From Bob Bannister Sent Wed, Aug 26th 1998, 05:11
From Bob Bannister Sent Wed, Aug 26th 1998, 05:11
<< idm related .. here's an excerpt from an interview: <Barrett: How do you feel about mainstream music? Glass: I did a record arrangement, a song arrangement for Dorissa Monte. Do you know her? A Brazilian, a beautiful Brazilian singer. And I did an arrangement for Susan Vega, for one of her records. I have a lot of friends who work in the field of popular and commercial music. There's another young guy named Mayfax Twin who's a guy, a dance-music guy from London. > In view of the fact that almost every quoted name in the interview is wrong (it's Marisa Monte, Suzanne Vega, etc.), I don't think old Phil is quite so inattentive - perhaps the same "classical" vs. "popular" snobbery someone referred to is in effect here as the interviewer couldn't be bothered to fact-check the names - where was this interview from? Glass's most repetitive and mind-bending stuff is from the early 70s, much of it originally released on his own Chatham Sq. label - "Music in Fifths", "Music in Similar Motion" and "Music in Changing Parts" are titles to watch for, although I have no idea about the CD reissue status of any of them - also "Music in 12 Parts, Pts. 1 and 2" on Virgin Records mid-70s "too weird for prime time" subsidiary called Caroline Records changed my life. "Einstein on the Beach" was about the last gasp before he lost his edge. The problem with "classical" composers, even the supposed iconoclasts, is they get comfortable with a certain mainstream acceptance, (teaching gigs and so on) and start re-recording their old stuff, usually in a softer way - the Nonesuch CD boxset of the late 80s recording on "Music in 12 Parts" sounds mushier to me as does much of the stuff on the Steve Reich boxset. Another 70s US academic composer whose "trance music" credentials are underrated is David Borden - his first two LPs under the name Mother Mallard's Portable Masterpiece Company are well worth hearing. Bob Bannister