Philip Glass: Einstein on the Beach [1978 recording]

Lyricist: Philip Glass.
Personnel: Philip Glass (keyboards); Dana Reitz, David Woodberry, Philip Smith, Marc Jacobi, Iris Hiskey, Sean Barker, Ritty Ann Burchfield, Grethe Holby, George Andoniadis, David Anchel, Forest Warren, Ronald Roxbury, Frank Conversano, Bruce Burroughs, Marie Rice, Jeannie Hutchins, Connie Beckley, Richard Morrison , Dora Ohrenstein (vocals); Lisa Vielawa, Kristin Norderval, Marion Beckenstein, Patricia Schuman, Michele A. Eaton (soprano); Elsa Higby, Margo Gezairlian Grib, Katie Geissinger (mezzo soprano); Eric W. Lamp, John Kock, Jeffrey Johnson (tenor); Gregory Purnhagen, Jeff Kensmoe, Peter Stewart (baritone); Paul Zukofsky , Gregory Fulkerson (violin); Andrew Sterman (flute, piccolo, bass clarinet); Jon Gibson (flute, saxophone, soprano saxophone, glockenspiel); Richard Peck (flute, saxophone, alto saxophone, tenor saxophone); Dickie Landry (flute, saxophone); Martin Goldray, Michael Riesman (keyboards).
Recording information: Big Apple Recording Studios, New York, NY.
Directors: Robert Wilson ; Michael Riesman.
Ensemble: Philip Glass Ensemble.
This opera, composed in 1975 and premiered in 1976, is scored for four principal actors, 12 singers doubling as dancers and actors, a solo violinist, and an amplified ensemble of keyboards, winds and voices. It is imbued with the postmodern spirit both in its non-linear, poetic, mystic narrative and the floating, eternal world created by the shifting, mathematically precise patterns of Philip Glass' modal music. There are three primary visual sets linked to three musical themes that recur within the work: trains (recalling the metaphors Einstein used to illustrate the theory of relativity, and with which he played as a child), a trial setting (modern life and modern science examined), and a spaceship (a metaphor for transcendence, and/or an escape from nuclear disaster). Also, Einstein himself appears midway between the orchestra and the stage as a violinist (his hobby) and as observer/witness. There are also additional spoken texts written by Christopher Knowles, Samuel M. Johnson and Lucinda Childs, which appear in various arrangements for single and multiple voices. This work locates itself as a midpoint between the composer's early-'70s work, linking rhythmic and harmonic structures and his later series of operas and vocal works and film scores employing expanded narrative and/or timbral experiments. ~ "Blue" Gene Tyranny