Philip Glass: Akhnaten

by Philip Glass, Dennis Russell Davies

Overview

The last installment of Philip Glass' operatic trilogy, begun with Einstein on the Beach and continued with Satyagraha, Akhnaten also unfortunately established the sort of musical rut in which he was to be ensnared for much of the rest of the century. As with Satyagraha, he opted for a relatively traditional orchestration, with only Michael Riesman's electric keyboards supplementing the standard instrumentation, and with six main voices deployed in various configurations. Here, Glass, in his own libretto, tells the story of the man who supposedly introduced monotheism into classic Egyptian culture (and thereby the Western world), thus complimenting the realms of science and politics as portrayed in his previous two operas. Whereas in Satyagraha he used Sanskrit transcriptions of the Bhagavad-Gita to lend the work at least a tinge of an Indian atmosphere, here there is little if anything that connotes the Egyptian short, presumably, of the stagecraft in a live performance. The music by this time had taken on the "by the yard" feel of much of his work in the mid-'80s and beyond, possibly a result of simply having too many coals in the fire. Though still capable of creating the odd enchanting melody or haunting passage, most of the music sounds like a pallid rehash of previous works. The most noticeable difference is an increased used of percussion, which is all well and good, but the ponderousness of the horn writing in particular applies more weight than can be comfortably borne. The scattered lovely moments, as well as its vaunted place in his oeuvre, make this worth hearing, but it suffers greatly compared to its companions in the trilogy. ~ Brian Olewnick

Product Details

Release Date:	10/04/2024
Label:	Music On Vinyl
UPC:	8719262035683
Rank:	146905

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Philip Glass   Primary Artist
Dennis Russell Davies   Primary Artist,Conductor
Milagro Vargas   Vocals,Alto (Vocals)
Tero Hannula   Vocals,Baritone (Vocal)
David Warrilow   Vocals
Paul Esswood   Vocals,Counter Tenor (Vocal)
Maria Koupilova-Ticha   Vocals,Soprano (Vocal)
Victoria Schneider   Vocals,Soprano (Vocal)
Geraldine Rose   Vocals,Alto (Vocals)
Lynne Wilhelm-Koniger   Vocals,Soprano (Vocal)
Angelika Schwarz   Vocals,Alto (Vocals)
Stuttgart State Opera Orchestra   Orchestra
Christiana Wachtler   Vocals,Alto (Vocals)
Cornelius Hauptmann   Vocals,Bass (Vocal)
Helmut Holzapfel   Vocals,Tenor (Vocal)
Melinda Liebermann   Vocals,Soprano (Vocal)
Stuttgart State Opera Chorus   Choir/Chorus

Technical Credits

David Warrilow   Narrator
Robert Israel   Librettist
Richard Riddell   Librettist
Shalom Goldman   Research,Librettist,Liner Notes
Horst Huber   Photography
Eva Bauer Oppelland   Location Coordinator
Christoph Wieland   Engineer
Kurt Munkasci   Producer
Carlos Albrecht   Engineer
Martin Goldray   Score Analysis
Michael Riesman   Producer
Paul Cameron   Digital Engineer
Don Christensen   Engineer
Philip Glass   Composer,Librettist,Liner Notes
Johannes Wohlleben   Engineer
Wolfgang Steuhl   Libretto Translation,Liner Note Translation
Bill Kipper   Mastering
Miles Green   Engineer