12 thoughts on “Flash Choir sings Philip Glass”
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Flash Choir sings Philip Glass
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WOW!!!!!
Yeah… watching that gave me goosebumps; so much better than I would’ve expected (given the nature of the circumstances), just wish I could’ve been there to see/hear it for myself!
Glad it was recorded for the rest of the world to share… thanks!
The funny thing is that I used to listed to this track a lot. Definite a favorite on MOG.
So awesome- yet another great moment in PG history!
Heh. A lot of Symphony no. 5 eh?
‘Symphony No.5’? Can you be more specific; like, which movement (or part of) in particular?
The soprano melody and also much of the chord structure is extremely similar to the Fourth Movement of the 5th Symphony.
Mike, have you heard the original version of “New Rule” as it appears on “Monsters of Grace”? If so, did it also remind you of that Fourth movement? I’m just curious.
Oh yeah; I hear what you mean now! I’m not so sure about the similarities between the solo vocals, but certainly the “rising” chords heard at “Last night the Moon came dropping it’s clothes in the street…”, from ‘The New Rule’, and “The Creators went on thinking in the darkness…”, from ‘IV Creation of Human Beings’, ‘Symphony No.5’, are very similar, if not identical, (although claiming that a one minute excerpt, from a seven minute movement, re-used as the “chorus” of ‘The New Rule’ is “a lot of Symphony No.5” is perhaps stretching it a bit, but well done for hearing it!).
The chord sequence in question reminds me also of ones used in ‘Song #11 from THE GREEN AUTOMOBILE’, from ‘Hydrogen Jukebox’, and the first movement of the ‘Concerto for Saxophone Quartet’, in the way they “climb” up a series of semi-tones.
Well for starters this is in 5 while the symphony is solidly in 4. There are changes , the opening soprano line is almost identical melodically… 🙂
Yeah, I still have to disagree with you about the vocal lines; sure, they both feature an over-all downward movement, but to say they’re identical (or even “almost identical”) is simply wrong.
It’s not just the meters that differ (I think the opening of ‘IV Creation of Human Beings’ is actually in 3/4; or, at least, that’s how it sounds to me), but also the interval steps between the notes; “The dawn has approached / Preparations have been made / and the morning has come for the provider, the nurturer… “, from ‘IV Creation of Human Beings’, starts high and gradually descends, whereas “It’s the old rule that drunks have to argue / and get into fights… “, from ‘The New Rule’, similarly starts high but features rising notes within it’s overall descent; producing a different melodic shape.
While the solo at the start of ‘IV Creation of Human Beings’, never rises above the word “dawn” in the opening line, in ‘The New Rule’, the second line (“The lover is just as bad… “), features notes that rise above those in the first line.
They are simply two different tunes!
But I was wrong to suggest that Glass may have “re-used” the chord progression from ‘IV Creation of Human Beings’ for the chorus of ‘The New Rule’; if anything, that should have been the other way around, since ‘Monsters of Grace’ was composed before ‘Symphony No.5’, the chord sequence may have been borrowed from ‘The New Rule’ for part of the opening section of ‘IV Creation of Human Beings’ instead… perhaps… maybe?
Yeah. I don’t see much similarity myself other than its for chorus and Glass uses certain keys frequently. It doesn’t remind me at all of Symphony no.5. On the other hand Ramakrishna does remind me of 5.