In 2002,
Philip Glass toured in support of the four-disc set Philip on Film, culled from his movie scores. It was good to see that the
Philip Glass Ensemble performed the long-underrated
Powaqqatsi among his other collaborations with filmmaker Godfrey Reggio, because those electric keyboard works have outlasted the symphonic stuff. Back in the '80s,
Glass didn't seem to think so. He aimed to become the thinking filmmaker's response to
John Williams by turning his minimalist background to astringent, stately symphonic movie scores for Mishima, Hamburger Hill, and
The Thin Blue Line. It's understandable how Powaqqatsi's music was overlooked: The synthesizers and the orchestra and booming percussion were uncomfortably cluttered and show bizzy. Even today,
Powaqqatsi's Anthem sounds like a naked attempt at an instrumental hit like
Vangelis' theme for Chariots of Fire. On the other hand, the melodic and textural similarities of the symphonic scores, plus the snatches cribbed from them for other movies, have deadened their appeal.
Powaqqatsi is straight-up loud. Instead of Koyaanisqatsi's somber organ prelude (as in a Baptist service), Serra Pelada provides the mightiest track in
Glass' career: a gamelan ensemble marching with a drum-and-bugle corp behind the voices of the Latin American Children's Ensemble (set off with a coach's whistle). Almost everywhere, the synthesizers and orchestra work and play together, while the tunes are actually memorable on their own. The three-part New Cities in Ancient Lands, set in China, Africa, and India, features woodwinds and keyboards from
the Philip Glass Ensemble, with kalimbas and balafons strewn among the orchestra. Video Dream is simple lyricism, like the English horn that unrolls the Arabic melody of That Place. The ponderous Caught and two of the three Anthem reprises are mere clutter, but somehow
Glass makes room for everything, even
Foday Musa Suso's kora and vocals on Mr. Suso #1 and Mr. Suso #2 With Reflection. It adds up for a bright world music symphony. ~ John Young