Album Details
Title: Einstein on the Beach Artist: Philip Glass Release Date: 1979 Label: Columbia, Elektra, Elektra/Asylum Duration: 200:40 Album Type(s): Avant-garde UPCs: 074643887526, 075597932324, 075597932348 Genre: Classical Style: Minimalism Moods: Ambitious, Cerebral, Circular, Epic, Complex, Elegant, Restrained, Sophisticated, Uncompromising, Calm/Peaceful, Reserved Total Copies: 0 Members Wishing: 0 Number of Discs/SwapaCD Credits: 4 |
Track Listings Disc 1
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Knee Play 1
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Act I, Scene 1: Train
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Act I, Scene 2: Trial
Track Listings Disc 2
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Knee Play 2
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Act II, Scene 1: Dance 1
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Act II, Scene 2: Night Train
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Knee Play 3
Track Listings Disc 3
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Act III, Scene 1: Trial/Prison
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Act III, Scene 2: Dance ("Field With Spaceship")
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Knee Play 4
Track Listings Disc 4
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Act IV, Scene 1: Building/Train
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Act IV, Scene 2: Bed
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Act IV, Scene 3: Spaceship
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Knee Play
Additional Releases
| Year | Type | Label | Catalog # | | 1993 | CD | Elektra | 79323 | | 1993 | CD | Elektra/Asylum | 79323 | | 1990 | CD | Columbia | 38875 |
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Review
This opera, composed in 1975 and premiered in 1976, is scored for four principal actors, 12 singers doubling as dancers and actors, a solo violinist, and an amplified ensemble of keyboards, winds and voices. It is imbued with the postmodern spirit both in its non-linear, poetic, mystic narrative and the floating, eternal world created by the shifting, mathematically precise patterns of Philip Glass' modal music. There are three primary visual sets linked to three musical themes that recur within the work: trains (recalling the metaphors Einstein used to illustrate the theory of relativity, and with which he played as a child), a trial setting (modern life and modern science examined), and a spaceship (a metaphor for transcendence, and/or an escape from nuclear disaster). Also, Einstein himself appears midway between the orchestra and the stage as a violinist (his hobby) and as observer/witness. There are also additional spoken texts written by Christopher Knowles, Samuel M. Johnson and Lucinda Childs, which appear in various arrangements for single and multiple voices. This work locates itself as a midpoint between the composer's early-'70s work, linking rhythmic and harmonic structures and his later series of operas and vocal works and film scores employing expanded narrative and/or timbral experiments. ~ "Blue" Gene Tyranny, All Music Guide
Credits
| Name | Credits | | Andrew Sterman | Flute, Piccolo, Clarinet (Bass) | | Bruce Burroughs | Vocals | | Connie Beckley | Vocals | | Dana Reitz | Vocals | | David Anchel | Vocals | | David Woodberry | Vocals | | Dickie Landry | Saxophone, Flute | | Dora Ohrenstein | Vocals | | Elsa Higby | Mezzo-Soprano (Vocal) | | Eric W. Lamp | Tenor (Vocal) | | Forest Warren | Vocals | | Frank Conversano | Vocals | | George Andoniadis | Vocals | | Gregory Dolbashian | Voices | | Gregory Fulkerson | Violin | | Gregory Purnhagen | Baritone (Vocal) | | Grethe Holby | Vocals | | Iris Hiskey | Vocals | | Jasper McGruder | Voices | | Jeannie Hutchins | Vocals | | Jeff Kensmoe | Baritone (Vocal) | | Jeffrey Johnson | Tenor (Vocal) | | John Kock | Tenor (Vocal) | | Jon Gibson | Flute, Saxophone, Glockenspiel, Sax (Soprano) | | Katie Geissinger | Mezzo-Soprano (Vocal) | | Kristin Norderval | Soprano (Vocal) | | Kurt Munkasci | Producer | | Lisa Vielawa | Soprano (Vocal) | | Lucinda Childs | Voices | | Marc Jacobi | Vocals | | Margo Gerzairlian Grib | Mezzo-Soprano (Vocal) | | Marie Rice | Vocals | | Marion Beckenstein | Soprano (Vocal) | | Martin Goldray | Keyboards | | Michael Riesman | Keyboards, Director, Producer, Conductor | | Michele A. Eaton | Soprano (Vocal) | | Patricia Schuman | Soprano (Vocal) | | Paul Zukofsky | Violin | | Peter Stewart | Baritone (Vocal) | | Philip Glass | Keyboards, Lyricist, Main Performer, Orchestra, Producer | | Philip Glass Ensemble | Ensemble | | Philip Smith | Vocals | | Richard Morrison | Vocals | | Richard Peck | Sax (Alto), Saxophone, Sax (Tenor), Flute | | Ritty Ann Burchfield | Vocals | | Robert Wilson | Director, Design | | Ronald Roxbury | Vocals | | Sean Barker | Vocals | | Sheryl Sutton | Voices |
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