. Stereo Gram is another great track.

As a long-time fan and admirer of Philip Glass this work has great moments and ordinary moments. The music, for the most part, stands on its own. It is tough to judge as it is part of a multi-media work featuring animated motion pictures to accompany the voices and instruments. The vocal performers also move as part of the presentation so it is much like listening to a soundtrack, you only get part of the picture. Still, the blending of voices and instruments in Philip Glass's wonderful, flowing compositions shine. I was priveleged to see the work performed at the Folly Theater in Kansas City in 1999 and enjoyed it immensely. Glass's music and Robert Wilson's animation and Rumi's sensuality were interwoven perfectly and I was surprised to hear of Robert Wilson's displeasure with the completed project. The music has an eastern flavor to it. High points include the ominous, pulsating instrumental, THE NEEDLE which reprises as part of the final selection and the flowing vocal, LIKE THIS. Most Glass aficianados will enjoy it and want a copy.
I agree that this release is well worth the wait.

I'm a fan of Philip Glass and have several different pieces of his that I enjoy. I bought the MP3 album based on the good reviews here and listening to the samples available online. I was hoping for something similar to Songs From Liquid Days, but this is a much sparser arrangement. There aren't the same sound textures as in his other work. The object, I guess, is to present these poems, but since they aren't really lyrics, it is more like they are spoken in a singer's voice, kind of like a cantor in a church sing-speaking psalms. And the music then takes a back seat to the poetry. So this is the least favorite piece of Philip Glass I have and, after six months of owning it, not one I ever listen to.

I'm not going to say it is bad or that other reviewers are wrong, but I am giving it two stars simply because I do not care for it.

I was fortunate enough to see the world premiere of this piece at UCLA in 1998; what a wonderful experience. Sitting in Royce Hall listening to Philip's music and watching the fanstastic imagery from Robert Wilson was revelatory. The Monsters referred to by the title certainly have nothing to do with nightmares, rather they are towering people whose lives exemplify the ideal, monsters. I am deeply grateful to have been there to see this wonderful production and have been waiting for years for the CD of the work. It is a wonderful recording, even better than I remembered the live performance of the work. Buy it, cherish it!

I am stunned and delighted. After ten years of waiting I googled for this work and finally find it on Amazon. YES! I was also fortunate to attend one of the UCLA performances and what I've never forgotten was this music. The high-concept for the production was to allow startling 3D images and sublime music to clash in the minds of the audience and let them (us) make our own meaning out of it all. Wilson's ideas were great, but the 3D rendering technology wasn't up to his ambition, many of the moving 3D images couldn't escape a certain cartoon feel, but Glass' hypnotic music never sounded better. He found the perfect lyricst in Coleman Bark's rendering of Rumi's spiritual poems. The middle eastern insturments weaving in and out of synth/piano notes, the lofty choir voices, the spinning notes. For years I've cherished a cassette with some of these songs recorded at a rehearsal. This is a classic.

I, too, was at the opening night performance at Royce Hall in April 1998. This was billed as Version 1.0 and a work in progress, I guess because the animation was not complete. I also saw the completed version 4.0 some four years later in the same place. As much as I loved the 3D imagery of the animated film, I was more entranced by the Wilson staging which was dropped in later versions. I had only heard of what a Robert Wilson theatre event was like. I'd never seen anything like it before. Weird and beautiful, I was stunned by the combination of exotic and visually dramatic scenes performed in mostly slow motion.

This soundtrack is a long time coming and I am intensely grateful to finally have this beautiful, lilting music as part of my home music library. "Like This" is one of the most moving Glass works I have ever heard, and that is saying a lot.

When I met Philip Glass several years ago, I asked him about making MOG on CD or DVD. He said that he was hoping to find a suitable medium and deal that would include and do justice to Wilson's animated movie. I don't know what the details of that search were, but it is disappointing not to have the opera intact, especially since its a digital movie. You can catch some of the MOG animation at the Synthespian Studios (formerly KWCC) website http://www.synthespians.net. I'd give you a direct link to the MOG excerpts, but the site is one big Flash program.

Buy this album! Long live Glass and Wilson! And bring "Einstein on the Beach" back to the American stage!

I bought this CD on a whim when I bought David Byrne's Knee Plays. However, who could resist a Glass of Rumi? I would love to see the Robert Wilson it goes with, but I dearly love the music and the words.

"Don't go back to sleep..."

i got the cd in mint condition and on time, and the music itself is quite exquisite.