Here In 1975 - here in 2014    
John Keegan reviews
home | interviews | photos | features |BGN issue list | reviews
links | contact us

Phillip Glass Symphony No. 1 "Low" and Symphony No 4. "Heroes"

Ambient Orchestra, Evan Ziporyn conducting

Kresge Auditorium, MIT

January 29, 2016

Bowie
Ambient Orchestra

The Ambient Orchestra voluntarily came together for one night (and a week of practice) to pay homage to David Bowie at MIT’s Kresge Auditorium this past Friday night. The modern, minimalist lines of the sold out space were sympathetic to the night's offerings: the Boston premieres of Phillip Glass Symphony No. 1 - Low andSymphony No. 4 - Heroes. The musicians donated the proceeds from the night to the Koch Institute Frontier Research Fund for Cancer. The orchestra was led by the esteemed composer, conductor and player and MIT professor Evan Ziporyn who wore a snazzy black leather cousin of Bowie's Earthling era union jack coat.

Bowie
Ambient Orchestra

Symphonic renditions of rock music are, by definition, fraught with danger. Think Trans-Siberian Orchestra or Rick Wakeman's Journey to the Center of the Earth. Think really bad Prog. The Glass “Low Symphony skirts this issue with skillful use of the depth and range of the orchestra, with a minimalist modern vocabulary that compliments the source material and with judicious use of fragments of Bowie's and Eno's original melodies. The result is neither esoteric nor pandering. The opening trilled woodwinds, joined by the slowly moving violins, ease you into the Subterraneans based first movement. The movement builds momentum as its repetitive, subtlety shifting motifs fall together and pull apart as they build to a blazing crescendo.
The second movement, based on the Low outtake Some Are, begins with a short string and tuba set up. The woodwinds pick up a distinctive descending line and Glass contrasts it with massive low end strings, horns and percussion. This tension is all wound around a catchy, resolving melodic phrase in the violins. The middle section takes a pastoral side trip without ever losing the minimalist pulse that moves through the sections. Everyone kicks a little ass on the return of the melody, they spin it around the stage, and the sections build up their low and high end tension and genteelly ease us out with a touch of piccolo.
The final movement is based on Warszawa. This line hews close to the Bowie/Eno melody and it is elegantly drawn out by the rich and resonant cellos, basses and tuba. The strings, woodwinds and bells highlight the ends of phrases.

Bowie
Ambient Orchestra

Symphony No. 4 “Heroes” is a more cinematic, episodic affair. This betrays its roots as music for a Twyla Tharp ballet. The pieces are compact. The melodic DNA generally more recognizable. This in no way diminishes the output. Low deserves its odd ball niche in the modern symphonic canon. “Heroes might be best suited for avant-garde night at the Pops.

The first tune, Heroes, from Symphony No. 4 quickly gives lie to the DNA theory. Glass seems to purposefully steer clear of the grandeur of Bowie's melody, perhaps in an artful dodge of a potential sentimental bullet. Abdulmajid jumps up with a clatter of flamenco percussion and light, rippling gong. The horns hint at an Arabian melody with xylophone and triangle accents. Bowie and Iggy on a road trip to the Temple of 1001 Pleasant Dreams?

Bowie
Ambient Orchestra

Sense of Doubt hits the melody hard and deep. The orchestra drags every bit of dread out of the bass and low horns and teases the resolution mercilessly with the theme and variation strings, woods and brass. Zyporin uses every dB of dynamic range. The melody returns to remind us why we are scared. Don't open that door. And, finally, the four note resolution.

Sons of the Silent Age lets everyone catch their breath and gives the French horns and flutes a chance to shine. The strings that start Neuköln jar like sirens. The repetition of the main motif piles on the weight. What follows does little to lift the feeling of apprehension. That job falls to the jaunty V2 Schneider. The horns and strings are in lively conversation throughout and then they join forces with the percussion section in a mad rush to the end.

Both of these symphonies sound great coming out of a nice pair of home audio speakers. Live, they sounded fantastic. Ziporyn's one-off encore arrangement of Let's Dance sent everyone home with a Mona Lisa smile.

Bowie
Ambient Orchestra
Bowie
Unexpected visit from spider (from Mars?)
Bowie
Ambient Orchestra
Bowie
Ambient Orchestra
Bowie
Ambient Orchestra
Bowie
Ambient Orchestra

 


home | interviews | photos | features |BGN issue list | reviews
links | contact us

Copyright © 2016 John Keegan. All rights reserved.