Hi all, I know Philip Glass is an acquired taste, but his scores to Godfrey Reggio's films are some of my all time favourites. In particular, I find Naqoyqatsi to be an absolute masterpiece. Now they have a new film coming out with the score being performed live to film at the premiere:
Thirty years after "Koyaanisqatsi," Godfrey Reggio—with the support of Philip Glass and Jon Kane—once again leapfrogs over earthbound filmmakers and creates another stunning, wordless portrait of modern life. Presented by Steven Soderbergh in stunning black and white 4K digital projection, "Visitors" reveals humanity's trancelike relationship with technology, which, when commandeered by extreme emotional states, produces massive effects far beyond the human species. The film is visceral, offering the audience an experience beyond information about the moment in which we live. Comprised of only seventy-four shots, "Visitors" takes viewers on a journey to the moon and back to confront them with themselves.
captain_avis, thank you for posting this! I love Philip Glass. I became very interested in his music after the score for The Illusionist. Then again when the Battlestar Galactica episode Valley of Darkness featured Metamorphosis One. But I think his Tirol Concerto may be my favorite thing that he has composed. I enjoy the piano so much in that. Anyway, I had been wondering what Philip Glass was up to and I'm excited to hear his music to VISITORS.
Excellent, Glad to see this is getting a release. Only 6 tracks though!
Chris.
I'm hoping each track is 10-15 minutes long.
While looking at the CD on Amazon, I noticed Philip Glass: Concert of the Sixth Sun will be released on August 27, 2013. The title of this concert alludes to the Mesoamerican myth known as the "Legend of the Suns". Sounds mysterious and should be enjoyable.
Excellent, Glad to see this is getting a release. Only 6 tracks though!
Chris.
I'm hoping each track is 10-15 minutes long.
Looks like you got your wish. From iTunes, the tracklisting is:
Novus Ordo Seclorum: 7:35 The Day Room 17:53 Off Planet, Pt. 1 13:57 Off Planet, Pt. 2 19:06 Gone 14:45 The Reciprocal Gaze 12:45
I calculate the total time to be 87:01! So either this is a 2 CD set or the digital release is longer. Sound clips are up on the site. Sounds like the slow parts of Naqoyqatsi, though with Glass, it's hard to get a full sense of the work without the complete piece.
Amazon still lists the CD release as one disc :/ Really don't want to be forced to buy some lossy download to get the complete work.
If this is the case (and it seems like it will be), I'm sure there will be a good amount of outrage here. But why should downloads be constrained by the space limitations of a CD?
I'd bet one or more of the lossless download sites will have the 87 minute version at some point.
Amazon still lists the CD release as one disc :/ Really don't want to be forced to buy some lossy download to get the complete work.
If this is the case (and it seems like it will be), I'm sure there will be a good amount of outrage here. But why should downloads be constrained by the space limitations of a CD?
I'd bet one or more of the lossless download sites will have the 87 minute version at some point.
I love much of Glass' work, but if any composer's work could be easily edited to fit onto a CD's running time it would be his. If I'm being brutally honest, I will probably just buy the CD and, unless I was *really* listening hard (which I seldom do... my film music often plays in the background while I work), I doubt that I would notice truncation.
Excellent, Glad to see this is getting a release. Only 6 tracks though!
Chris.
I'm hoping each track is 10-15 minutes long.
Looks like you got your wish. From iTunes, the tracklisting is:
Novus Ordo Seclorum: 7:35 The Day Room 17:53 Off Planet, Pt. 1 13:57 Off Planet, Pt. 2 19:06 Gone 14:45 The Reciprocal Gaze 12:45
I calculate the total time to be 87:01! So either this is a 2 CD set or the digital release is longer. Sound clips are up on the site. Sounds like the slow parts of Naqoyqatsi, though with Glass, it's hard to get a full sense of the work without the complete piece.
Chris.
Chris! Thank you for the update. Wow, a 19 minute track! That's a fun surprise. I hope this means the film has long scenes that have time to flow gracefully with the music, unlike the modern trend of choppy editing that results in an album full of 2 minute long tracks. Regarding the 87 minute runtime, I sent an email to Orange Mountain Music to ask if they could confirm the total album length and I'm waiting to hear back. Then I discovered there are 90 and 99 minute CDRs such as these: http://www.tdkperformance.com/en-eu/storage-media/cd/high-capacity-90-min/ So I suppose they actually could fit it on one disk. Although it may run the risk of not being compatible with all players. According to Wikipedia:
"most CD-Rs on the market have an 80 minute capacity. There are also 90 minute/790 MB and 99 minute/870 MB discs, although they are less common (and depart from the Orange Book standard outright). ...in order to use the additional capacity, these discs have to be burned using "overburn" options."
Wow, a 19 minute track! That's a fun surprise. I hope this means the film has long scenes that have time to flow gracefully with the music, unlike the modern trend of choppy editing that results in an album full of 2 minute long tracks.
There's only seventy four shots in the film, so that's averaging over one minute per shot
I'd bet one or more of the lossless download sites will have the 87 minute version at some point.
I love much of Glass' work, but if any composer's work could be easily edited to fit onto a CD's running time it would be his.
Chris.
Right. The ost of KOYAANISQATSI, released recently, was easily edited down from 87 minutes to fit on 1 cd. They just snipped a few repetitive minutes out of "Organic" & "grid" bruce
Here is the official response from Orange Mountain Music regarding the total CD length (very nice of them to respond with such speed and detail):
Dear Adam,
Indeed the CD is edited down from the full length soundtrack. The 87 minutes is the length of the film, and as with the other Glass/Reggio collaborations it's essentially wall to wall music. We know well the history of this, the original Koyaanisqatsi soundtrack on LP was cut drastically. The Nonesuch re-record was more complete yet still incomplete. When we had the chance to release the original masters in a more complete presentation we were still bound to the CD format. Basically very slight edits were made to get it down to CD length - but still we felt like our hands were tied.
So with this new presentation of Visitors, we are releasing a judiciously edited soundtrack on CD, and the complete 87 minute soundtrack "Mastered for iTunes" in 96k/24bit.
Here is the official response from Orange Mountain Music regarding the total CD length (very nice of them to respond with such speed and detail):
Dear Adam,
Indeed the CD is edited down from the full length soundtrack. The 87 minutes is the length of the film, and as with the other Glass/Reggio collaborations it's essentially wall to wall music. We know well the history of this, the original Koyaanisqatsi soundtrack on LP was cut drastically. The Nonesuch re-record was more complete yet still incomplete. When we had the chance to release the original masters in a more complete presentation we were still bound to the CD format. Basically very slight edits were made to get it down to CD length - but still we felt like our hands were tied.
So with this new presentation of Visitors, we are releasing a judiciously edited soundtrack on CD, and the complete 87 minute soundtrack "Mastered for iTunes" in 96k/24bit.
Best wishes,
Richard Guerin ORANGE MOUNTAIN MUSIC
Adam, Thanks for getting the info and it's nice to see O.M.M. being so up front about the status of the album. I'll stand by my earlier statement that, for most listeners, the CD will do just fine. Given how high profile Glass is as a composer, I wouldn't be surprised to see the full score available as a lossless download at some point. I wonder how significant the mastering differences are between the two formats.
On another note, I caught a rerun of The Simpsons last night featuring Koyaani-scratchy. Anyone seen this? It's a hoot!
