First off, kudos to Orange Mountain Music. Releases such as "Early Voice", "Juniper Tree", "Descent into the Maelstrom", and the re-issues of the two Alter Ego early-Glass CD's, are priceless. This recording brings us a step closer to having most of Glass's early and early-middle-period works on disc. (Would still love someone like Ensemble Alter Ego to perform and record some of the remaining--and presumably unrecorded--early works, such as "Music in Eight Parts", "Head On", "Two Down", "Another Look at Harmony Part 3", or any of the Mabou Mines theater music.) Compositionally, Madrigal recalls, in certain passages, "The Photographer" and "Koyaanisqatsi"-- though the vocal parts in Madrigal are more subdued than in either of those works, and the absence of winds and keyboards creates a leaner, more stark overall texture. This is the lyrical, melancholic, elegant Glass of "Mishima" and "Facades", as well. In other words, it sounds exactly like the period in which it was composed, and for that, I love every note of it.

but devoid in content. It's a conceptual piece that was meant to be open ended and filled in by future directors. I applaude his attempt at pushing the medium's form further then it had been in the past but the music is from the period that has given him his bad name. It's not the most exciting music but Phil..er Rich will like it no matter what. Still the recording quality is fairly good and one would expect a decent recording from Glass's own label. Thanks must go out to Richard G who has developed an odd fetish for my reviews, Glass or otherwise. It's somewhere between flattering and creepy. He's even developed a preference for my bad spelling and grammer. Rich, thanks for the love.... but I only dig chicks. Let's just agree to just be friends OK? -Bz

A Madrigal Opera dates from 1980 and is Philip Glass' second "opera" although it lacks a narrative and text. What makes it different from Einstein on the Beach is that it even lacks a subject. Scored for a traditional madrigal ensemble of six singers with the accompaniment of a solo violin or solo viola, the piece exists as a musical creation meant to inspire future directors and writers to create a piece in and around it. The music is like the music Glass was writing at that time: exciting because of his new post-minimalist thoughts on "putting back" expressive elements of music after having stripped music down to its very basic elements. The result is still very stripped down, but fantastically expressive and moving. The performance by the Finnish Ooppera Skaala is wonderful. Now cue Boolez who will listen to the samples, dismiss the piece, and accuse me of being Philip Glass himself. The sooner he accepts that a lot of people like this music the better. Spare us you drivel.