DancePieces

About

"Glasspieces", with choreography by Jerome Robbin, was first performed by the New York City Ballet on May 12, 1983. "Rubric" and "Façades", the first two parts of Glasspiece, are the fifth and sixth sections of Glass's first CBS recording, Glasswork. At the ballet they were played in Glass's revised version for full orchestra; they are heard here, as they were on the earlier record, in their original scoring for the Philip Glass Ensemble. The third part was the first music ever heard in public from Glass's opera Akhnaten, which received its full premiere in Stuttgart almost exactly a year after the first performance of the ballet. It's the opening scene of the Opera, and depicts a solemn ceremony in ancient Egypt, the funeral of Pharaoh Akhnaten's father. The music, originally for full orchestra, is heard here in the reduced version that the Philip Glass Ensemble plays on its concert tour. The collaboration of Philip Glass and Twyla Tharp united two stars of contemporary music and dance. Commissioned by Tharp for her newly structured company Twyla Tharp Dance, "In the Upper Room" premiered as an untitled work-in-progress on July 7, 1986, at the Saratoga Arts Center Little Theater. Divided into nine segments (five of which were chosen by Glass for this album), "In the Upper Room" features thirteen dancer, whose costumes evolve from black and white to dominant red, in a variety of groupings and abstract styles that culminates in a dazzling finale for the entire ensemble. .

via Last.fm

The Clerk says

Start your shelf to read the full take →