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Philip Glass: My problem is people don’t believe I write symphonies (2017)

theguardian.com

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Re: Philip Glass: My problem is people don’t believe I write symphonies (2017)

#51

Post by wirrbel »

AndrewUnmuted wrote: post #45
barbecue_sauce wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Philip Glass is constantly described as avant-garde. You may take issue with that label, but I hardly see how it can be surprising.

It's a ridiculous label to apply to Philip Glass. He would likely reject it himself. The word "avant-garde" comes up not once in Philip Glass's Wikipedia article [0]. The only uses of the word "experimental" are in reference to his early interest in experimental theater. Philip Glass is easily the most popular, mainstream living music composer. His music is extremely "listenable," and inoffensive to the casual listen…

Congrats you discovered discovered minimal music.

Clearly looking at his age he is already an elder. Nevertheless he definitely qualifies as avant- Garde. You can compose listenable pieces and be avant- garde

Re: Philip Glass: My problem is people don’t believe I write symphonies (2017)

#52

Post by ejfkcisodk »

AndrewUnmuted wrote: post #28
mekoka wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Criticizing the work is one thing. Trying to bully people for finding beauty where you can't is kinda childish.

Many people do not realize that they do not "listen" to music. They simply put it on for background ambiance, to do other things. And before anyone feels further offended, please see this [0] post from 30 minutes ago on HN that completely proves my point made in the previous post. > I think to this day its great background music for programming work Philip Glass wrote his music to be heard in the concert hall. Very f…

I saw two performances of Einstein on the Beach during its revival. Glass intended it to be like Indian classical theater where you can get up and walk around whenever you want. I stayed except for a bathroom break, while friends left to smoke. I think Glass was trying to make a state of mind, not just have people hanging onto every note.

Even during Mozart’s time, opera was such a social event that people complained you could hardly hear the music.

I’m all for careful listening, but we shouldn’t invalidate people who listen to Glass the way he intended.

Re: Philip Glass: My problem is people don’t believe I write symphonies (2017)

#53

Post by pdevalla »

Never commented on the internet before, but I just started to learn playing the Intro Theme to Candyman on piano [0] yesterday and then saw this. Weird coincidence...

The movie Candyman itself and the rest of the songs in the score are also fantastic.

Heard about that song from the sample in Travis Scott's The Prayer [1].

[0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7FFEu7Har0

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4iOH8V0KTVI

Re: Philip Glass: My problem is people don’t believe I write symphonies (2017)

#54

Post by AndrewUnmuted »

easytiger wrote: post #42
AndrewUnmuted wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The label "avant-garde" is surprising to see used to describe Philip Glass's works. What performance were you attending?

Unrelated anecdote, but I once went to a 3 hour John Cage concert. Genuinely awful, and about as thought provoking as a piece of cardboard. That was avant-garde, apparently.

Yes, John Cage is probably the most well-known "avant-garde" composer.

Calling music by this term communicates a powerful judgment about its place in musical history. And it is simply, unavoidably incorrect. It has nothing to do with the music itself - it has to do with his musical process and how it jives with the basic musical environment of his time.

If the whole musical world were like John Cage, Philip Glass's works would definitely be avant-garde. But because the musical world is a lot more like Philip Glass, using the word "avant-garde" to describe his contributions is simply untrue.

Re: Philip Glass: My problem is people don’t believe I write symphonies (2017)

#55

Post by ubermonkey »

AndrewUnmuted wrote: post #28
mekoka wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Criticizing the work is one thing. Trying to bully people for finding beauty where you can't is kinda childish.

Many people do not realize that they do not "listen" to music. They simply put it on for background ambiance, to do other things. And before anyone feels further offended, please see this [0] post from 30 minutes ago on HN that completely proves my point made in the previous post. > I think to this day its great background music for programming work Philip Glass wrote his music to be heard in the concert hall. Very f…

You seem fun.

Re: Philip Glass: My problem is people don’t believe I write symphonies (2017)

#56

Post by ubermonkey »

AndrewUnmuted wrote: post #48
mekoka wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's strange to believe that you know what people undergo during something as subjective as a sensory experiment. No matter your expertise, you can never really know how another person is perceiving their reality. We're all given a set of senses and a brain to explore the world in our own way. It will not be the same from one individual to the next. If some people are looking to be soothed by music, while others are…

> does that give one group an authority on taste What the hell? I never made any such comment on the subjective experiences of listeners. You can enjoy music and know it's "junk food." I like listening to plenty of bad music. I don't judge anyone for what they enjoy. To call Philip Glass a master of his domain, a rightfully-celebrated contributor to Western art music, or any of this other crap - that's what I take is…

DO NOT SPREAD YOUR INCORRECT OPINIONS. ONLY THE OPINIONS OF ANDREWUNMUTED ARE VALID.

Re: Philip Glass: My problem is people don’t believe I write symphonies (2017)

#57

Post by Cactus2018 »

motohagiography wrote: post #6

These days I would pick a movie to see based on who did or contributed to its soundtrack. Glass, Zimmer, Richter, and Preisnser, in particular. Some of Glass' work transposes well to other instruments, but a real extra gift to the world would be if he wrote a guitar suite. I've been hacking around with a classical guitar arrangement of Pärt's "Spiegel im Spiegel," and might see if Glass' new "The Teacher" is more ame…

Recently learned Hans Zimmer is in the Buggles' 1979 music video Video Killed the Radio Star.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8r-tXRLazs

(and incase you missed it, Hitler and Stalin deepfake lip-sync Video Killed the Radio Star https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DysigzGQvU )

Re: Philip Glass: My problem is people don’t believe I write symphonies (2017)

#58

Post by AndrewUnmuted »

garbagetime wrote: post #49
AndrewUnmuted wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a ridiculous label to apply to Philip Glass. He would likely reject it himself. The word "avant-garde" comes up not once in Philip Glass's Wikipedia article [0]. The only uses of the word "experimental" are in reference to his early interest in experimental theater. Philip Glass is easily the most popular, mainstream living music composer. His music is extremely "listenable," and inoffensive to the casual listen…

> It's a ridiculous label to apply to Philip Glass. I disagree. >The word "avant-garde" comes up not once in Philip Glass's Wikipedia article The only uses of the word "experimental" are in reference to his early interest in experimental theater. What's that meant to show? I opened the first four references on that Wikipedia article and all contained the phrase 'avant-garde': [1] https://www.biography.com/musician/ph…

That's nice, but none of those references speak to the idea that Philip Glass is avant-garde. They simply (and inaccurately) apply this label to him, mainly because they're mainstream sources that do not actually cover Western art music.

Re: Philip Glass: My problem is people don’t believe I write symphonies (2017)

#59

Post by Bayart »

hypertele-Xii wrote: post #34

I discovered Philip Glass' music through the movie Koyaanisqatsi, which I heartily recommend. If you haven't seen it, go into it without expectations of what a movie is supposed to be like; it's weird.

I love the urban hell of Pruit Igoe [1].

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nq_SpRBXRmE

Re: Philip Glass: My problem is people don’t believe I write symphonies (2017)

#60

Post by AndrewUnmuted »

wirrbel wrote: post #51
AndrewUnmuted wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a ridiculous label to apply to Philip Glass. He would likely reject it himself. The word "avant-garde" comes up not once in Philip Glass's Wikipedia article [0]. The only uses of the word "experimental" are in reference to his early interest in experimental theater. Philip Glass is easily the most popular, mainstream living music composer. His music is extremely "listenable," and inoffensive to the casual listen…

Congrats you discovered discovered minimal music. Clearly looking at his age he is already an elder. Nevertheless he definitely qualifies as avant- Garde. You can compose listenable pieces and be avant- garde

Minimalism was "avant-garde" when it was explored as a response to Serialism. Its history is comprised of works that would be considered unlistenable to most audiences.

Calling any modern regurgitation of Glass's very-listenable minimalism "avant-garde" is misleading and shuts out the contemporary listener to an entire world of avant-garde music - much of it, very listenable.

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