Joining the ranks of the pieces from the pre-minimalist part of Philip Glass' career, this little piece came to my attention today. Recorded by Duo Cavatina, this "Serenade for Flute" joins the ranks of the Brass Sextet, Arioso Nos.1 and 2, String Quartet, "Contrasts", Sonatino No.2 (and 1?) which were recorded but not necessarily acknowledged by the composer as being part of his mature work catalog.
Anyone else heard of pre-minimalist pieces not included here?
This all reminds me of Carl Orff's comments to his publisher upon completing Carmina Burana:
"Everything I have written to date, and which you have, unfortunately,
printed, can be destroyed. With Carmina Burana my collected works
begin."
At some point in the future I will share my own Glass anecdotes on the subject, and how I learned to keep my mouth shut. In the meantime it invites artists to on that first realization that you have created a work born of your own creative spirit, and how in that moment you view your work differently than you ever had before.
A mature piece in contrast to "Serenade for Flute" is the lovely "arabesque in memoriam" by flautist Laurel Zucker. I really nice work and performance.
4 thoughts on “A Previous Life”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Laurel Zucker also recorded Serenade for solo flute on this CD:
http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?id=30485520&s=143455
Tracks 66-71
Back when I was at University of Illinois, the music library had several scores of very early non-minimalist pieces by Glass. I think there was one called “The Mermaid and the Starfish” or something like that. (I can’t find any hits on Google with that name, so I may be way off.) I wish I’d made a copy of the score because it would be interesting to look at now.
I’d love it if anyone could verify that title.
I just stumbled-upon sheet music for a few old rarities. There are Glass scores for several songs based on Walt Whitman and Carl Sandburg here:
http://www.free-scores.com/boutique/769_Philip_Glass_sheet_music.htm
And to answer my own question, the piece I was looking for was “The Haddock and the Mermaid”. it is still sitting in the UIUC music library. Along with “Dreamy Kangaroo” published in 1965.
Is there any chance someone could upload this “Serenade for Flute” by Glass on an mp3 or wav file? I don’t have itunes, I use PC, and I’m just not a fan of itunes. I’d love to hear what PG’s pre-minimalist music sounds like. So if someone could do this, I’d really appreciate it.
Thanks a lot.