OMM had a somewhat "quiet" year in 2013 including the albums Symphony No.3/The Hours by the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra under Anne Manson, Cello Concerto No.2 "Naqoyqatsi" with Matt Haimovitz and the Cincinnati Symphony under Dennis Russell Davies, The Lost Philip Glass Sessions by the surf rock back The Raybeats, Glass' jam session with indigenous Mexicans in "The Concert of the Sixth Sun", the opera Galileo Galilei with the Portland Opera under Anne Manson, and perhaps the most major release, Visitors for the Godfrey Reggio film with new music by Glass – a once in a decade collaboration. (The non-OMM major release of the DVD of The Perfect American must be noted.)
This counts only six new releases for that year. Quite down from the normal release amounts of the past. However, part of the equation was that the majority of the Glass titles released on Nonesuch reverted to Glass (and therefore to OMM) at the beginning of 2013. This list includes: Koyaanisqatsi, Symphonies No.2,Symphony No.3, Symphony No.5, the Civil Wars, Music in 12 Parts, Hydrogen Jukebox, Dracula, Music with Changing Parts, Two Pages, Music in Similar Motion, La Belle et La Bete, and Anima Mundi. Thought of that way, OMM had in the neighborhood of 18 releases in 2013.
2014 is shaping up to be a very interesting year. It's not yet to the end of April and OMM has already released five titles:
How Now/Strung Out – Philip Glass' debut concert, NYC 1968
A Composer's Notes – the 1985 film documenting the composition of the opera Akhnaten
Symphony No.1 "Low" (May 6) the first recording in over 20 years of Glass' first symphony with Davies' new orchestra the Sinfonieorchester Basel
Dublin Guitar Quartet (May 13) the virtuosic Irish ensemble tackles Glass' string quartets with crystalline brilliance.
1 thought on “OMM 2014”
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I’m looking forward to the release of the new recording of the “Low” Symphony; I’ve listened to the previews of the tracks on iTunes and I like the way the new performance sounds. Normally I don’t get too excited about new releases of works I already have (and often I get so attached to the way the original sounds/is performed that it takes me a while to appreciate the newer versions) but this one sounds very clear and well phrased (if that makes any sense)!
I’m looking forward to any releases of new/unreleased works in the near future; I’d love to see ‘Symphony No.10’ released some time soon (I played the BBC Proms stream of the concert performance several times). So, while I appreciate OMM preserving the Glass back catalogue, I really yearn for the stuff that hasn’t been recorded/released before, and any newer pieces that might get recorded.