Valentina Lisitsa Plays Philip Glass (2015) [Qobuz FLAC 24bit/96kHz]

Valentina Lisitsa – Valentina Lisitsa Plays Philip Glass (2015)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96kHz | Time – 02:43:54 minutes | 2,9 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download – Source: Qobuz | © Decca
Recorded: Reitstadel, Neumarkt, 1-4 September 2014

Cutting-edge pianist meets trendsetting composer: Valentina Lisitsa, whose artistry has bewitched audiences around the world, is releasing a double album selection of works for solo piano by Philip Glass, whose brand of minimalism has made him one of the most influential composers of our time. Valentina Lisitsa plays Philip Glass (Decca) is a stunning collection of Glass’s piano works, performed by Lisitsa with the grace and understanding of a true minimalist interpreter.

Music on the album includes tracks from Stephen Daldry’s BAFTA-winning and Academy Award-nominated film The Hours, using the building blocks of minimalism to achieve a huge, inventive soundscape of musical richness and contrasts. The most substantial piece in the collection is the mesmerising 30-minute How Now, one of the first compositions written for the Philip Glass Ensemble in 1968. Also featured is Metamorphosis, a five-movement work of music for a theatrical adaptation of Kafka’s play of the same name. Other works featured include the iconic Mad Rush, which Glass performed at the first public appearance of the 14th Dalai Lama in New York City in 1981 and Mishima / Closing, part of the soundtrack to the 1985 film Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters.

Richly harmonic, this collection of definitive Glass is a deeply evocative listening experience, with revelatory performances from Lisitsa. She captures the essential beauty in Glass’s circular melodies and the drama he infuses into his minimalistic approach.

Tracklist:

Philip Glass (b.1937)

1 Opening Glassworks 6.08
2 Truman Sleeps (short version) The Truman Show 2.40
3 The Poet Acts The Hours, arr. Michael Riesman 4.01
4 Morning Passages The Hours, arr. Michael Riesman 6.09
5 How Now 29.52
6 Something She Has To Do The Hours, arr. Michael Riesman 3.59
7 I’m Going To Make A Cake The Hours, arr. Michael Riesman 3.20
8 Lighting Of The Torch The Olympian 3.31
9 Mad Rush 16.17
10 Dead Things The Hours, arr. Michael Riesman 4.41
11 Tearing Herself Away The Hours, arr. Michael Riesman 5.14
12 Wichita Vortex Sutra 7.22
13 Escape! The Hours, arr. Michael Riesman 4.34
14 Choosing Life The Hours, arr. Michael Riesman 4.42
15 The Hours The Hours, arr. Michael Riesman 7.46
16 Metamorphosis I 7.40
17 Metamorphosis II 8.25
18 Metamorphosis III 5.39
19 Metamorphosis IV 8.28
20 Metamorphosis V 6.45
21 Closing Mishima, arr. Michael Riesman 3.37
22 The Hours Arr. Michael Riesman: An Unwelcome Friend 4:51
23 The Hours Arr. Michael Riesman: Why Does Someone Have To Die? 4:48
24 Truman Sleeps (“The Truman Show”) 3:24