Philip GLASS (b.1937)
Music in Similar Motion (1969) [18:14]
How Now (1968)* [26:31]
Music in Fifths (1969) [22:07]
Steffen Schleiermacher (organ and piano*)
rec. 2 October 2008, Ackerhaus der Abtei Marienmünster.
MUSIKPRODUKTION DABRINGHAUS UND GRIMM MDG 613 1600-2 [67:22]
Impressed as I have been by Steffen Schleiermacher’s series of recordings
of composers such as Morton Feldman and John Cage, I was intrigued to hear
what he would make of some of Philip Glass’s more ‘hard core’
early minimal compositions, more usually played by ensembles emulating groundbreaking
performances by Glass’ own musicians back when minimalism was new and
confrontational.
Schleiermacher plays Music in Similar Motion and Music in Fifths
on electric organs. These instruments were apparently recorded separately
and subsequently mixed together, though the timing is so exact that this is
not apparent in the final result. What we to get is quite a good approximation
of the ‘Farfisa sound’ which is very much part of the character
of these pieces, immediately recognisable and distinctive. MDG’s recording
provides just enough acoustic to make the organ sound very listenable.
If you can imagine the musical equivalent to minimalist sculpture by artists
of the 1960s such as Ellsworth Kelly or Donald Judd then you might be able
to get an idea of what to expect here. The music is based on repetition, but
also on variation within a strict framework, and an organic sense of slow
development in terms of sonority and colour. Such uniform fields of sound
might easily induce a meditative state, but if you take Steve Reich’s
attitude of ‘the mind which is wide awake’ then one can also appreciate
the monumental nature of these pieces, and if you can inhabit the way in which
they bring the air to life then you can also gain a sense of heightened rather
than dulled perception. Schleiermacher’s point in the booklet notes
is well made, that “Philip Glass’ music seems to be neutral yet
interdependent - since it depends on the actual state of the listener’s
mind: He may be fascinated by the music, but the very same person may be incredibly
annoyed by it on a different and unsuitable occasion.” With this CD,
you will know if the occasion is suitable - and when it is, it can be a kind
of sonic embodiment of perfection.
The perfection in these performances and the nature of the music almost makes
one forget the player as a factor in their creation, though such precision
never seems to sound mechanical in Schleiermacher’s hands and somehow
always retains an element of expressivity. Such technical excellence is very
much to Steffen Schleiermacher’s credit, and never more so in the title
work for the disc. How Now works very well on the piano. The Alter
Ego ensemble has recorded this and other works effectively on the Stradivarius
label, but the impression here is markedly different. Schleiermacher makes
extensive use of the pedal to allow sonorities to mix and tonalities to mingle,
and the initial effect is something like a fragment of Debussy stretched into
infinity through repetition. Filled with fifths and quasi-pentatonic colours,
the musical semantics of the recording have to deal with associations from
Eastern musical scales, though this is by no means a bad thing. Imagine timeless
and ancient bells or gamelan, and considerations of modernist difficulty easily
slip away. This by the way is also a quality which takes hold in Music
in Fifths if you allow your imagination to take you to some strange medieval
place where the monks have just discovered LSD.
With the gentler sound of the piano providing a substantial filling and contrast
to this organ sandwich, this is a well considered and attractive programme.
You may be the kind of person who has no patience for this kind of thing,
and I would be the first to admit this is not a CD for all people and all
occasions. Of its kind however, this is one of the best Philip Glass discs
I’ve come across in many a year, and that’s after quite a few
attempts at climbing Orange Mountain, the Glass specialist record label.
Dominy Clements
One of the best of its kind.