Glass, P: Einstein on the Beach

Its four principal vocalists – Kate Moran is vocally and visually particularly arresting – and choir cope admirably with the fiendish demands of Glass’s now trademark repetitions of solfege,... — BBC Music Magazine, January 2017, 4 out of 5 stars More…

Release Date: 30th Sep 2016
Catalogue No: OA1178D
Label: Opus Arte

Presto Recordings of the Year

Finalist 2016
Diapason d’Or de l’Année

2017

Winner - Opéra

Glass, P: Einstein on the Beach

Helga Davis, Kate Moran, Antoine Silverman
The Philip Glass Ensemble
Michael Riesman (conductor) & Robert Wilson (director)

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Lucinda Childs (choreographer)

This seminal work of avant-garde opera from composer Philip Glass and director Robert Wilson arrives full-circle, coming o France, the site of its 1976 Avignon Festival world premiere, at the tail end of this 2014 revival tour for a landmark Theâtre du Châtelet production and a first ever filming by award-winning arts filmmaker Don Kent. Eschewing onventional narrative, the opera revolves loosely around pacifist Einstein’s relationship to the creation of the atomic bomb. In continuity with the opera’s debut, for this new production, hailed by Le Figaro as ‘meticulously crafted total artwork in which the visual and musical craft are inseparable’, the music is again performed by the Philip Glass Ensemble and the choreography devised by original cast member Lucinda Childs for her Lucinda Childs Dance Company, with the scenes taking place under Bob Wilson’s own digitally remastered light design.

This very special release is packaged in a luxurious 56 page hardcover book.

‘‘I don’t care about music theory, I’m only interested in listening to music. I begin by listening. Like images emerging from the mist and becoming visible.’’ Phlip Glass

Running time: 263 minutes

Sound format: LPCM & DTS Master Audio 5.1

Reviews

January 2017

Its four principal vocalists – Kate Moran is vocally and visually particularly arresting – and choir cope admirably with the fiendish demands of Glass’s now trademark repetitions of solfege, syllables, numbers and short sections of poetry…in a digital world in which we all slave to the algorithm, [this] opera’s visions of human subservience to numbers seems chillingly prescient

October 2016

The static tableaux are as much art installation as music theatre, and need to be seen rather than just heard

January 2017

this is close to a definitive version of the opera as you’re likely to get.

February 2017

Audio-only recordings have long been available, but this modern classic really has to be seen: music and stage realization deepen each other immeasurably, thus generating extraordinary cumulative impact. ’open’ and profoundly contemplative the work certainly is, but for reasons that elude easy explanation it is also deeply moving.

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Glass, P: Einstein on the Beach

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Glass, P: Einstein on the Beach

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