glass notes
Two New OMM Releases: Philip Glass’ debut concert 1968 & Voices for Didgeridoo & Organ

B00HZOMSEA
Philip Glass' debut concert 1968 – Available March 4th

 
This new release from Orange Mountain Music presents music from Philip Glass’ first concert ever in what the composer considers his “debut.” The concert took place on May 19, 1968 at the Film Makers Cinematheque at 80 Wooster Street in Soho, New York City.
 
The performance was the first “all-Glass” concert ever and featured solo works and duets with visual elements.   This recording captures two of the solo works on the program including Glass himself performing How Now for solo organ and Strung Out for solo amplified violin performed by the legendary Dorothy Pixley-Rothchild for whom Glass had previously written a violin concerto for in 1960.
 
It was soon after this concert that Glass started his own ensemble for which he wrote many new works. Consequently many of the works from this ‘pre-Philip Glass Ensemble’ period were not performed for a long time. The concert itself was visual as well as musical with pieces like Strung Out that had the sheet music strung out in an L shape with the performer walking along reading the music as he/she plays into the piece.
          
This is the oldest recording of any kind of Glass’ early music.  Available March 3rd from Amazon and iTunes.

B00HZOMSI6
Glass: Voices for Didgeridoo & Organ; Organ Suite – Available March 11
 
Michael Riesman, organ
Mark Atkins, didgeridoo
 
Voices for Organ & Didgeridoo was commissioned by the City of Melbourne to relaunch the Melbourne Town Organ in 2001. This piece was the first collaboration between Glass and didgeridoo player Mark Atkins. The two would later work together on ORION. This world premiere recording of the piece is performed and produced by Michael Riesman, organist and music director of the Philip Glass Ensemble.
 
“Initially Voices began as an idea for combining the music of two established musical traditions – the organ representing the European church and art music and the didgeridoo representing the indigenous music of Australia.I knew Mark Atkins only by his recording and was extremely pleased when he agreed to come to New York to work on integrating his didgeridoo playing with the music I composed. We spent about a week together last January, fitting his music into the composition. I think we were both pleased and even a little surprised at how well the two musics came together.”- Philip Glass
 
The second half of the album is dedicated to a new published edition of Glass works arranged for organ by Riesman including pieces from Powaqqatsi, Glassworks, and Naqoyqatsi. Riesman performs on a privately owned instrument in New York State.
 
Available March 11 from Amazon and iTunes

2 thoughts on “Two New OMM Releases: Philip Glass’ debut concert 1968 & Voices for Didgeridoo & Organ”

  1. Any chance of the other pieces from this concert being released? Piece in the Shape of a Square has been covered before by Alter Ego but no one’s ever heard In Again Out Again or /\ for Jon Gibson. There is just so much incidental music written for the Mabou Mines Company as well that remains unreleased.

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