Philip Glass Symphony No.9

[Dundonnell]

I must say that I totally agree with Alan

Sometimes-I freely admit- I do require music as background to some other activity. I could spend some of the many hours that I do spend on cataloguing music -an activity which I happen to love doing-sitting listening to music properly. I choose not to....but, whilst I am engaged in other activities, there are certain types of music which I can happily listen to at a more subliminal level. Glass fits that bill perfectly for me

[Alan Howe]

Actually, I'm not going to buy Glass 9 as background music. I hope it's going to give me a good work-out!

[chill319]

As members know, some decades ago the great British critic and rhetorician I. A. Richards analyzed the role of reception in art.  At the inception of minimalism in the later 1960s (a period when reception theory and the study of brainwaves was of great interest to many urban artists) an assumption was made, consistent with Richards, that listeners could redefine their expectations and behavioral roles with respect to musical audition. My personal favorite among the minimalists is Steve Reich, simply because he pursued this path especially far without compromise.  Other composers, such as Glass and Adams, took the role of reception a step or two further than Bruckner had in the 19th century. (It's art: there's no right or wrong here.)

The bottom line, I think, is that, pace Richards,  the effort made to open one's ears to Glass will pay off in how one listens to every other composer, whether or not Glass's own music gains a permanent place in one's listening.

[Alan Howe]

Well, my copy of the CD arrived today; and I enjoyed the music immensely. I didn't find it boring at all, but found myself intrigued by the constantly shifting colours and the sense of enormous arcs of music leading the ear ever onwards. I don't know how to evaluate such a monster of a piece (50 mins long), but I feel certain I have heard something of immense significance.

The review here of the recent LA performance of Glass 9 may express what I cannot (yet) articulate:
http://www.bachtrack.com/review-philip-glass-symphony-9-los-angeles-philharmonic

[eschiss1]

Of the works I have heard so far- I have not heard Glass' 9th but will give a listen to some of it sometime soon- by Glass, John Adams (the better-known of the 2 composers by that name) and Steve Reich - one or two works by Adams interest me and actually quite a few by Reich (maybe because I received a several-CD set of Reich's music on Nonesuch as a present and rather liked it... don't know...), but... erm.

[jowcol]

Hum, maybe my perspective on this is that I don't wish music to either mesmerise or bore me. I want it to fully engage the brain. So a doubly secure reason, as it were, not to dally with Glass. I don't want to eventually go into the gaga-house thinking that some of the hours I've spent in the company of Glass could have been devoted to more rewarding composers (and there are many and many of them).

My personal take on most of this school of music is, that you need to be ready to project you own melodic lines into them as you listen.   That is what I like most about it is that I can spin off my own musical ideas on the landscape created.   But when I'm not in the mood to do that, then the works tend to bore me.  There are times when I don't want a composer to guide me there each step of the journey, but give me a maze, which I can pick a different path each time. 

But-- to each his own.  Life is short, and there is a lot of music out there, and there is no need to waste time on music that doesn't move you. To be honest, there are 4 or five works by Reich I prefer to anything I've heard from Glass, but Reich repeats his ides so much, I don't feel the need to collect the catalog. As I've said, there are some times when this music leaves me cold, and my time is better spent with another composer. 

[jowcol]

I must say that I totally agree with Alan

Sometimes-I freely admit- I do require music as background to some other activity. I could spend some of the many hours that I do spend on cataloguing music -an activity which I happen to love doing-sitting listening to music properly. I choose not to....but, whilst I am engaged in other activities, there are certain types of music which I can happily listen to at a more subliminal level. Glass fits that bill perfectly for me

Interesting observation.  When I need to sit down and focus on something without ANY interruption for two hours, I listen to LaMonte Young's "Just Stompin", which seems to help keep me focused, and not want to make excuses for getting up.

[Mark Thomas]

Musically, I'm at my happiest in the 19th century but Alan's enthusiastic recommendation of Glass' Ninth emboldened me to invest in downloading it from iTunes and I'm pleased that I did. This is probably not the PC thing to say to Glass enthusiasts but for me it embodies the best of what I like to think of as "music as landscape". Listening to it is the equivalent of gazing out of the carriage window on a train journey and enjoying the gradually shifting scenery, the sometimes almost subliminal merging of one landscape into another highly contrasted one, the odd jarring interruptions of urban areas and so on. Interesting and enjoyable, not "musical wallpaper" by any means but neither an intellectual or emotional experience to rival the works of the masters I love.

[jowcol]

Musically, I'm at my happiest in the 19th century but Alan's enthusiastic recommendation of Glass' Ninth emboldened me to invest in downloading it from iTunes and I'm pleased that I did. This is probably not the PC thing to say to Glass enthusiasts but for me it embodies the best of what I like to think of as "music as landscape". Listening to it is the equivalent of gazing out of the carriage window on a train journey and enjoying the gradually shifting scenery, the sometimes almost subliminal merging of one landscape into another highly contrasted one, the odd jarring interruptions of urban areas and so on. Interesting and enjoyable, not "musical wallpaper" by any means but neither an intellectual or emotional experience to rival the works of the masters I love.

I agree.  I think the landscape metaphor is important to understand what this music is trying to do and what it is not.   It is interesting that the words you are using sounds a LOT like the film (and Glass score) for Koyaanisqatsi,  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koyaanisqatsi.   The full score (not the abbreviated sound track from the 80s) is my favorite Glass work.   You may wish to try Reich's music for 18 Musicians or Desert Music if you are interested in a similar experience-- but I'll admit that a little of this music can go a long way. 

It's also perceptive that you did not classify this music as an "intellectual" or "emotional" experience, and that Colin has referred to it as "subliminal"-- I strongly agree.  A lot of my music collection outside of "classical" is modal jazz (and other improv forms)  and classical Indian music.  I'd have to say that I'm drawn to this music for  more of a meditative than intellectual or emotional experience.  It can't replace "the masters", but, to me, it "scratches an itch" that the "classcal repertoire" does not, in most cases. 

[Alan Howe]

I find that the long climaxes in Glass' 9th remind me of those in Bruckner - e.g. the slow movement of his 7th Symphony. As far as a listening experience is concerned, I end up with two conclusions: if listened to with half an ear, it's nothing but a repetitive mush; however, if listened to really carefully, the power of the music to draw one into its sound-world is quite extraordinary.

[Mark Thomas]

I do agree, it doesn't work as wallpaper. You have to give it your full attention and then the effect is almost hypnotic in its intensity. I quite lost track of time in my second listen, something which is unheard of for me.

[jowcol]

I couldn't resist any longer, I had to buy it from iTunes.

I really like it. I'd say that, particularly in the first movement, there were echoes of other works, although he often shaped the material differently.  I was particularly struck by the last few minutes-- there was a sense of mystery that reminding me in ways of the Prokofiev 7th (the versions WITHOUT the happy conclusion tacked on), or the RVW 6th.

On the whole, I'd rank it as one of his best, easily.

[FBerwald]

The obsessive Ostinato gets very tiring after some time. Give me Thomas Schmidt-Kowalski any day!!! Now there's a composer whose music SHOULD be listened to!

[Alan Howe]

The obsessive Ostinato gets very tiring after some time. Give me Thomas Schmidt-Kowalski any day!!! Now there's a composer whose music SHOULD be listened to!

I'll take both! No need to make a choice...

[Gijs vdM]

I find that the long climaxes in Glass' 9th remind me of those in Bruckner - e.g. the slow movement of his 7th Symphony.

As avid Brucknerite I must say here: 
No offence meant! But to me it's like saying that a puddle reminds one of an ocean... (forgive the Moussorgskyan jibe here!).
But of you like what you hear, please go on enjoying!

All best,
Gijs