Monsters of Grace, the 1997 Philip Glass/Robert Wilson collaboration, marked a new direction for Wilson; this opera consisted of an animated film accompanied by singers in the pit with the instrumentalists rather than on-stage. Difficulties in communicating Wilson's vision to the animators left both collaborators dissatisfied with the result, and the opera hasn't established itself as one of their most performed works, but regardless of the work's future as a theater piece, it's good to have a recording that preserves the ...
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Monsters of Grace, the 1997 Philip Glass/Robert Wilson collaboration, marked a new direction for Wilson; this opera consisted of an animated film accompanied by singers in the pit with the instrumentalists rather than on-stage. Difficulties in communicating Wilson's vision to the animators left both collaborators dissatisfied with the result, and the opera hasn't established itself as one of their most performed works, but regardless of the work's future as a theater piece, it's good to have a recording that preserves the music. The texts are based on Coleman Barks' translations of the poetry of Jeleluddin Rumi, the thirteenth century Sufi poet. There is no traditional narrative arc or any apparent relationship of the texts to the title of the piece, but each of Rumi's poems is a miracle of astonishing imagination. Glass' orchestration convincingly incorporates a Middle Eastern sound in its imitation of string and wind instruments of the region, giving the piece a regional specificity that's not...
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