| World Premier performance
Orphée Suite and Trilogy Sonata music by Philip Glass, arranged by Paul Barnes April 19, 2001 Greenich House Music School, New York New York Program
|
Barnes and Glass reviewing the score to Ahknaten |
Barnes, Glass, Victoria Bond, John Muhleisen, and Dulces Voces after New York recital |
Orphée Suite for Piano (2000) The impetus for my transcriptions from Philip Glass’s Orphée came when Mr. Glass visited Lincoln back in 1999. After spending an exhilarating hour in my studio going over potential opera scores, we both decided that Orphée would work especially well transcribed for piano. A UNL Research Council grant enabled me to both transcribe and record the newly created Orphée Suite for Piano, during the summer of 2000. I have always been inspired as a musician by the mystical interplay between the spiritual and the physical worlds. And this fascinating intercourse is the basis for Jean Cocteau’s remarkable 1950 film version of Orphée on which Glass based his 1991 opera. The disarming simplicity of Glass’s musical idiom is especially capable in communicating in an emotionally powerful way the tensions that exist between these two worlds. Paul Barnes |
| Orphée Suite for Piano (2000)
I. The Cafe II. Orphée’s Bedroom III. Journey to the Underworld IV. Orphée and the Princess V. Return to Orphée’s House VI. Orphée’s Return VII. Orphée’s Bedroom- Reprise |
Jean Marais and Maria Caseres in Jean Cocteau's landmark film Orpheus (1950) on which Glass based his Orphee |
Order Trilogy Sonata
|
Trilogy Sonata The Trilogy Sonata was given its world premier performance by the arranger, pianist Paul Barnes on April 19, 2001 in New York City. The Trilogy Sonata consists of three transcriptions from the trilogy of "portrait" operas of Philip Glass, Einstein on the Beach (1976), Satyagraha (1981), and Akhnaten (1984). The first movement is Barnes ' revision of Glass's own piano transcription of the 'Knee-Play No.4" from Glass's landmark opera Einstein On the Beach. The four acts of the opera are musically joined by musical interludes entitled "Knee-Plays", a reference to the quasi-physiological function of the interludes as the connecting tissue of the opera. The transcription of the conclusion from Glass's second "portrait" opera, Satyagraha (1981) was initially arranged by Glass's musical director, Michael Riesman and subsequently revised and edited by Barnes during the summer of 2000. As Einstein represented the man of science, Glass chose Ghandi, the man of politics, as the subject of his second "portrait" opera, Satyagraha (1981). The sanskrit word refers to Ghandi's political philosophy of non-violent resistence. The final transcription in the Triology Sonata, Dance from Scene 3 Act II of Akhnaten (1984) was done by Barnes in 1999 and premiered separately in Minneapolis in March of 2000. The Egyptian Pharaoh Akhnaten lived from 1385 to 1357 BC and was responsible for unsuccessfully introducing monotheism, the worship of the Sun god Aten, to ancient Egypt. The Dance serves as the energetic celebratory ritual for the inauguration of Akhnaten's new city, Akhetaten (The Horizon of Aten). With Akhnaten, Glass's own "Ring cycle", the trilogy of portrait operas, is complete with an operatic exploration of science, politics, and finally religion. Paul Barnes |
| Trilogy Sonata
I. Knee Play No. 4 from Einstein on the Beach Arranged by Philip Glass , revised and edited by Paul Barnes II. Act III Conclusion from Satyagraha Arranged by Michael Riesman revised and edited by Paul Barnes III. Dance from Act II Scene III of Akhnaten Arranged by Paul Barnes |
Barnes performing Glass in Budapest, June 9, 2001 |