these are the days my friends and these are my days my friends...

So, last night I went to see a "concert version" of "Einstein on the Beach" at Carnegie Hall... performed by the Philip Glass Ensemble, led by Philip Glass and Michael Reisman.

I was moderately disappointed.

Not that there weren't moments that were sublime and goosebump-inducing. But there were also flat out miscues, and saxophones playing it what sounded like the wrong key for a few bars, and big gaps in the singing while the whole chorus ran out of breath at once, and flat warbly notes by the soprano in the aria, and the violinist's second string was out of tune for one of the sections. I mean... I know it's a fucking difficult piece of music, but it's also the PHILIP GLASS ENSEMBLE. Seems to me they should be up to the task.

And I know this makes me a Philip Glass snob, but the performance was too short. It came in at about 2:50, WITH an intermission... and I'm sorry... anything less than four hours is NOT a proper experience of "Einstein". And I know the work well enough to tell when they were leaving stuff out. (Mostly bits of the "Trial" sections.)

But like I said - parts of it were awesome. "Prematurely Air-Conditioned Supermarket" had the original woman reading the monologue, which was very cool. "Building" was good. (The section with the saxophone that sounds like Pink Floyd.) "Spacsehip" was great. The violin-heavy parts like "Dance 2" were pretty good, although much faster than the recordings I know... and I think the violin part is too indistinct the way he was sawing away at it.

I still don't feel like I've really SEEN it, though... I don't think it's the same without the staging. The new director of the NYC Opera has promised a revival in 2009. I'll be there. AND I'll be listening for the mistakes, dammit... so let's get it TIGHT next time.


(PS> NEVER get the $19 balcony seats at Carnegie Hall. The view is fine, the sound is fine, but I have never been more uncomfortable at a concert... hell, I've never been more uncomfortable on an AIRPLANE. There is barely room for my FEET between my chair and the next row, and my knees were actually extending over the back of the chair in front of me. How old IS Carnegie Hall? Was it built when people were still really short??)