When
Philip Glass’s record label, Orange Mountain Records, releases
a CD, one expects it to be a disc of music by Philip Glass.
This disc is an exception, containing just one short work
by Glass as a teaser (A Musical Portrait of Chuck Close);
the rest of the recording being a selection of other twentieth-century
piano music. Unfortunately, the “filler” on this disc is more
a selection by the pianist Bruce Levingston of works that
share “not only representational qualities, but also certain
communicative and emotional characteristics,” as Levingston
says in the liner notes. Huh?
What
it boils down to is that the pianist commissioned a work from
Glass, but then, in order to record it, needed more music
to put on a disc — he couldn’t release a 12-minute CD with
a single work by Glass. The Glass work is, well, Glass-ish.
It sounds like a rehash of ideas from his solo piano works
and from such music as The Photographer, not like anything
truly unique or original. Don’t get me wrong; I’m a big fan
of Philip Glass’s music, but this one doesn’t merit the focus
it receives on this disc. A longer work, or a collection of
such music might be more interesting, but this piece on its
own doesn’t stand up overly well.
As
for the rest of the disc, well it’s an interesting recital
of French piano music. While the pieces may not be “representational”
or “communicative” they do stand as a good example of the
variety of music that has come out of France in the
previous century. The Ravel pieces are indeed close to minimalism
in their austerity and simplicity, and show a side of Ravel
that many people may not know. La vallée des cloches
has a haunting simplicity, and Alborada del gracioso
is a more lively
work with a Spanish feel. The three Messiaen works are good
examples of this composer’s style, ranging from two of his
religiously influenced works (L'échange and Regard
de la Vierge) and one of his “bird” works; he wrote a
series of works using actual bird songs in the music. The
relationship to Glass’s music is less obvious here, but one
can hear some similarities between Messiaen’s piano music
and Glass’s minimalism. Messiaen’s music is darker, though,
more chromatic, less structured both melodically and rhythmically,
and is far more emotional than Glass’s works. The meditative
qualities of parts of Regard de la Vierge, however,
do relate to Glass’s minimalism.
Finally,
the three Satie works are certainly examples of how early
20th century music may have influenced late 20th century avant-garde
composers. Satie could be said to have created a certain form
of minimalism. The Sarabande No. 2 is an interesting
selection, since it is not a very well known work, but the
other two pieces are, even for those unfamiliar with Satie,
most likely to sound like something they’ve heard before.
This is certainly the case of Gymnopédie No. 1, now
a staple of movie scores and TV commercials. It’s a shame
that Levingston decided to include this piece, which everyone
knows at least subliminally, rather than one of the many other
Satie works, even another of the Gymnopédies.
All
in all, this is a disc either for Philip Glass completists,
who simply must have a recording of A Musical Portrait
of Chuck Close, which is not available anywhere else,
or for the simply curious who want an interesting selection
of French piano music with a bit of Glass thrown in. The performance
and recording are fine, but the disc lacks a real coherence;
it truly feels like there is 12 minutes of music with 50 minutes
of filler, albeit fine filler. Not to denigrate Levingston,
who is certainly a fine pianist, but he played himself into
a corner by commissioning this Glass piece, and having to
fill out a disc with other music. If he had played other music
by Glass, or if he had only played French piano music, that
might have been more satisfying.
Kirk
McElhearn
Editor’s
Note: Readers may be curious about the title of the Glass
piece. Chuck Close is the American artist born in 1940. Glass
and Close have been friends for many years. Close’s portrait
of Glass dates from the same year as the Glass work portraying
Close. RB
Bruce Levingston (piano)
