Philip Glass, Works for Solo Piano

You might call this Philip Glass by Philip Glass unplugged. In the past, when we've heard Glass perform, it's involved one of his ensembles and a long bank of electronic equipment. Tonight's performance featured Glass on solo piano in the fairly intimate quarters of Morse Recital Hall in Sprague Hall.

I would guess that he isn't the best performer of his work. Before he embarked on the first piece, Etudes, he mentioned that he's learned only about 1/2 of them. And throughout the pieces, I thought I heard not only stumbles and hesitation but also wrong notes.

I don't know the titles of all the works he performed because it was difficult to hear him. But of the works, I enjoyed "Four Metamorphoses" best, especially #3. And "Wichita Vortex Sutra" was a lively work featuring a voiceover of Alan Ginsburg reading his antiwar poem.

• Etudes
• Four Metamorphoses (#4, #3, & #2)
• (Unknown)
  
• Wichita Vortex Sutra
• Encore, short piece that sounded like an improvisation on Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah"

Recommend.