Philip Glass: Violin Concerto No.1

[JanisRaderPiano]

This is hauntingly beautiful! Who is the violinist and which orchestra? Thank you for sharing.

[Bandgeekof2011]

some parts sound A LOT like 1000 Airplanes on the Roof. LOVE that song :D

[e5acf4]

this is my favorite piece by Glass - unfortunately, i am frustrated by violin soloists who often fail to play this magnificent work with the proper intensity

[mushman86]

one of his better peices

[Josefowiczfan]

who's playing the violin ? Which orchestra is it ?

[stomentendo]

@Josefowiczfan that's a good question. nobody here seems interested.

[jhonsoncel]

I Like it 

[shnimmuc]

Boring

[GoddessOfGuinness]

Who is the violinist?

[fluidicmethod]

@GoddessOfGuinness I'm pretty sure this is the Robert McDuffie recording w Houston Sym, its considered one of the best perfs

[GoddessOfGuinness]

@fluidicmethod Thank you! It's a beautiful recording.

[TheLfwjo]

When I hear a Baroque piece, I know that it is Baroque

When I hear a Classical Work, I just feel happy and sad.

When I hear a Romantic one, I often imagine certain things or events.

When I hear a work of Glass, I Feel that a screw is being put into my hypothalamus! His work doesn't make an illusion but it shows the dendrites of our brain.

[ISAAC7DG]

es un genio

[dodi4700]

"Its just Glass".... love his music!

[MrGerman56]

this is 3@4j:

[DARIHA019]

GENIUS

[736grumpy]

Love it! The only CD I own is The Photographer bought back in the 80s I think. I still love Paganini but will vote for Glass as the best living composer of serious music -- not movie soundtrack stuff which can be beautiful.

[bewustsein]

@edgaram69

this could be also a good soundtrack for the beginning of the universe. It´s Fantastic.

[edgaram69]

This would be a good soundtrack for the end of the world. Really dramatic.

[omgtkseth]

Barroque had tonal limitation and tonal complexity. minimalism goes back to barroque and only comes with tonal limitation, ending up in simplicity and limitation. Then rythm is very dull. I dont think that its charm makes it up for it...

[thesir27]

sounds like the music to The Village

[deathmonki666]

I haven't heard a single piece written by Glass that isn't dripping with drama. Love it.

[noirdez667]

how could you not admire the talent of glass?

[l1lleGarance]

Vraiment superbe !!

[moiliryc]

I think people can't understand that everything has been done concerning tonal music. Glass cannot mean to "beat" Debussy or Ravel, so he finds something new with rythm and repetitive patterns. Who can blame it?

[Vlessgorian]

I rather liked this, though i prefer de edgar meyer BY FAR. This concerto has very interesting rythms and, although it consists of the same sets of chords that repeat all the time, the slight variations in the rythm give it some life, i don't konw.

[RhapsodyIndependent]

Glass is super talented.. I think it speaks highly of someone, when you can hear a different piece of theirs that youve never heard, and still recognize the composer... whom has therefore, set an identity for himself.. which every composer should... he composes like no one, and no one composes like him. This violin concert is the shizzz!

[donnyab]

I actually like his sound but does that not mean he is simply becoming repetitive...using the same rhythms and melodies over and over again(I am not a musician).

[Arcadeburner1]

I couldn't agree more! I was watching this french movie once, it was called the Moustache. It's got a stupid title, but quite an interesting movie. Anyways, the entire movie had a hauntingly beautiful track and I said to myself "I'll be damned if the composer isn't Philip Glass. Lo and behold, it was :)

[laspanishchica]

@Arcadeburner1 ...yes i just watched this movie right now, weird ending i kinda didn't understand ...did the main guy have Alzheimer's or something?

[goldencricket]

@RhapsodyIndependent it's more like, he composes like no one, and everybody composes like him.

[TheSaxyBandGeek]

@RhapsodyIndependent While a composer should have their own identity, there's still the question of whether all their music is a little TOO similar...not that I'm criticizing Glass. I like it, but his music sometimes all seems the same :P

[titchymcmidget]

@TheSaxyBandGeek No matter how diverse they are, the works of every artist will be united by a single mood - regardless of whether they want it or not. That is what makes them distinctively recognisable. So this element that you are finding "repeatedly" in his work, is actually his very core - pure Philip Glass - what he subconsciously lends to a piece when creating it. You will find this "repetition" in every other composer, painter, writer or dancer etc.

[ABombs1]

@RhapsodyIndependent Yeah it's amazing how he can be recognized when listening to an unfamiliar tune. It's almost as if every piece is identical.

[BrkCityFG9]

@RhapsodyIndependent  Hell yeah, Glass is a genious!

[Jalespino]

Good study-time music. =)

[ucczen]

Laurion69's criticism of Glass is relatively accurate. He describes his style well - even fans of Glass would find it difficult to argue that he does not incorporate repetition into his compositions, particularly 4-bar arpeggio chord changes, as he says. However, that doesn't mean that he isn't talented. Simple chord progression and innatural(sic) arpeggios aren't marks of a bad musician, just a specific type.

[umbrellashotgunman]

In minimalism, the devil in the little details. Interestingly enough, some of the people turned off by Glass seem to find it easier to get into this style with Steve Reich, if only because of the polyrhythms and/or shear density of some of the more percussion heavy pieces.

I like this piece, though, even if I occasionally feel I've heard a few parts before. :P

[ffcNyuFTW]

@ucczen

Of course fans wouldn't argue against his incorporation of repetition. That's the essence of minimalism.

[csabaimate]

OK, but I wanted to know it. How Ph Glass sounds.

[ekcoman]

@laurion69, the fact that you don't like glasss music only further enhances my enjoyment of it! Glasss music has subtleties that someone like you could never understand or even contemplate. If you dont like it why listen to it? and why comment on it?

[csabaimate]

Ph Glass must change his style. He repeats himself, like Mozartm but WAMis beautiful.

Glass not talented I think

Sorry Mr Philipp Glass

[laurion69]

Glass should change his hobby.

He has no idea of composition, orchestration and harmonization. All his works are ridicolous muddles of fragments stiked each other, with no logic or art.

He is incapable to develop a thematic idea, a true. He can just repeat some childish chord progression for four bars, with a horrible and innatural arpeggios in the same way he "plays" the piano.

I am atonished that like craps are performed.

[LOCUkDk]

@laurion69 uhh.... lighten up dumbass ? :D

[laurion69]

@LOCUkDk enjoy this dumbass stuff, written for dumbasses like you!

[LOCUkDk]

@laurion69 happy today are we ? :D why so pissy ? if you havent noticed, dumbasses dominate the world, so the music is written for the masses (; instead of being written for a selectiv few, like yourself

[TurKdiRty]

@laurion69 keep following your manuals, scripts and theory. keep to all that you are taught. dont thinkg out side of the box. stay centered and safe. dont allow yourself to swayed and taken away with e current when you can sit on the shore and mathematically calculate the peaks and troughs, the currents and predict the weather. stay in your box sneering at those that speculate on whats outside.

[Silverlin212]

You obviously know nothing whatsoever about music theory. So come back when you actually have formed a critique with some substance, instead of talking out of your ass. Of course you won't listen to anything i have to say as you've already shown yourself to be completely unreasonable and ignorant. So fuck you and have a nice day.

[laurion69]

@Silverlin212

I understand that you like this rubbish very much.

So I'm sorry very much for your elementar sense of music.

[MrSetticlavio]

Youtube : "Lontano " (Ottomano)

[deppLoverXOXO]

definitly the fringe theme song

[usuari0sdesconoci2]

Con esta obra me siento identificado.

[donrayjay]

beautiful, of our time

[Ugnita]

My favorite concerto !!! Glass is unbelievable..

[IdaGno]

seconded

[Ugnita]

great job!!

[AZliberty]

Vivaldi wrote the "same" piece 400 times - I-IV-V-I progressions, all. It's not the material, but what you do with it.

[MusicaRicercata]

And that's not even a proper judgment of Vivaldi: when one analyses his music in a deeper context, one finds some rather challenging harmony for his time period. Many of his sacred works demonstrate a sort of harmonic fearlessness that you would never see until the likes of Beethoven.

[MusicaRicercata]

Or even early Schoenberg.

[AZliberty]

Of course it isn't. Which is why the "same" is in quotes, and "all" added. I aimed at irony.  It is a common joke, similar to the "viola jokes" in their irony, that Vivaldi wrote 400 concertos, all of them the same! That''s clearly a joke. To take it at all literally is pedantry. I have heard the same joke made about Glass' music. More often than not, though, it is usually said disparagingly, especially about his early music.

[chorrochibanga]

@AZliberty vivaldi and many others. practically every piece of his time had very similar progressions.

[Moobish]

@AZliberty exactly! People need to understand that difference!

[xantem1]

Why is this man obsessed with chord progressions? 4:32 is quite good though

[loger0050]

Haha yeah I bet I can find at least 3 different chord progressions in all of his pieces.

[ludwigvan17]

Because that's his whole idea: to see how far he can go with the bare essentials. To keep your attention without melody or convential musical development.

[MrGodBotherer]

Yes there is a Glass Violin Concerto No.2!  The world premiere being on December 9, 2009 under the direction of conductor Mo. Peter Oundjian.

The UK premiere will be April 17, 2010 by the London Philharmonic under the direction of Glass-Champion Maestra Marin Alsop.

[LtTemeraire]

maybe, words are not appropriate here ;)

[MrBohuslav]

Why "No.1"? Is there a No.2?

[FlowersInHisHair]

Soon!

[MrBohuslav]

Good news!

[lupa1978]

oooooooooooohhhhhhhhhh

[TheUnknownelvis]

i saw him in concert wow,wow ,wow...e

[witux]

amazing!

[maurigk16]

simplemente increible un genio

[0SAD1]

One of my ATF pieces....I just love this.

[StupidNl]

This is one of my favs......<3

[tez655]

We had to listen to this is music today, really liked it so looked it up=D

x

[estephenmusic]

what orchestra is playing?

[cheach]

this is fantastic. if only he wrote a cello concerto!

[Epidemic52]

if you look to your right, you can see Philip Glass Cello Concerto 1st movement, posted by AbznthNY

[Tiagoerg]

He actually did writed it. Its avaible here in youtube. Search for it. Its, paired with the violin concerto and the fantasy-concerto for two timpanists, my favourite concerto.

[cheach]

thanks a lot, guys. i checked it out, and only had time to listen to the first part, but I loved what I heard.

[primemusician]

he did write a cello concerto :)

[Wolfyx52x]

Yes is about 30 minute in 3 movements, also very epic

[Ear4Beauty]

I enjoyed this introdution to the music of Philip Glass. He explores a style to its far reaching potential. And someone has to do that.

[nmzag1]

When was this composed?

[bernsteinslover]

between November 1986 and February 1987

[curlyman217]

it's nice to see innovative 21st century music that is a pleasure to listen to! bravo mr. glass!

[primemusician]

well...this piece was written in the 20th century...but yes, this is without a doubt a beautiful modern piece! i agree 100%

[mirandax2]

Beautiful cristal clear music!

[jitterbugdance]

Head bangin' classical music. Or rather, minimalistic.

[evrythngtkn]

wow

[smroggen]

would just love to play this. what level of orchestra is needed for this?

[82224561]

Thank you for posting this,well played,good concerto.

poicpi

[gsbreath2]

Wow i usually HATE phillip glass, but this is damn good

[TheRubySlipUps]

i agree

[musicstudent36]

Have any of you violinists played this? I have to play the first movement in a college recital in a months time so any feedback would be great, including any good easy fingering!

[kyleclef]

i don't know anything about this piece, but i know that gorden kremer has played it, and will play it in the 2009 proms at some point.

[kusuna7]

GIDON kremer

[Fisherdec]

think its gidon kremer playing

[mountebank1]

he looks like he lived in an attic

quality tune though

[ArnolColombia]

Hermoso y limpio como todo lo que hace Glass. Me encanta este señor.

[cometczar]

In terms of the compositional talking points here, I'd simply like to say that I'm a fiddler. What I look for in any composition is, does it inspire me to want to perform it? From Bach, to Bill Monroe, to Bartok to Zappa, Mahavishnu Orchestra to Gogol Bordello. Could I rock this!? Because one has been called by others a minimalist doesn't mean minimal effort is applied in its process. Does a poem need be epic to be profound?.....I could rock this!!!

[ktmad]

yerrr go for it, it's a wicked tune

[blackking1]

Then go ahead and play it, then put the recording up here for the rest of us to listen to.

[solhagen00]

absolutely fabulous.......

[estephenmusic]

Who is the violinist? Whoever it is... great playing, really clean. :) and mostly great intonation too.

[Kreepinhedfuk]

Her name is Adele Anthony backed by the Ulster Orchestra

[estephenmusic]

ah thanks. its good stuff ^.^ ive never heard of her before.

[unanime666]

execelente :D

[JacquelyneWilkerson]

Brilliant

[mrpish]

Beautiful..

[TheEternaut]

First time I listen to this piece of music, and I must say that I am delighted. Thank you Singuralka for sharing this. Good job!

[alantuan]

I love this concert.3-rd part is brilliant.why it is not here?

[dingorex]

This is his first violin concerto...it's great, 1st heard in the late 80s. Are the other 2 as good in your opinion?

[schzx]

unless I'm totally mistaken there is only one violin concerto by philip, and the name of this video is confusing becaues it's just actually the first movement of the violin concerto

but thanks for the video, this is my fav recording of this piece, and I've listened to many recordings of it, also the sound quality is pretty good, good job

[proman84]

The second violin concerto titled "The American Four Seasons" premiers at the end of this year.

[thomasvanderbeek]

All revorming composers have critics about former composers that's the reason why they revorm idiot! Schoenberg or Berg could have had prejudices against for example Strauss or prokofiev. The atonal music is left behind only the works who have a combination between tonal and atonal left their impressions(Le sacre du printemps, early stringquartets Schoenberg) so deal with it!

[thomasvanderbeek]

This is great minimal music you fucking twit! You should'nt stick your opinion up into everybodies ass. You think that Glass has much prejudices well you have more. You can't deny that minimal music has played a big part in the 20th centuries classical music! Minimal music like Glass' has influenced the 21th centuries classical music and actually it is the 21th centuries classical music. For example John Adams, one of the great composers of this time!

[TheBlackPage1]

Influence and originality should not be used as some measurement of greatness. It all comes down to quality, content, and high levels of musical discourse. Glass possesses none of these qualities. John Adams is sort of like a minimalist Burckner, I'd rather listen to the latter.

Minimal music by definition is something of a minimum amount, quantity or degree, a use of simple and elementary structures etc, etc. This concept destroys music and the need for ingenuity and compositional technique.

[TheBlackPage1]

So is it any wonder with the current minimalist trend that so many musicians are influenced by it? Of course not! Something that abolishes the need for talent and creative input has been readily accepted by populist musicians in particular. The simpler music is, the easier it is to understand. There is obviously a huge market for this kind of music because there are a huge amount of idiots in the world who get fooled by misinformed, ignorant critics claiming his genius.

[TheBlackPage1]

Though the fault is not with the fans or the critics, it's the composer. Like what you like and enjoy it, but don't get art and cheap thrills mixed up.

[djpacifist]

just because a piece of music is complex or intricate does not define greatness. A measurement of greatness for any piece is the amount of feeling which the composer is able to express to the audience, and i think that exspresing more emotion minimalistically than with a complex intricate baroque sort of piece is genious within it self.

[TheBlackPage1]

That's just what they said about Bach really. It took him about 150 years to be accepted as a genius. His music was thought of as too complex, lacking in emotion, old-fashioned etc., and now it's seen as some of the most spiritually elevating music ever composed. I feel similarly about the composers I mentioned earlier, particularly Wuorinen and Carter. Life is complex, as are humans. The most intelligent minds are constantly asking questions and learning new things. Music should reflect this.

[Requiemes]

Go to fuck off. Here is my minimalism for you.

[TheBlackPage1]

One can fuck off, one can go fuck oneself, but one cannot go to fuck off.

[petezpan]

It's great that an 18 year old student knows a lot about music. It's sad he thinks he knows more than anyone else.

[TheBlackPage1]

I sincerely doubt I know more than anyone else. I think I show a certain conviction about music that (clearly) some people can't handle, but that doesn't automatically imply I have some sort of superiority complex. On the other hand, I've contributed more to the discussion than anyone else on the thread. I'm just trying to talk about music - other people try and undermine me by way of inaccurate assumptions.

[Requiemes]

You too.

[TheBlackPage1]

O_o

Which musicians are you referring to when you say mathematically precise music and what do you mean by "mind-rendingly abstract"? That doesn't make any sense.

PS Whoever gave me the thumbs down for my comments: you are hilariously pathetic. If no-one on this thread can handle opinions contrary to their own, you need to get a fucking grip.

[intricatic]

I thank God every day there are musicians who know how to create mathematically precise music, as opposed to mind-rendingly abstract atonalism.

[OceansBoulevard]

Absolutely fantastic! This is a great piece!

[hamburgerpuschel]

I think it´s gideon cremer playing...

[singuralka]

I really don't know who played the solo.

[JaK992]

i get goosebumps when i listen to his music

[ladyviolinist]

I love this concerto! I love glass :)

who played the solo violin?

[petezpan]

I think I have the same version on CD - which would make it Gidon Kremer. though I'm not sure because I hear certain parts that are more pronounced than the version I have.

[sheepbird]

all modern composers should take a page from phillip glass because this is the direction music should be heading in

[Quinntarious]

I feel that, through the various movies his music has been put to, that no better sound can better define humanity.

[Graphpaperowns]

Agreed.

[AwesomeArpeggios]

Glass isn't recognised because he's a punk. he doesn't do things by the book, he looks at 20th Century classical music (atonalism etc.) and decided we're bored of that.

If you look at Glass' music, it's not just repeating structures and ideas, it's the beauty of changing when the body feels it's right; and even to push it beyond.

He also has a brilliant ear for harmony and chord changes.

[TheBlackPage1]

Are you kidding? How general can you get. I'm 18, a music student, and my main interest is in atonal music. Particularly that of Carter, Babbitt, Wuorinen etc. Glass' ignorance and prejudices on this music, and his dismissal of it makes me sick. Especially when you hear the crap he churns out year after year.

[AwesomeArpeggios]

Well, congratulations on being 18 and a music student how wonderful it was for you to share that with us.

My main interests are in Mozart, Beethoven and Chopin.

Atonalism doesn't do it for me, I'm used to harmonies and structure.

I just don't get atonalism as a personal preference, and anyway; if you don't like his music why are you viewing this video?

[TheBlackPage1]

I wasn't just throwing that information out there, the usual statement is that today's generation aren't interested in atonality. The reason you don't like itc isn't due to this supposed absence of harmonies and structure; it's just not your taste. Do you even know who Elliott Carter is? His music is usually structured by two separate polyrhythms that coincide at certain points. Instruments usually have their own pitch-ranges and chords assigned individually.

[TheBlackPage1]

That's quite a simplistic way to describe Carter's music, though. Charles Wuorinen uses 12-tone technique and (at times) the time-point system. He's created a phenomenal amount of work, all of which is totally brilliant and matches up to the old masterpieces of Brahms, Bartók, Schoenberg, Stravinsky etc.. To say atonal music has no structure is just plain ignorant.

[TheBlackPage1]

What brings me to this video? Well about a year ago, I was a fan of Philip Glass. Then I started listening to more and more music of the 20th century, and saw that Glass clearly didn't match up to the true geniuses of his time. I then gradually began to despise the fact that he writes the same thing pretty much all the time, with only a few minor changes, and gets hailed as a genius.

[TheBlackPage1]

His attitude about atonal and 12-tone music, not to mention the composers who write it, is disrespectful and highly ignorant. It only reinforces peoples' prejudices against it, and justifies their own ignorant dismissals. Much like the one you just gave me there. His compositional methods/habits are an insult to human intelligence. Does he actually think that people don't notice him using the same fucking arpeggios all the time??

[weiyang429]

genius can lead to originality. but a lack of originality does not show the lack of genius in any way

[kkkelsey94]

My teacher says his music is nice but she doesn't understand. He's like mozart no one understands him and doesn't give him the credit he deserves. But you watch 2100 comes around Glass's violin concerto will be world renowned.

[Graphpaperowns]

Glass demonstrates how music has truly evolved. The first time I ever heard Glass my mind was blown- I never knew music to be so beautiful.

[satomipanki]

this song is sooooooooooo enigmatic.

[CROtinna]

nice song!