CD Drawing: "Glass Organ Works," Donald Joyce, Organist
I'm going to draw a CD at random every few days or so from my big drawer o' cd's here at work and treat y'all to reviews of them. I'm not going to promise to do it any more frequently because I tend to listen to CD's for days at a time, if not weeks.
Today: "Glass Organ Works", Donald Joyce, Organist
OK, if you can't stand Phillip Glass, just stop reading right here. Nothing I say will matter. Glass has been a favorite of mine since I learned to spell "Koyaanisqatsi." It's amazing to me how much interest he generates with repetitive, simple phrases. I know a lot of people find it boring, but one of my favorite things to do is put some Glass on the headphones and just watch the world go by.
Lots of Glass's work uses organ very effectively, as a unique color in a small ensemble. When I saw him in concert, he cheated by using a small synthesizer in place of the organ. It sounded cool but nowhere near what you want from an organ.
Donald Joyce plays the Anton Heiller Memorial Organ of the Collegedale, TN, Church of Seventh Day Adventists in a thrilling round of Glass virtuosity. You get all the triple/double duality and mindless repetition you expect wrapped up in an awesome, beautiful package. This organ really throws down. A special treat is the 9:25 excerpt from Act III of Glass's "Satyagraha," a familiar piece seen in a new light.
Why I have it: gift from a friend who received it as a Classical Music Club member but who hates Glass.
Disposition: Saved to Realaudio library. I'll be back.
Comments
I'm gonna make you jealous. I've seen the Glass ensemble twice - the second time, they performed the soundtrack to Koyaanisqatsi live while they showed the film.
Posted by: Farmer Joe | August 27, 2004 06:00 PM
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Greetings. I was told by a friend that you are working on a show titled "The POE Play" I wanted to write and tell you that you are in danger of stepping on some toes. My group - The Rogue Artists Ensemble in Los Angeles has been producing our own "The POE Play" since 2001 - see the link http://www.rogueartists.org/poe.html and we are in the process of mounting an updated larger version for a touring production. We have this name reserved and I'm hoping that you can kindly alter the name of your production slighty to avoid and confusion or legal hassles. Thank you so much in adance. Please contact me if you have any questions.
Posted by: Sean T Cawelti | August 29, 2004 12:33 PM
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Well, that's interesting. Of course, it's my fault for not providing my e-mail address on the site.
For the information of my readers, I have sent a friendly response to Sean, informing him that "The Poe Play" is not the name of our show but merely the name I chose for my personal weblog about the show. I've changed that so as not to step on Sean's show's toes and wished him luck.
Check out Sean's show site. It's quite lovely and impressive.
I suspect somebody googled "Poe Play," where my previous version of the log is number 2 or 3. Here's hoping Sean can get the google ranking he deserves.
Posted by: Brian Jones | August 29, 2004 12:58 PM
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I've got you all beat handily. I saw the Glass Ensemble perform "Einstein On The Beach" at The Brooklyn Academy of Music in 1992. In Entirety. And then I went to a pretty cool party, and we were all saying "Fill Up Glass!"
btw, the lobby bar at the Onmi Hotel at CNN is very nice. and they have Guiness. and other stuff.
ff
Posted by: FF | September 9, 2004 04:05 PM
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That looks strangely like spam right there above my comment. And not even a good example of masking it.
Wonder what a few thousand computers filling out bogus forms would do to their servers?
Well anyways. Good day to you. Shame I have no sounds, being to lazy to fix them. Or would critic your music selection. Chances are I'd like it. I'm very eclectic when it comes to music.
Posted by: IXLNXS | September 10, 2004 02:21 AM
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(Note: IX was referring to a comment that was, indeed, comment spam, and not to Frank's amusing Glass concert anecdote. I did a spam sweep this weekend.)
Posted by: Brian Jones | September 12, 2004 10:22 PM
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Fill Up Glass - AWW THAT'S RICH!!!
Cover my entire bodice with Avon col-og-nuh.
Posted by: JFM | September 13, 2004 11:06 AM