Einstein on the Beach [CD]

~ Philip Glass (Composer), Jon Gibson (Performer), Marion Beckenstein (Performer), Lisa Bielawa (Performer), Lucinda Childs (Performer), et al.

4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (20 customer reviews)

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Product Details

Performer: Jon Gibson, Marion Beckenstein, Lisa Bielawa, Lucinda Childs, Gregory Dolbashian, et al.
Composer: Philip Glass
Audio CD (Feb 20 2003)
SPARS Code: DDD
Number of Discs: 3
Format: CD
Label: Nonesuch
ASIN: B000005J28
Other Editions: Audio Cassette

Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (20 customer reviews)

Amazon.ca Sales Rank: #446 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

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#1 in	Music > Dance & DJ > Techno > Minimal Techno
#1 in	Music > Opera & Vocal > Historical Periods > Modern & 20th Century
#1 in	Music > Classical > Historical Periods > Modern, 20th, & 21st Century > Composers > Glass, Philip

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Disc: 1
1. Knee Play 1 - Michael Riesman
2. Act I, Scene 1: Train - Philip Glass Ensemble
3. Act I, Scene 2: Trial - Michael Riesman
Disc: 2
1. Knee Play 2 - Michael Riesman
2. Act II, Scene 1: Dance 1 - Philip Glass Ensemble
3. Act II, Scene 2: Night Train - Philip Glass Ensemble
4. Knee Play 3 - Michael Riesman
Disc: 3
1. Act III, Scene 1: Trial/Prison - Philip Glass Ensemble
2. Act III, Scene 2: Dance ("Field With Spaceship") - Michael Riesman
3. Knee Play 4 - Michael Riesman
Disc: 4
1. Act IV, Scene 1: Building/Train - Philip Glass Ensemble
2. Act IV, Scene 2: Bed - Michael Riesman
3. Act IV, Scene 3: Spaceship - Philip Glass Ensemble
4. Knee Play - Michael Riesman

On this CD:

Einstein on the Beach, opera
Composed by Philip Glass
with Jon Gibson, Jon Gibson, Marion Beckenstein, Lisa Bielawa, Lucinda Childs, Gregory Dolbashian, Michele A. Eaton, Gregory Fulkerson, Katie Geissinger, Martin Goldray, Margo Gezairlian Grib

Product Description

Amazon.com essential recording

Although Einstein on the Beach is by definition an opera, Philip Glass's most famous work also transcends traditional music categories. Glass avoided all vestiges of plot in the piece and dug deep into his quiver of repetitions to create an artfully unnerving five hours of brilliance. The instrumental ensemble never exceeds five members, playing electric keyboards, saxophones, flutes, and a single violin. Furthermore, the music congregates around the upper registers, often darting through its loops at seemingly incredible paces. The chorus bears huge chops, creating a dense, if silkenly staccato, series of juts, and a powerful array of higher-register annunciations that ring with the aural power of leaping, blurring filaments. This 1993 version of Einstein truly supersedes its predecessors, stretching to around 190 minutes over three CDs. There is a strong current of postmodern collage throughout the piece, with rafts of pop culture references. But Einstein, after all, is indeed based loosely on Albert Einstein and ends with booming allusions to nuclear annihilation and mathematics. --Andrew Bartlett

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Customer Reviews

20 Reviews

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4 star:		(1)
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Average Customer Review

4.5 out of 5 stars (20 customer reviews)

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Incredible! Now, If I could only rate this an 8 out of 5..., Jan 11 2004

By A Customer

Have you ever heard music that changes your life? Maybe it was a song that stays locked in your short-term memory for decades, which matured and blended over years between listenings until the next time you have heard it. And when you do....

It is EXACTLY the way you remembered it! And more...

I accidently discovered Einstein on the Beach in my college's music listening lab. It became a part of my internal soundtrack, almost like a meditative chant, when I painted or wrote. It is STILL there to unlock my creativity.

This Phillip Glass / Robert Wilson piece may not be for everyone (it drives my wife, who is logical,wonderful,the order to my clutter, and likes almost all of the same music I do, round the bend). There is not only the familiar (and welcome) signature Glass music line that permeates most of his work, but a vocal organisation to match. The lyrics/phrasing and timing are mathematically precise and dramatically circular. All while telling a story (A Story?) Well, it isn't necessary to even pay attention to the meaning of the lyrics to enjoy the CDs. The music is only enhanced by them.

BUT if you like Kowaanisqatsi, The cIVIl warS, David Byrne's The Forest, Brian Eno's instrumetals, I can highly recommend EINSTEIN ON THE BEACH.

It is one of the few pieces of music I could not bear to part with.

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1.0 out of 5 stars novelty at the expense of integrity, Jul 7 2004

By	PhilBussman - See all my reviews

Let me begin by saying that Philip Glass has first of all undoubtable musical talent and second of all a keen ability to titillate those of us craving the sensational and alternatives to greatness imposed by a perceived hegemony. He can also lick his finger and stick it to the wind in order to gauge mass public taste. Glass is undoubtedly a very bright man and adept at these things.
With a work like Einstein Glass has lured a huge following, many of whom are prepared to rate the "opera" as a piece for the ages and a landmark in the genre. However, like so any of his other pieces, and like minimalism as a whole, Einstein relies on effect rather than sheer substance to make its presence felt. We find here again endless repetitions of harmonies explored and exploited hundreds of years hence and lacking the suitable level of development to justify their continued use in the context of progressive art music. I still have not bought the argument that the small variances that present themselves in the interminable dronings of minimalism qualify as an acceptable surrogate for true development. This technique is a cop-out and appears ever so when compared to works written by masters of development...i.e. Beethoven, Wagner, Mahler, Debussy, Berg, etc. What becomes apparent when considering composers like these (and many more) and comparing them with a composer like Glass is that the former group used innovation as a necessary means for furthering their artistic ideas and not as a gimmick. (If Berg cared about gimmickery would he REALLY have written the same way he did?) In Einstein, as with many of his other works, Glass employs cheap facility in order to attain widespread effect and recognition. Few before Glass have had the audacity to pass off such dross as sincere art. But Glass' method is not without ingenuity. Seeing a society with an ever shortening attention span and younger audiences growing up on fast moving, flashy media, Glass has recognized that the key to capturing the adulation of an ever increasing mass pop culture lies in one's ability to excite and induce knee-jerk reactions. The result is the appearance of pieces like Einstein and a fresh wave of kitsch passed off as art. I have no problem with enjoyable music and new music being one and the same...and I value innovation and the continued new efforts of modern composers who try to appeal to audiences while holding a concern to write music that will hold a place in posterity. (I point to composers like David del Tredici and Einojuhani Rautavaara.) But a work like Einstein smacks of being a sell-out- something becoming glaringly apparent as much in demand these days in the world of "art".

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5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful...if you can take it, Jun 16 2004