Customer Reviews

Philip Glass : Symphony No. 8

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

There's been lots of discussion about Philip Glass's Symphonies. Two have been based on the music of Brian Eno and David Bowie, the second of which also double as ballet music. Symphony No.3 is scored for small string orchestra of strings only. Symphony 5,6 & 7 are set to text in the traditions of Mahler (8) and Beethoven (9). This new Symphony no.8 stands almost alone in Glass's Symphonic output as unique in symphonic content. Arguably the 2nd Symphony could be considered as well because of its proportions and its content-however the Second's preoccupation with 'an exercize of polytonality' and its slender musical material WHEN juxtaposed to that of the 8th, make it clear that Glass had more involved concepts of the traditions of symphonic music when conceiving and writing this piece.
The first movement, at almost 19 minutes, contains multiple sections which state a theme then have its components morph into something else entirely-each time with innovation and beauty. All of these sections are glued together by "stretto" passages (not altogether dissimilar in concept from the five climaxes in the first movement of Mahler 9) which steadily accelerate into cacophonous climaxes. Very exciting stuff.
The second and third movements are lyrically beautiful. The second is based on a harmonic base of a passacaglia which stretches the composer's sense of tonality as far as it has ever gone. And the third movement is comprised of lovely elongated lines which bring the symphony to a close in a somber and beautiful manner.

All in all, this symphony offers mature stylistic and clarified ideas from the composer, as well as an open sense of seriousness and a desire to touch its audience. Lots of innovations; musical material in abundance...incredibly interesting and fascinating. Stylistically not unlike other pieces he has composed, but as strong a piece that has ever come from this unique voice.

Philip Glass' Symphony #8 is arguably the best symphony he has written to date and one of the most spirited instrumental works he has created in years. Under the always faithful baton of Dennis Russel Davies with the Bruckner Orchestra Linz performing. Glass' most recent symphony proves that this mostly film and opera composer can create something in the world of (in his own words) abstract concert music worth listening to.


Ever since Glass' premiere of the Low Symphony in the early 90's (based on themes from Brian Eno and David Bowie's collaborative album of the late seventies entitled Low). The composer who at that time created a prolific body of work in the genres of film, opera, dance, theater, chamber music, and at times a mixture of all of the above seemed to step in an exciting new direction that at that time was quite unexpectant for both ardent fans of the composer and even Philip Glass himself.

After the Low Symphony all of the other symphonies (mostly commisioned by longtime confidante Russel Davies) came as fast and furious as a car on the assembly line at the Ford Motor Company. Some were good, most were bad, and all unfortunately were as foursquare and predictable as the next. Worse than that every new symphonic work that came after the other would all very much sound identical to each other in some way. After about a decade of symphonies from Philip Glass one might have thought that it seemed to be just another paycheck for a composer who has carved his career from at times repeating what he does all to well in the first place.

Luckily here Glass comes full circle with Symphony No. 8 and goes "for the juggular" right from the very start in the first movement. The opening moment is loud, galiant, and expressively triumphant. Then with unexpected surprise, Glass adds and or subtracts several rythmic elements in the structure of the movement. His use of the orchestra is profoundly rich and flourishes with a vigor that is undoubtedly enthusiastic. Add of course his use of inventive polytonality via: hyperkenetic arching lines, harmonic sliding, counterpoint, and intriguing sudden changes in musical themes and motifs, altogether this brilliant mix of density and complexity keeps one on the edge of his or her seat for about 20 minutes.


And in some ways the excitement stops there (or does it?). The second movement could be called a "grand stately march" tinged in melancholy. It gives the impression of trying to drive during a foggy day. Themes here are mixed slowly against each other, structurally the second movement takes a cue from the first one yet its slower and is in essence a passacaglia. There is some genuine lyrical music here throughout the movement and for just a few bars the flute and harp share a beautiful dialogue with each other in the middle of this section.

The third movement is the most unlikely third movement probably in the history of symphonic composition. And although it is astoundingly beautiful and elegant, it is also even slower than the preceeding movement and sounds more like the ending of a movie soundtrack. Over all this movement fails to connect to what was happening before it and although it is 6 minutes of beautiful music it seems more like an afterthought than anything else.


As symphonies goes for Philip Glass. Symphony # 8 is quite simply the best of Glass' output in this genre yet. I do await the next few at this point to see what he does.

It took many hearings before I could engage emotionally with Glass's Symphony No. 8. That happened in Movement III -- a slow, quiet little thing of only seven minutes. This movement does not call attention to itself, and I had at first mistaken it as just a gentle conclusion to the symphony rather than its most profound statement. Now I see the first and second movements as a lead-in to Movement III. The statement by the oboe, a theme that is presented with slow, deliberate simplicity in the middle of this movement, could break one's heart. I had to be in a quiet frame of mind to hear this music and be open to its somber emotional colors.

The purely orchestral Symphony No. 8, composed in 2005, is a change of pace from Glass' previous three symphonies which each had some type of involvement from a chorus or vocalist. The eighth symphony is cast in three movements. The brisk first movement is based on eight themes (coincidence?), none of which are particularly melodically distinctive; however the rhythmic drive keeps the listener engaged (for the most part) through this 19 minute movement. Compared to most of Glass' quicker movements, this one is unique. As opposed to the repetition of a handful of themes which gradually build in intensity until the work suddenly ends, this movement has several climaxes, which subside making the way for the appearance of the next theme. Although the rhythmic drive of this movement does not decrease, with the music pushed forward by pulsating strings and heavy use of the percussion (woodblock, tambourine, snare drum), the dynamic range of this movement is quite large. Surprisingly the first movement ends softly.

The slow, 12 minute second movement takes the form of a passacaglia and is built upon a 16 measure theme. Harmony and orchestration are the key elements of this movement, which are altered at each repetition of the theme. The final movement (7 minutes) is another slow one, and is based on a plaintive melody first played by the oboe.

Since I have heard the majority of Glass' compositions, it is difficult not to come to a new work with some type of expectation on how the work should sound, which really isn't a good thing is classical music. Given this, I was initially a bit disappointed with the last two movements of this work; after all, aren't the conclusions of Glass' works supposed to boiling over with arpeggiations and endless syncopated fragments? Well, upon returning to this work a couple of times, I am finding myself actually preferring the final two movements over the first, especially the haunting passacaglia movement. So don't let the inclusion of the two slow movements deter you from acquiring this disc.

After repeated listenings, the most striking aspect of this work, to me, is the varied orchestration. The work on a whole has a somber, dark feel to it. This is partially due to the harmonic and melodic content; however this is amplified by heavy use of low strings and the low brass in the first and second movements. Particularly interesting is the use of different groups of instruments in the passacaglia movement. After a simple introduction of the foundation material by the lower strings, the theme is interestingly harmonized within a brass chorale. Each repetition of the passacaglia theme sounds completely fresh due to the altering orchestration, whether it is the addition of woodwind colorings or a melancholy trumpet solo.

In terms of Glass' other symphonies, it is clear that this is a mature work and is far more complex than the earlier symphonies. With that said, I still find myself preferring Glass' more extraverted symphonies, such as the second and third (available at a budget price on Naxos). I wouldn't necessarily recommend those works above the eighth symphony for someone new to Glass, as I am sure this is a matter of personal preference. If possible, I would acquire all three of the symphonies mentioned above and recommend that you choose your own favorite. What I think I can say more conclusively is that those interested in acquiring some of Glass' recent works would do well to pick up Orange Mountain's Philip Glass: The Concerto Project, Vol. 1 featuring Glass' Cello Concerto and his thrilling Concerto Fantasy for Two Timpanists and Orchestra before acquiring the eighth symphony. I believe those works are a bit more exciting, and contain more variety in comparison to what is presented here.

In conclusion, I would say this music is quite good (4.5 stars), but not the most interesting to come from Glass. The playing and sound engineering are top notch. But, as other reviewers have mentioned, the length of this release is just too short, and this fact has caused me to round down to four stars. However, if this does not concern you, this release can be fully recommended.

TT: 38:42

As a Philip Glass fan of the first order I'm pleased to hear him return, as he says in the liner notes, "to orchestral music where the subject of the work is the language of music itself, as in the tradition of the 18th and 19th century symphonies." Based on the music alone, I would give this CD 5 stars, but seeing as how it offers less than 40 minutes of music, I can't give it more than 3. Come on, Orange Mountain Music, you claim you have a wealth of unreleased Philip Glass material that has been recorded over the past 30 years. Why didn't you put at least 30 minutes of it on this CD?

This delicious music presented me with an unusual joy- a disc that stayed in my car cd player for several days of repeated play. I'm no musicologist so I can't describe how this music works but can rather tell you that it brought me a great deal of delight. Like Bernard Herrmann's music for "Marnie" it can be listened to closely, felt deeply or left to play in the background. If you are expecting 19th century classical music, you might be disappointed. If you've already decided, as has one of Amazon's more brilliant reviewers, that "Philip Glass sucks", why bother? This sumptious and delicious music. At just under 40 minutes, the length is perfect for my attention span and a complete presentation of one beautiful idea. 5 Stars!

In this new symphony Mr. Glass deepens his musical language.
His firsts symphonies have been often critically neglected or even despised. And even if I am personnally a Mr. Glass fan, I find that many these bad opinions were more or less deserved.
But the Symphony No. 8 has all the qualities to become a repertoire work: a rich instrumentation, a strong sense of form, many musical ideas, an overall touching sensibility and an elaborate language with harmonic complexity and really long and subtle melodical lines.
The three movements follow a simple idea: I: rythm, II: harmony, III: melody, while the timbre issue is developped in the three movemements.
The third movement is not a rapid one, and it seems that a few reviewers were disappointed by this. Indeed, a repeated listening shows clearly that Mr. Glass aim was to emphasize the power of his language to touch us rather than to give us the willing to go to war !!! (it is a "marche funèbre", not a celebration march).
The summit Mr. Glass reaches here is not the one of the glory but of the heart.
Thank you for all Mr. Glass, we hope and wish for you that this last movement in form of a swan song will not be your last song.

Philip Glass is giving conductor Dennis Russell Davies some kind of manly bear hug (or perhaps a Vulcan mind meld) on the cover of this CD, and you may be inclined to do the same when you hear the opening of his Symphony No. 8. "Hell yeah, Phil baby," you might exclaim, after hearing these dramatic, pulsating, percussive orchestral attacks... "that's more like it!"

Especially if you patiently sat though Glass's uninspiring Symphony No. 6 (Plutonian Ode), with its never-ending Allen Ginsberg text either tediously warbled by a soprano or spoken by the poet himself, and/or his Symphony No. 5 (Choral: Requiem, Bardo, Nirmanakaya), a sprawling pseudo-spiritual, multi-cultural mess.

[For you completists out there, Glass's Symphony No. 7 (Toltec) is still M.I.A. on CD, but you can hear a few samples online at NPR's website...]

Unfortunately, Symphony No. 8 never quite recaptures the excitement of those opening moments again, but the first movement as a whole does keep you interested throughout its 20 minute duration with multiple motifs alternating and combining together in relatively engaging ways. There's nothing new here, to be sure: scales, arpeggios, repeated fragments... but the rhythm and orchestral texture keeps shifting and percolating while moving forward with a restless urgency, all of it colored by the mildly pungent chromatic harmonies that Glass has been sprinkling throughout his music for the past several years. Best of all, there are no distractions such as overtaxed vocalists and choirs or exotic foreign instruments to clutter it all up (though Glass's fondness for snare drum, triangle, and woodblock continues to baffle me...)

He probably should have called it quits after this rather remarkable first movement -- after all, Sibelius, Strauss, and Barber have all gotten away with one movement symphonies. Instead, Glass forges ahead with Movement II: a murky, dreary series of variations on not-much-of-a theme. In stark contrast to all of its busy, aimless noodling, though, this movement nicely concludes with a startlingly sparse and ominous coda -- which would have also been a fairly effective way to conclude this symphony.

But no, we then get Movement III, which is even more slow-moving and bleak -- it's sort of a funeral march I guess, except for the fact that it's barely moving at all. So you figure after enduring that, you deserve some kind of exciting and compelling finale, right? Nope -- that was it. This is the way the symphony ends, not with a bang, but a whimper. Maybe the commission was overdue and Phil didn't have time to compose a fourth movement... or perhaps this is some kind of oblique homage to the "unfinished" 8th Symphony of Schubert (or Sibelius)? All I know is that it's a lame way to end a piece that got off to such a promising start.

Regardless, it's definitely encouraging that Philip Glass has returned to writing some purely instrumental, "absolute" music without any vocalists, spoken word, enviro-mystical pretensions, or world music gimmicks. And even though it's not as compelling as the Low, Heroes, or Third Symphonies, at least the first movement of Symphony No. 8 gives me hope that he may actually come up with a mind-blowing Ninth... "Come on, Phil baby -- sock it to me!"

This showcase of repetitive modulations is amazing. The first movement feels like the starting credits of a Hollywood espionage thriller. The music is exciting and exhilarating. Throughout the first movement, the core material is repetitions of a central undulating theme but with variations in these iterations. The variations and repetitions bring out different group of instruments in the orchestra. At times in the first movement it feels like Mendelssohn or Schubert in its musical compositional style. I would not call this symphony minimalist. Using an expansive orchestra, it does make use of repetitive structures. Even though there are repetitions, you never get bored since there is something different happening in the different iterations either in the musical variation or in the instrumentation bringing different instruments to the fore. The movement ends with a delicate and novel touch. Phillip Glass's classical training under Nadia Boulanger shows in this first movement.

The second movement is mysterious. It uses chords in the forward direction then reverses on these chords as important thematic material. This movement is woodwind and string heavy with almost no percussive element thereby providing a contrasting acoustic listening experience when compared to the first movement which was percussion heavy. This whole movement is also scored for the lower register instruments (base) both in woodwinds and strings. If the first movement was more on the high frequency instrument side; this one employs music of the lower frequencies. The woodwind and the strings(especially the lower register - cellos and double basses) are used in fugal as well as contrapuntal clusters. This movement almost feel like a hymn or a sacred piece due to the lower frequency string instruments and woodwinds almost playing like a collective organ of sorts. I was reminded of Bruckner.

The Third movement is a movement at slow tempo - equivalent to an adagio. The symphony ends rather unceremoniously. That is the only peeve I had, that I did not feel a conclusion coming to the symphony. It ended suddenly as if it was just cut off in mid-sentence - as if there was more to say but the composer decided to end the symphony.

The sound recording has a bit of that studio recording feel; the music sounded better after I tampered with the equalizer to dampen the highly polished over-sweetened studio sound to get more of a live concert organic sound. It was awesome after I made this adjustment.

Although this is a work of the 21st century, it is very traditional in its music structure and content - using the early 18th century three movement symphony format. But instead of using the format *fast movement-slow movement-fast movement*, Glass uses the format *fast movement-moderate movement-slow movement*.

In terms of the musical language, this symphony can be considered very traditional if you compare it against the standards of Lutoslawski's 4th symphony which is exceptionally modern and avant garde (even now for me). This symphony by Glass is really good and accessible on first hearing for anyone who appreciates good moving orchestral music with a seemingly uncomplicated feel (although it is more complicated than it seems). Give it a try.

I'm sure about the 1 star review I say because the reviewer said this was dull and not Glass' minimalist work and his symphonies suck. I enjoyed this record esp. the 2nd and 3rd movements. For those of you that haven't listened to P. Glass since the 70's or 80's he has grown from minimalism to concertos to operas and symphonies. If you listen carefully enough each has a piece of his previous work. Also - back in the 70's and 80's I was listening to top 40 radio and then new wave. Today I listen to rock, pop, jazz, classical, R&B, etc. It's funny how your musical tastes grow or change over time.