Orange
Mountain Records was “created to serve the fans, aficionados
and academics studying the music of Philip Glass”. It features
music by Glass, along with occasional releases of “other
artists that have collaborated with or have been associated
with Philip Glass” (see below for reviews of other Orange
Mountain releases). This disc contains works by both Philip
Glass and Steve Reich,
together
the
two “founding
fathers” of
east-coast minimalism.
The
first work, Reich’s Piano Phase, is a piece for
two pianos where each instrument plays the same short melodic
statements slightly out of phase. At first, the two pianos
play simultaneously, then they slowly drift out of phase,
so one can hear the slight difference in timing between
them. They drift in and out of phase throughout the work,
and change from one simple, repetitive melody to another.
While one might call this “fundamentalist minimalism”,
it has its attractions. It is a very relaxing piece of
music, in spite of the quirkiness of the phase changes,
and like much of Reich’s early music, reveals much more
than a simple description can provide.
This
performance has a much lighter sound than that recorded
by Steve Reich himself, which, though two minutes longer,
is played slightly faster. (I’m not sure if this score
is open-ended, as Terry Riley’s In C, where performers
can play each segment as long as they want.) However, this
recording has the sound of both pianos in the centre of
the soundscape, making it more difficult to appreciate
the sound of each instrument. The Reich recording has a
fair amount of reverb - perhaps too much? - which gives
it more of a “surround” sound, and adds warmth and color
to the phasing effect.
Whatever
the case, this performance sounds much more wooden and
deliberate than the Reich recording, and doesn't have any
magic. The performers play the piece, and that’s all. While
one may say that minimalist music, especially of this type,
precludes any individualism in performance, this recording
belies that idea.
The
second work, or more correctly set of works, on this disc
is a piano arrangement of several scenes from Glass’ Les
Enfants Terribles. The original work, written for three
pianos and four vocal soloists, has a sound that is not
very different from this recording - sans voices, of course.
Curiously, the “six scenes” have different names from the
original, so even comparing this disc with its parent is
a difficult affair. But, as with the Reich piece, the music
on this recording sounds too “deliberate” and wooden compared
to the original. There is energy in Glass’s Enfants
Terribles - even if one considers the sound without
the voices; this recording sounds metronomic and stilted.
As with the Reich, there is a concentration of the soundscape,
as though the producers wanted to make these two pianos
sound as one; the original Glass recording has more space,
allowing the different pianos to be heard.
All
in all, this is not a disagreeable disc, but comparisons
with original recordings of the works it contains put it
a few notches down as far as sound and performances. The
recording, with the two pianos concentrated in the centre
of the soundscape, may have been intentional to erase the
distinction between the two instruments, but to my ears,
it sounds flat and lacks depth. The music itself is attractive
- if one likes minimalism, as I do - but the performances
are overly rigid. For one unfamiliar with minimalism, this
disc presents two very different types of music: the first, Piano
Phase, a more “theoretical” work, designed as an experiment;
the second, the scenes from Les Enfants Terribles,
a more lyrical work, written for the theatre, which contains
some very catchy melodies and moving music.
Kirk
McElhearn
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Reviews of other Orange Mountain CDs
OMM0010 - The Fog of War
OMM0012 -
The Hours (Piano Solo)
OMM0014 -
Concerto Project Vol. 1 (Cello concerto, concert fantasy for
two timpanists)
OMM0016 -
Undertow
OMM0019 -
Les Enfants Terribles
OMM0020 - Symphony No. 6 Plutonium Ode
OMM0021 - Orion
Maki Namekawa
and Dennis Russell Davies (pianos) 
