Monday, February 13, 2012

A Belated Happy 75th Birthday To Philip Glass

Happy birthday to you.
Happy birthday to you.
Happy birthday to you.
Happy birthday to you.
Happy birthday to you.
Happy birthday to you.
Happy birthday to you.
Happy birthday to you.
Happy birthday to you.
Happy birthday to you.
Happy birthday to you.
Happy birthday to you.
Happy birthday to you.
Happy birthday to you.
Happy birthday to you.
Happy birthday to you.
Happy birthday to you.
Happy birthday to you.
Happy birthday to you.
Happy birthday to you.
Happy birthday to you.
Happy birthday to you.
Happy birthday to you.
Happy birthday to you.
Happy birthday to you.
Happy birthday to you.
Happy birthday to you.
Happy birthday to you.
Happy birthday to you.
Happy birthday to you.
Happy birthday to you.
Happy birthday to you.
Happy birthday to you.
Happy birthday to you.
Happy birthday to Philip,
Happy birthday to you.

Philip Glass turned 75 on January 31st.

Here's a great piece by Alex Ross about his new symphony and an upcoming world tour of Einstein on the Beach.

Then, during “Dance 1,” as the music fell into a furiously pulsing polymetrical scheme and Lucinda Childs’s dancers darted about like limber androids, the bliss kicked in. It was a feeling of abstract intellectual delight, a pure interplay of musical and physical motion.

I get those thrills too.

Especially since the Walkman and ipod, we pin music to the times and places we listen to it. And now when I hear Einstein I think of the time last year I listened to it on a Shinkansen from Hiroshima to Osaka. Some of you might think it was an obvious music nerd's choice. Well, I did. I might be typing into a blogging website right now, but really, I'm back looking out the window from a train speeding so smoothly at 280km/h with Glass's music traveling even faster. A thousand holiday snaps couldn't go near capturing it. Just play the CD and I'm back.

5 comments:

Stanley Johnson said...

For your next Minimalist train journey might I suggest you try this:

http://amzn.to/yKCC6t

Glenn Peters said...

Yeah, Stan. That's also a fantastic record. Though when I hear it I think back to the time I listened to a Radio National special about it on my walkman in the food court on Southbank. Not quite the train from Chicago to NY.

Michael said...

Huh. Last time I was travelling from Hiroshima to Osaka, listening to Philip Glass. Work in the liberal media, by any chance?

Glenn Peters said...

Um, no I don't. In fact, the exact opposite. I work in advertising. Thanks for dropping by, Michael.

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