From the Philip Glass Recording Archive: Theater Music Vol.I

Both pieces on this recording present stripped-down, chamber-music Philip Glass, but in two very different styles. The Sound of a Voice Suite is orchestrated for an exotic ensemble of mostly percussive instruments, which give the music an overall texture not unlike scenes from Monsters of Grace or The Screens (though compositionally, the melodic and harmonic ideas are worlds apart from those two works.) There is a tendency for overtures or suites to sound stitched together, like collages cut-and-pasted out of larger works; but the Sound of a Voice suite somehow avoids this tendency, seguing fluidly between ideas and contrasting sections. Summer House, scored for a single violin and cello, is a wistful piece with moments recalling the feel of pieces like "Etude No. 2", the String Quartets, and some of the quieter moments of The Screens, such as "French Lieutenant Dreams". Orange Mountain has indicated that they plan to release "Monsters of Grace" later this year. No doubt the label has a difficult time satisfying the varied interests of the Glass community, but it can only be hoped that this first volume in the "theater archive" series will not be the last. Hopefully Glass aficionados will eventually be able to hear archive recordings of pieces such as "Madrigal Opera", the many Mabou Mines pieces Glass wrote in the 70s and 80s, and many of the other chamber operas (not to mention the two major Doris Lessing operas!) still unheard by anyone not fortunate enough to have attended the performances of those works.