Nachum/ Glass/ Groundbreaking lack of tact

“Then I did something surprising and purely intuitive: I removed all the tact lines from the score. Suddenly I saw something that I had not been able to see before: the flow of elaborate rhythmic cycles that did not fit into the rigid framework of the European meter” — this is how Philip Glass recalled the turning point in the formation of his minimalist musical language after many years. It works in Paris in the 1960s: an American student, unknown to anyone, Nadia Boulanger undertook a musical transcription of the music of Indian master Ravi Shankar, who was just taking his first steps on the European market. These two composers were soon to turn the Western understanding of rhythm upside down as they transplanted the cyclical and trance sensibility of Hindustani music onto our soil.

On the occasion of Philip Glass's 90th birthday this year — perhaps the most popular concert musician of the last quarter century — we decided not so much to remember as to present three of his early compositions, directly inspired by his meeting with Ravi Shankar. Works that today still turn out to be as radical as they are literally mesmerizing.

Michal Mendyk

This concert may be part of the “My Pass” offer. Check the details and compose “My Pass” at will, choosing from concerts of different series in the chamber and concert hall — more information.

Artists: Nachum

Program: Philip Glass — Gradus; Philip Glass — Music in Eight Parts; Philip Glass — Bed from Einstein on the Beach