[HN Gopher] If Philip Glass Were a Film
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If Philip Glass Were a Film
Author : indigodaddy
Score : 73 points
Date : 2023-04-01 13:40 UTC (1 days ago)
(HTM) web link (www.youtube.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.youtube.com)
| Rimintil wrote:
| Philip Glass did incredible work in the film, Kundun[0][1]. This
| movie has unfortunately been buried by Disney in the US and is
| not on any streaming platforms.
|
| [0]
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqqUjQf43oo&list=PL50A4C9AF0...
|
| [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kundun
| adzm wrote:
| I never realized this was also the score used in the 07/27/1978
| episode of Lasagna Cat [0] which is also a great watch.
|
| [0] https://youtube.com/watcv=NAh9oLs67Cw
| throw0101c wrote:
| Given the cyclical/repetitive nature of time that Buddhism
| holds (AIUI), I always thought Glass was a good choice on a
| 'meta-level' (besides just being very talented).
|
| While I'm not really into the entire work, I do like the "Act
| I: Prelude" of the opera _Akhnaten_ :
|
| * https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Ql8TidvZto
|
| _Vox_ had a good video story on its production at the NY Met:
|
| * https://www.vox.com/videos/2019/12/4/20995158/philip-
| glass-o...
| kjellsbells wrote:
| That Akhnaten production is currently on at English National
| Opera in London. It is the /hottest/ of hot tickets now,
| albeit for a sad reason: the UK government are deeply cutting
| funding to the Arts and ENO is on the chopping block.
|
| If you get the chance, go. For anyone else, look at YouTube
| or Met Opera on Demand. If you are in NYC right now the
| director of the production is doing a think at NYU Skirball
| discussing this production and Glass in general.
| labrador wrote:
| I'm an old man now and a lonesome man in Kansas, but now I
| remember what it feels like to be a teenager and have people
| misunderstand your favorite artist that you feel you have a deep
| personal relationship with
| khazhoux wrote:
| I hope you don't mean this YouTube video misunderstands Philip
| Glass, because I think it actually speaks to a truth that most
| people miss. There is a monologue that runs through Glass's
| music, it's full of questions and exclamations and regrets
| and...
|
| These guys captured that nicely -- and made it funny.
| moralestapia wrote:
| Art is whatever you want it to be.
|
| Cheers all the way to Kansas, I hope you have a rich life
| despite the loneliness.
| HopenHeyHi wrote:
| It is from a poem by some fella named Ginsberg.
|
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-arPnTm0ZFI
| lambdasquirrel wrote:
| As a Philip Glass listener, I found the clip kind of funny. But
| also because they took one of his better pieces and just
| straight out missed it.
|
| I don't know what to tell you about loneliness and solitude.
| The most lonely years of my life were the ones I lived in the
| San Francisco Bay Area. The year during the pandemic that I
| lived in the Lost Coast was pretty good by comparison. So I
| will say that I hear you, wherever you are in Kansas.
| labrador wrote:
| I hate to spoil it, but it's from a spoken word piece by the
| late Alan Ginsberg ("Howl") and Glass - Wichita Vortex Sutra
| #3 I'm an old man now, and a lonesome man
| in Kansas but not afraid to speak
| my lonesomeness in a car, because not only my
| lonesomeness it's Ours, all over
| America,O tender fellows-- & spoken
| lonesomeness is Prophecy in the moon 100
| years ago or in the middle of Kansas
| now.
|
| "spoken lonesomeness is Prophecy." What a great line, because
| that's pretty much what old age is
| superposeur wrote:
| I actually dig this film, it didn't bore me until the very final
| stretch. (Much like a Philip Glass work.)
| Zigurd wrote:
| When I was young and foolish and ironed my own shirts, Philip
| Glass was the perfect soundtrack.
| motohagiography wrote:
| This was very funny, but what I thought the point of repetition
| in Glass' stuff was for was to create a microtonal harmonic drone
| as the effect of the performance. The analogy I think of is if
| sound could have an _umami_ taste. You get this with Bach and
| Vivaldi in a much lighter way, where the emphasis on perfect
| rhythm by the performer creates the structure that makes that
| transcendent effect of the music possible. Comparing Bach to
| Glass is like comparing a sauturnes to truffle oil, but this
| effect that floats above the senses is what I think the point of
| all that repetition in Glass ' earlier work was.
|
| Consider that when he was writing his minimalist pieces, the
| Velvet Underground were also a big deal, and their whole schtick
| was hypnotic microtonal effects, wall of sound production
| techniques were everywhere, and with WWII still in living memory,
| I think there may even have been an underlying urgency to meet
| and respond to the horrific awe that Wagner's use of giant
| droning techniques inspired. This sounds like a stretch, and I
| think Glass is still around to say I'm full of it, but while the
| jokes are still funny, I always thought there was some specific
| intent to how he wrote, and not that he was being tedious.
|
| His recent homage to Arvo Part in "The Teacher" is consistent
| with his other works, where I think he makes those beautiful
| effects accessible to entry level players, and that feeling of
| the instrument just _resonating_ by itself as you hammer on it is
| what I think inspires beginner musicians to become great ones.
| kjellsbells wrote:
| I wouldnt call it homage, but Glass studied Bach intensely
| under Nadia Boulanger and it shows through in places, in a very
| respectful way. I feel there are several places in Akhnaten
| that are essentially like a Bach Passion aria.
|
| Honestly, if you wanted to create an archetypal American
| composer, you would soak them in a wide variety of music from
| childhood, get them studying instruments early, dispatch them
| to Europe to study under Boulanger, and then dump them in an
| artistically febrile New York. Which is exactly Glass' story.
| leephillips wrote:
| I don't get all the Philip Glass mockery here. He was a
| remarkably creative composer. He wrote his piece hundreds of
| times.
| whiskeytuesday wrote:
| Reminds me of the play by David Ives[0]
|
| [0]
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_Glass_Buys_a_Loaf_of_Br...
| iwanttocomment wrote:
| The pinnacle of Philip Glass parodies, and an honest, nuanced
| one, was (the now forgotten?) P.D.Q. Bach's Einstein on the
| Fritz: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uumLxMLBv-Y
|
| Glass's work in his earlier years was more iterative than
| repetitive, and often performed with the ferocity of a tornado.
| People mock his work, especially his later, softer work, but
| those early pieces as originally performed really rip.
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRerJeYmUgY
| frereubu wrote:
| I love the earlier, even more minimal pieces like Music With
| Changing Parts: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Uy_Ag7ETA4
|
| And I love the parallels to things like I Am Sitting In A Room
| by Alving Lucier: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fAxHlLK3Oyk
| (If you're not familiar with this piece, it might be worth
| reading about it first -
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Am_Sitting_in_a_Room)
|
| I hesitate to say this because it depends on your tastes, but
| I'd recommend setting aside the time to listen to these
| beginning to end if you can. You'll probably feel a bit fidgety
| for the first 10 / 15 minutes, but in my view it's really worth
| persevering because I find the payoffs are worth it.
| khazhoux wrote:
| > I'd recommend setting aside the time to listen to these
| beginning to end if you can
|
| "Music in 12 Parts" is my go-to for cross-country flights.
| Always a pleasure.
| leephillips wrote:
| The P.D.Q. Bach is awesome; I'd never heard that. Maybe it is
| largely forgotten, but thanks for dredging it up. Shickele is a
| genius. (I couldn't stand to sit though the whole movie in the
| OP.)
| ChancyChance wrote:
| That second link is a perfect example.
|
| I was introduced to Javanese Gamelan before I ever heard Glass,
| and when I finally did it felt like someone had pushed it to
| the limits of speed and precision.
| Slow_Hand wrote:
| Came to say this. I think many people overlook the intensity of
| his early work. Einstein on the Beach is an evergreen favorite
| of mine. It feels thoroughly modern and holds up well. It's
| been a longtime desire to experience a full production someday.
| kjellsbells wrote:
| It's on in Argentina this summer! You always wanted to visit
| Buenos Aires, right?
| danbmil99 wrote:
| There are already several film versions of Philip glass, starting
| with koyaanisqatsi
| ChancyChance wrote:
| That's kinda spot on (maybe a little more early Steve Reich than
| Glass), and the disappearance switching to another actor was
| clever (at least it looped!), but they could have dragged it out
| another 8 hours.
|
| Also, King Missile took a funny jab at Glass, too:
|
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aa5hjsm4tZY
| krmblg wrote:
| Replying to %root% b/c all the Koyaanisqatsi references: I
| learned about the movie(s) and Glass' works when accidentally
| tuning in to a Koyaanisqatsi airing briefly before the Challenger
| scene some 20 years back.
|
| My definition of the perfect storm. Still remember set and
| setting and everything else.
| caublestone wrote:
| Came here hoping for the Koyaanisqatsi link
| 2-718-281-828 wrote:
| Seems like even for the HN intelligencia it can be insightful to
| read YT comments ...
|
| --
|
| Dembai 3 years ago
|
| To anybody who's wondering why they chose these specific words
| and the specific repeats: they're actually doing a musical
| analysis on the phrasing that he's using in the chords.
|
| I'm a bit Rusty with analysis, but basically glass is constantly
| shifting between what we call tonic, dominant and sub-dominant
| functions.
|
| A subdominant function is a chord that adds tension, demanding to
| be resolved. It is like a question. The next chord is the
| dominant function...pointing back to the tonic as an answer.
|
| So Glass starts on the tonic but moves to a subdominant (a
| question) which recieves a dominant moment (an answer) which
| turns back into the tonic for just a moment....before sliding
| back into a sub-dominant question.
|
| It never feels resolved because every resolution lasts only a
| moment before turning back into a question.
|
| The music was already doing this. They just added lyrics, so to
| speak.
| etrautmann wrote:
| Thank you! I lack background in music theory, and as such, I
| find that analysis to be so objective and conclusive that it
| raises questions for me about whether this is "true" in a
| broader sense.
|
| "A subdominant function is a chord that adds tension, demanding
| to be resolved"
|
| I find this a strong statement that's hard to question or
| refute, or know how one would show that it's somehow anything
| more than a general feeling that might be shared by lots of
| people?
| taco_philips wrote:
| [dead]
| pygy_ wrote:
| Music is fundamentally abstract, and its interpretation is
| subjective, so there is no final word on anything.
|
| There are many musical traditions, and not all of them use
| those conventions, but classical European harmony is
| understood as explained in that comment.
|
| Edit: here's the canonical [ I IV V7 I ] progression, a.k.a.
| the [ tonic => sub-dominant => dominant => tonic ]
| progression in C major:
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFvm1cb80bc
|
| The progression in the video is more subtle (and it uses a
| minor mode).
| amboo7 wrote:
| https://en.uncyclopedia.co/wiki/Philip_Glass
| stingraycharles wrote:
| I'm a huge fan of his works and this made me chuckle. Great
| parody.
| leviathant wrote:
| I thought this was going to be a link to the Sesame Street
| animation that he scored @
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JWwOzEDGss
|
| If I had access to this sixteen years ago, I would have recreated
| the animations in Flash, but after Flash died out, I stopped
| playing in that field.
| dylan604 wrote:
| As an adult watching clips of Seasme Street like this, or the
| pinball animation counting from 1 to 12, or any of the other
| 70s psychedelia influenced bits, I convinced that I was
| "groomed" into being such of fan of the use of psychedelics
| starting in my teenage years. A giant bird that had an
| "imaginary" friend (elephant/mammoth to continue the trope)
| that was always high as a kite "Hiiiii, Birrrrrd". And I thank
| them for it.
| virgulino wrote:
| Knock knock.
|
| - Who's there?
|
| Knock knock.
|
| - Who's there?
|
| Knock knock.
|
| - Who's there?
|
| Knock knock.
|
| - Who's there?
|
| - Philip Glass.
| hammock wrote:
| .
| khazhoux wrote:
| I'm trying to parse what you mean here.
|
| Dave Matthews is an incredible musician, but what's the
| connection?
|
| Also, strong disagree on Collier. No doubt there are people
| that love both, but I struggle to see any similarity. They each
| have strong harmonic development but their approach is
| completely different. What similarity do you find?
| aestetix wrote:
| What's interesting is that I absolutely love and adore Philip
| Glass's music, but I normally hate minimalism. I also dislike
| musicians who try to copycat Glass. It's like there is something
| deeper within Glass's music that they are unable to latch onto or
| something. And it goes without saying that I don't think the art
| of his music translates into the dialogue in the short film very
| well.
| randyrand wrote:
| Phillip Glass is not original.
| khazhoux wrote:
| Who would you say he copied?
| efficax wrote:
| ? he's one of the most original composers of the post war
| period
| indigodaddy wrote:
| There isn't anything else quite like his music imo
| h1fra wrote:
| Recently discovered Philip Glass through a BBC Essential Mix by
| Jamie XX (yes!)
|
| This music is now forever in my mind:
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SegECuY22Rs
| indigodaddy wrote:
| Dive right in that's just the beginning! The scope of his work
| is kind of overwhelming, and I don't love 100% of it (I'd say
| at least 90% though :) ), but there's so much of it that you
| can just thrown in a glass search on any of your listening
| choices and look for something new, and it's bound to be
| incredible, refreshing, and at the least, worth listening to.
| de_keyboard wrote:
| Be sure to checkout Koyaanisqatsi if you like experimental films
| and Philip Glass
| wkjagt wrote:
| Also be sure to check out The Hours.
| indigodaddy wrote:
| And Truman Show! Epic soundtrack. Also Jane (documentary on
| Goodall), which is almost a reworking of the Mishima music..
| extremely similar, but I still found it to be vibrant and
| fresh.
|
| Also if you listen to The Truman Show main theme, you may
| find that it sounds very similar to The Leftovers main theme.
| I'm quite certain that Richter must have borrowed elements
| from it.
| virgulino wrote:
| Also be sure to checkout Candyman if you like horror films and
| Philip Glass.
| mherdeg wrote:
| Also be sure to check out "They Came in Through the Bathroom
| Mirror" if you like Candyman.
|
| ( https://chicagoreader.com/news-politics/they-came-in-
| through... )
| waltbosz wrote:
| Philip Glass did the score for one of my favorite films,
| "Koyaanisqatsi"
|
| Here is a YT cover of the opening song. I find the music has lots
| of feeling to it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KC0FroHjB94
| adzm wrote:
| Also one of my favorite films. In a similar vein, Baraka and
| Samsara are also great, but the score for Koyaanisqatsi is
| simply beautiful.
|
| The ending sequence still gives me chills. Lots of scenes do,
| actually.
| dusted wrote:
| Those are also fantastic. Also, if you're into electronic
| music, RMB sampled Baraka a lot in one of his earlier albums.
| HopenHeyHi wrote:
| [flagged]
| dusted wrote:
| Yeah, I came here to write that.. If he was a movie, maybe was
| that. I found out about the movie because I loved the music by
| Rob Hubbard, to the C64 game Delta, which is basically the
| theme from Koyaanisqatsi, but sped up.
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