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Philip Glass - Einstein on the Beach
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Philip Glass



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

  1. Knee Play 1
  2. Act I, Scene 1: Train
  3. Act I, Scene 2: Trial

Track Listings Disc 2

  1. Knee Play 2
  2. Act II, Scene 1: Dance 1
  3. Act II, Scene 2: Night Train
  4. Knee Play 3

Track Listings Disc 3

  1. Act III, Scene 1: Trial/Prison
  2. Act III, Scene 2: Dance ("Field With Spaceship")
  3. Knee Play 4

Track Listings Disc 4

  1. Act IV, Scene 1: Building/Train
  2. Act IV, Scene 2: Bed
  3. Act IV, Scene 3: Spaceship
  4. Knee Play

Additional Releases

YearTypeLabelCatalog #
1993CDElektra79323
1993CDElektra/Asylum79323
1990CDColumbia38875

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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

NameCredits
Andrew StermanFlute, Piccolo, Clarinet (Bass)
Bruce BurroughsVocals
Connie BeckleyVocals
Dana ReitzVocals
David AnchelVocals
David WoodberryVocals
Dickie LandrySaxophone, Flute
Dora OhrensteinVocals
Elsa HigbyMezzo-Soprano (Vocal)
Eric W. LampTenor (Vocal)
Forest WarrenVocals
Frank ConversanoVocals
George AndoniadisVocals
Gregory DolbashianVoices
Gregory FulkersonViolin
Gregory PurnhagenBaritone (Vocal)
Grethe HolbyVocals
Iris HiskeyVocals
Jasper McGruderVoices
Jeannie HutchinsVocals
Jeff KensmoeBaritone (Vocal)
Jeffrey JohnsonTenor (Vocal)
John KockTenor (Vocal)
Jon GibsonFlute, Saxophone, Glockenspiel, Sax (Soprano)
Katie GeissingerMezzo-Soprano (Vocal)
Kristin NordervalSoprano (Vocal)
Kurt MunkasciProducer
Lisa VielawaSoprano (Vocal)
Lucinda ChildsVoices
Marc JacobiVocals
Margo Gerzairlian GribMezzo-Soprano (Vocal)
Marie RiceVocals
Marion BeckensteinSoprano (Vocal)
Martin GoldrayKeyboards
Michael RiesmanKeyboards, Director, Producer, Conductor
Michele A. EatonSoprano (Vocal)
Patricia SchumanSoprano (Vocal)
Paul ZukofskyViolin
Peter StewartBaritone (Vocal)
Philip GlassKeyboards, Lyricist, Main Performer, Orchestra, Producer
Philip Glass EnsembleEnsemble
Philip SmithVocals
Richard MorrisonVocals
Richard PeckSax (Alto), Saxophone, Sax (Tenor), Flute
Ritty Ann BurchfieldVocals
Robert WilsonDirector, Design
Ronald RoxburyVocals
Sean BarkerVocals
Sheryl SuttonVoices