22 March 2012

Einstein on the Thames

Spending five days in London from May 10th through the 14th (more like three days) centered around tickets to a production of Philip Glass's Einstein on the Beach at the Barbican Centre on Silk Street. There was short internal debate on cost, then Lisa & I decided it was too ideal to pass up and impulse-bought the opera tickets the same night I found out about the show. Grooveshark playlists:

  1. Disk 1
  2. Disk 2
  3. Disk 3

It will be an intimidating work to attend. Although it's only five hours long--reasonable for an opera--it has such a discursive nature that I'm not sure how the absence of narrative will affect us. The music is at times beautiful and others, numbing. Listening to the opening now with chills. It's grouped with Satyagraha (which we saw as a Met HD theater broadcast back in November) and Akhnaten as the Portrait Trilogy. I have yet to warm up to Akhnaten, but Satyagraha is solidified for now as my favorite opera of any composer.

We've had several friends who've traveled once or more to London, so advice will be more than three days can bear. My first trip there!

[ posted by sstrader on 22 March 2012 at 7:01:08 PM in Music , Personal | tagged Philip Glass, year of music ]