Philip Glass - Orion

Title: Orion Artist: Philip Glass Release Date: 2005 Label: Orange Mountain Music Duration: 90:41 UPC: 801837002126 Genre: Classical Style: Modern Composition Moods: Ambitious, Cerebral, Circular, Epic, Complex, Elegant, Restrained, Sophisticated, Uncompromising, Calm/Peaceful, Reserved Total Copies: 0 Members Wishing: 1 Number of Discs/SwapaCD Credits: 2

1. Orion, for sitar, pipa, didgeridoo, kora, violin & ensemble~Australia
2. Orion, for sitar, pipa, didgeridoo, kora, violin & ensemble~Interlude:
3. Orion, for sitar, pipa, didgeridoo, kora, violin & ensemble~China
4. Orion, for sitar, pipa, didgeridoo, kora, violin & ensemble~Canada
5. Orion, for sitar, pipa, didgeridoo, kora, violin & ensemble~Interlude:
6. Orion, for sitar, pipa, didgeridoo, kora, violin & ensemble~The Gambia

1. Orion, for sitar, pipa, didgeridoo, kora, violin & ensemble~Brazil
2. Orion, for sitar, pipa, didgeridoo, kora, violin & ensemble~Interlude:
3. Orion, for sitar, pipa, didgeridoo, kora, violin & ensemble~India
4. Orion, for sitar, pipa, didgeridoo, kora, violin & ensemble~Greece

Year Type Label Catalog # 2005 CD Orange Mountain Music 0021

No other editions were found for this album.

When it comes right down to it, the music of Philip Glass is simply one of those love-it-or-hate-it propositions: most people find his signature technique (relentlessly repeating arpeggios with minimal harmonic movement and even less rhythmic variation) to be either frantically, hair-pullingly dull or mystically transcendent. So the idea behind a project like Orion seems a bit curious. Here Glass has written brief pieces designed to showcase a variety of world music traditions, including those of China, the Gambia, Brazil, Canada (in this case the Scottish-derived music of Nova Scotia), and Australia, among others. His collaborators include some fairly big names: fiddler Ashley MacIsaac, legendary sitarist Ravi Shankar, griot and kora player Foday Musa Suso, and so on. Everyone plays enthusiastically and well and the music is unfailingly pleasant, but nothing here is likely to win over those who tend toward the hair-pulling end of the spectrum of responses to Glass's music. These pieces are probably more effective in the live setting for which they were intended than they are on disc, where they generally come across as pleasant and goodheartedly multicultural, but not terribly exciting. As he often does, MacIsaac brings a special energy to the "Canada" track, and Uakti's performance on "Brazil" is also worth noting. Otherwise, this will be of interest primarily to world fusion fanatics and Glass's large cult following. ~ Rick Anderson, All Music Guide

Name Credits Andrew Sterman Flute, Piccolo Ashley MacIsaac Violin Christian Rutledge Production Coordination Dan Bora Engineer, Mixing Dan Dryden Engineer Don Christensen Producer Eleftheria Arvanitaki Vocals Foday Musa Suso Kora Frank Cassara Percussion Gaurav Mazumdar Sitar Ichiho Nishiki Assistant Kara Bilof Production Coordination Kaysh Shinn Photography Kurt Munkasci Producer Lisa Bielawa Vocals Lissi Sigillo Design Liu Junqi Photography Mark Atkins Didjeridu Michael Riesman Keyboards, Director Nico Muhly Assistant, Score Preparation Philip Glass Keyboards, Composer, Liner Notes Ravi Shankar Composer Richard Peck Sax (Tenor) Ted Baker Keyboards Wu Man Pipa