Spuren der Verirrten, translated here as The Lost, but in German Traces of the Lost, is a German-language opera by Philip Glass on a text adapted from a play by the experimental Austrian writer Peter Handke. Recorded here is the work's premiere performance, given at the opening of a new opera house in Linz, Austria, in 2013. It's easy to see how the organizers conceived the idea of bringing Glass and Handke together: the abstract quality of Handke's drama (the characters are merely named "Protagonist," "Spectator," ...
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Spuren der Verirrten, translated here as The Lost, but in German Traces of the Lost, is a German-language opera by Philip Glass on a text adapted from a play by the experimental Austrian writer Peter Handke. Recorded here is the work's premiere performance, given at the opening of a new opera house in Linz, Austria, in 2013. It's easy to see how the organizers conceived the idea of bringing Glass and Handke together: the abstract quality of Handke's drama (the characters are merely named "Protagonist," "Spectator," "Passersby," and so on, with a little sequential chorus simply designed as letters A through K) matched that of the big Glass operas that have continued to hold the stage. It doesn't work so well in this case, however. As with other Glass works of the 21st century, the composer abandons his basic minimalist language. His characteristic repeated string figures here serve mostly as transitions. The conductor, Glass champion Dennis Russell Davies, proposes a connection between Glass' music and...
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