Music in Twelve Parts

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Binding: Audio CD EAN: 8018370049224 Format: Box set Label: Orange Mountain Music Manufacturer: Orange Mountain Music Number Of Discs: 4 Publisher: Orange Mountain Music Release Date: 2008-08-25 Running Time: 204 Studio: Orange Mountain Music
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Spotlight customer reviews: Customer Rating: Summary: Possibly the finest version yet... Comment: Music in Twelve Parts was Glass's summation of, and farewell to, the 'minimalism' that saw the first flowerings of his genius. It is both minimalism in extremis and a decisive move away from it's limitations. It is very long, very rhythmic and very beautiful. This latest recording comes from a live performance in Italy in 2006. It runs to 204 minutes. The sound quality is a wonder, just a hint of reverb and a beautiful clarity. The performance is a revelation, fitting as four of the seven performers have been playing this sequence for thirty years now. They've got good at it, very good, with none of the staleness that can mar the performance of over familiar works. Twin threads of energy and calm weave into each other, neither canceling the other out. If I had to single out a performer, it would be soprano Lisa Bielawa, who maintains a warm purity throughout. This is music for meditation, music for driving with, music for creating art to, music for love and music for pumping iron to, music to walk through fields with and music for reading to. Oh, and you can dance to it. What more, in all honesty, could you want? Of three PGE recordings of this work, I would rate this one best, but only just. If there is a fault, it is the decision to spread the work over four CDs, thus introducing an unnecessary break in the work, when it would comfortably fit on three CDs. The packaging is minimal, with no booklet but some useful notes on the digi-pack inside. If you want one version of the work, I'd go for this one, the next best (IMHO) being the original Sony followed by the Nonesuch recording. All three, however, are excellent and I own all of them and am happy to be able to do so. Customer Rating: Summary: Quite unlike anything else Comment: Glass's recent works, which I think are good, are squarely located within the classical/romantic tradition, although they represent a somewhat new take on it. "Music In Twelve Parts" is not. It is quite unlike anything you've ever heard. Not many pieces can justify 3.5-4 hours - Wagner, for instance, doesn't do it for me - but this does. A strange, unique, masterpiece. Not to be missed. Customer Rating: Summary: No middle ground here, love it or hate it. Comment: This piece of music is about four hours long, carried on three CDs. It closes Glass's early phase, characterised by intertwining, repetitions for keyboards, woodwind and voice. The first piece is very beautiful, very gentle and slow and creates an almost ambient texture similar to Eno. However, over the course of the four hours, the music varies a great deal - tuneful, tuneless, harsh, gentle, energetic, somnambulent, pretty, dissonant, sad and happy. Personally, I love this music, but I did get into Glass on the basis of North Star which is similar in style, although much shorter! However, I have friends who love Glass's later orchestral works but who cannot engage with this music at all. It's a nice package, with appropriately minimalist cover, and excellent sound quality. Customer Rating: Summary: If you enter into this it's absolutely fascinating Comment: OK. There are three CDs and over an hours music on each (if I remember correctly). This is minimalism in the most extreme manner possible. The instruments are harsh (none of that pleasent string sound), the length and extent of the repetition is almost unbearable and the variation is almost non-existant. However, if you can endure it then it soon becomes engrossing and by the last of the twelve parts it seems to be the most fascinating piece of music you've ever heard. Most music attempts to enter your head with catchy tunes, or makes an impact with danamic changes, emotive scoring and instrumentation. Glass ignores all of these, but somehow by the end of the three CDs the music becomes part of you in a way that no music ever will again. The extent of the music surrounds you entirely and doesn't let fo until the last note. However. A note of warning. It is not pretty. It is not outwardly interesting. It is horrible to anyone not making an effort to get inside. If you don't have guts, you won't stand a chance against this piece of music. If you do have guts it is the most satisfying piece of music ever to listen too. More Reviews