Glass: Heroes Symphony, The Light [CD]

Wasn't sure exactly what to expect as I'd only heard 1 of the tracks on a compilation CD. Very glad I've purchased the whole piece as it is glorious music, transporting and highly enjoyable.

Having bought Bowie's orignal album pretty much when it came out, and having different tastes nowadays, I picked this CD up on a whim recently.

Although beautifully played and sounding great, the music is terribly dull, I'm sad to report. As the other reviewer quite righly says, why didn't Glass orchestrate the 3 best tracks on Bowie's album?

I quite like some of Glass' other stuff, but not this. Best to pass, I think!

Philip Glass composed 'The Light' to commemorate the Michelson-Morley experiment confirming the uniform speed of light. It is one of his early neo classical works, written in the same year as his Violin Concerto: 1987, but it is not in the same league. Its all very pleasant in a light classical kind of way and the composer plays with his limited amount of material in a reasonably inventive manner that keeps the work moving for about 16 minutes. The problem is that leaves 8 minutes of needless repetition after that. Fans of Glass may think that I haven't got the point. But I have. In the Violin Concerto the endlessly repeated figures build into something, but here they just keep on going and eventually become wearing.

So to the Heroes Symphony (1996), designed as a six movement Symphony and ballet piece. David Bowie's `Heroes' album (1977)is a considerable achievement. It is at its most exciting in the glorious collisions of rock and dance on tracks like `Beauty and the Beast', `Joe the Lion' and `Blackout'. These tracks are bursting with possibilities for adventurous reinterpretation by a cutting edge composer, especially one creating a dance work. But Glass turns his back on the most adventurous tracks on the album and chooses mainly the simpler more electronically based ones to interpret in what is a pretty insipid style. If anything shouts from the music here it is `Missed Opportunity!!!'

Harsh words? I think not. First movement `Heroes' is the strongest thing here, serving as a march like introduction to the Symphony. 'Abdulmajid' is half off-the-peg middle eastern tune, half James Bond ratchetting-up-the-tension sequence. 'Sense Of Doubt' descends into outright farce when it begins with the type of series of ominous descending chords that usually herald the entrance of The Baddie in a pantomime. In general the symphony is 46 minutes of inoffensive bland music, as if Glass has taken the Heroes album and stuck it in the washing machine on the `Heavy Soil' programme until anything tense, troubling or messy has been eliminated to reveal the shining white cloth he presents us with here. The thing is - it was the very things he has washed out that made the music interesting in the first place.

As usual The Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Marin Alsop do a magnificent job with the material they have been given, but they can't improve the music. However they may be the reason I am giving this three rather than two stars.