Philip Glass - Music in 12 Parts (13 tracks) +Album Reviews

A Music of Warmly Hypnotic Repetitive Structures

Nicholas Croft | New York | 01/01/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The Philip Glass Ensemble was formed in 1968, because as Glass recalls, "I needed to have a consistent group of musicians to develop a new technical way of playing". "Music with Twelve Parts" was completed between the years 1971 and 1974. The work's compositional structure embodies all of the warmly hypnotic elements of Mr. Glass's new musical language. Indeed, early performances of the piece tested the ensemble player's physical and psychological perseverance.This magisterial three-disc set was recorded over a period of four months, during the year 1993. Though there have been subtle changes in the personnel of Mr. Glass's ensemble over the years, there have now been close to twenty years of performance experience with the twelve individual sections of the work. Or as Glass puts it: "Now we know the language and we're fluent in it".An epochal three hour and twenty-six minute work, "Music with Twelve Parts" is intended to be heard in one sitting, without distractions of any kind. Indeed, preparing a time and place for such an intensive immersion, in this day and age, can be seen to be a type of rarefied art work, all on its own. In 1968, as Glass fondly recalls, "it was easy to find people to listen to this music every Thursday night, because nobody had anything else to do anyway". In early days of 2004, however, listening to this ecstatic work, with its systematic augmentation and contraction of harmony, is Glass's way of "making serious fun not only with other people, but with myself as well". "Music with Twelve Parts" is a compelling and original musical statement that will inspire earnest listeners for many years to come."

A rigorous workout...

DAC Crowell | 03/30/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Most people think of 'minimalism', and they think the shorter bits one finds on "Glassworks". Uh-uh. This long-form cyclical work shows what the concept is _really_ about, as Glass's ensemble goes thru this multi-hour magnum opus. Very terse instrumentation here, as we're back in the mid-70s for this work, when Glass was using winds and electric keyboards (such as Farfisa organs, etc) in addition to unadorned voices in his trance-inducing loft concerts in the NYC art scene. Describing what this sounds like is hard; it's much easier to describe what listening to it will do to you. And what that is is that it induces a very trance-like state, as you get immersed in the seemingly-endless periodic structures. Most people call this music 'repetitive', but the fact is that there _is_ change going on, albeit exceedingly gradually. And the entertainment here is in the sonic equivalent of optical illusions that this early Glass music presents to the listener. It's like being trapped in a musical version of a 60s op-art moire pattern poster! And all that aside, it's also one of the key works (along with Steve Reich's "Music for 18 Musicians" and Terry Riley's "A Rainbow in Curved Air") from which the minimalism 'groundrules' sprang. Important."

Kantian music/Form=Content

C. Gardner | Washington D.C., D.C. United States | 02/04/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is music without melody, Glass's repertoire of techniques at its most spare--just rhythmic pattern (in his signature arpeggiated chord) and rudimentary, stable harmony in which the extension and contraction of time/rhythmic values is the only appreciable "content" of the pieces. This music can produce strange effects on a listener; one can almost sense one's own faculty of audition as being the true "content". I liken it to a Gestalt switch, or the experience of seeing a wheel spin fast enough to produce the illusion of slow or even backwards motion. One realizes stimulation of the eyes is but half the experience; the other half is the intentional mind itself. Part One is a slow, meditative version of this idea; it's an amazing sonic Persian rug of pulsing, interlocked patterns, and perhaps the most beautiful piece he ever wrote. One can pick out between the instruments a melody of whatever length one wishes, creating the music for themselves.
Glass's and Tim Page's liner notes are illuminating as well."

A checklist before buying

Chris Speaks | Winston-Salem, NC | 06/13/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"In order to approach Philip Glass's Music in Twelve Parts, I recommend the following prerequisites:

1.) Make sure that you have enough money to purchase this extraordinary piece of music. While the three discs which make up this piece of music may tend to be categorized as "box set," in truth, this is no compilation of Philip Glass's greatest hits or rarities. Instead, what you receive is the singular, defining greatest 'hit' of Glass' repetoire.

2.) Set aside at least 3 hours and 26 minutes of your day to sit and listen to this piece of music uninterrupted as it will take at least that long to make it through all three discs. "Music In Twelve Parts" is a single piece of music, just like Mozart's "Requiem" or Prokofiev's "Romeo and Juliet," and while one is capable of listening to the individual parts out of sequence, doing so would ruin the intended effect of the piece of music as a whole.

3.) Listen with open ears and an open mind. One of the problems many people face when meeting Glass for the first time is that they are confronted in an ugly sort of way that Philip Glass does not sound like the traditional composers, like Beethoven, Debussy, or even Brahms, and he doesn't even sound atonal, like Boulez, Messiaen, or Schoenberg: many realize that Glass is in a category wholly removed from these composers, and they tend to not like it because they were expecting something else. I say this because not only was this my first perception of Glass, but it's also the same sort of response I meet in others, such as friends or family, when introducing them to the work of Philip Glass.

Glass' early work, especially Music in Twelve Parts is riddled with arpeggios. Yet, while there is definitely an electronic keyboard driving the pulse of the piece from start to finish, the true quality of the piece is displayed in the other musicians, especially the woodwinds, who must not only keep pace, but who must also be able to change key and delve into further slight variations on the drop of a dime. Music in Twelve Parts may, indeed, sound minimal and abruptly simple, but the endurance required when playing such a piece requires immense skill and precision. Be sure to keep your ear attuned for this.

4.) Finally, enjoy. The great thing about Glass' music is that there's no interpretation needed, no cryptic meanings, and no hidden secrets. If you play Music in Twelve Parts backwards, what you hear is Music in Twelve Parts. Nothing more, sorry.

It's an excellent piece of music, and a wonderful experience!"

As good as (but different than) the older recording

Christopher K. Koenigsberg | Norman, OK USA | 03/11/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is absolutely top-notch fantastic music.

It is as good as, but different than, the older recording of these pieces, in my opinion. The technology and performance virtuousity are improved over the original recording, but there is also some heart and soul lost, compared to the original.

In this regard it is similar to the newer recording of "Einstein on the Beach", compared to the original recording of that work.

Both the original and the newer one stand on their own, for different reasons, with different relative strengths and weaknesses.

I would definitely get both; I listen to both and enjoy both."

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