King Lear [Original Score]

by Philip Glass

Overview

In 2019, Philip Glass composed incidental music for a Broadway production of Shakespeare's King Lear, starring none other than Glenda Jackson in the title role. The music is for string quartet. His score has spawned an independent King Lear Overture (not the same as the two-minute Overture heard on this release), and now a recording of the entire work on the composer's Orange Mountain Music label, with the various cuts put together into continuous music for his handpicked quartet. Glass is certainly to be commended for consistently broadening the stylistic range in his music, even into his 80s. This score mostly harks back to his earlier repetitive style, but there is a new wrinkle: the requirements of incidental music, with its shifting action on stage, precludes the use of Glass' typically large-scale structures. He changes gears effectively with music that, though simple, evokes the action and characters of the play. Glass even tries his hand at a few Shakespeare songs, sung in a slightly punked-out style by Ruth Wilson as Cordelia. The only long-form piece is the penultimate "Here Is My Pledge," beginning with that line by the Duke of Albany that begins the final terrible unraveling. Glass' mood here is somber, and the music imparts a tragic calm to the carnage playing out on stage. Beautifully recorded, as usual, this is another strong work of Glass' old age. ~ James Manheim

Product Details

Release Date:	04/24/2020
Label:	Orange Mountain Music
UPC:	0801837014129
Rank:	154742

Tracks

1. King Lear~Overture
2. King Lear~These Late Eclipses
3. King Lear~Goneril's House
4. King Lear~Drinking Song
5. King Lear~Fools had ne'er less grace in a year
6. King Lear~So Be My Lord
7. King Lear~Let Me Not Be Mad
8. King Lear~Entr'Acte
9. King Lear~Approach thou Beacon
10. King Lear~I Heard Myself Proclaimed
11. King Lear~Winter's Not Gone Yet
12. King Lear~Rumbling Storm Part 1
13. King Lear~Rumbling Storm Part 2
14. King Lear~Omen of the Storm
15. King Lear~Lear and the Storm
16. King Lear~Storm Unleashes
17. King Lear~Avenge Gloucester's Eyes
18. King Lear~Rumbling Storm Reprise
19. King Lear~Remnants of the Storm
20. King Lear~Gloucester & Edmund
21. King Lear~Prayer in Storm
22. King Lear~Cordelia's Prayer
23. King Lear~Military Music Part 1
24. King Lear~Military Music Part 2
25. King Lear~Edgar's Mention of the Gods
26. King Lear~How Does My Royal Lord
27. King Lear~It Raineth Every Day
28. King Lear~Yet Better Thus
29. King Lear~Here is My Pledge
30. King Lear~Epilogue

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Philip Glass   Primary Artist
Natalie Cummins   Violin
Stephanie Cummins   Cello
James Keller   Director
Don Christensen   Director
Martin Agee   Violin
Ruth Wilson   Vocals
Sam Gold   Director
Christopher Cardona   Viola

Technical Credits

Cory Davis   Copyist,Editing
Kurt Munkacsi   Executive Producer
Scott Rudin   Producer
Richard Guerin   A&R
Drew Smith   Associate Director
Philip Glass   Executive Producer,Liner Notes,Composer
Don Christensen   Executive Producer
Adrienne White   Project Manager
Alex Weston   Music Supervisor
Michael Riesman   Recording Producer