It’s difficult to dispute the charge that so much of Glass’ music sounds the same–a phenomenon distinct from claiming that it shows the composer’s personal style. For example, many (but not all) of the pieces on this disc begin with a simple pulsation in the right hand, like a slow treble version of an Alberti bass, followed by a dark chord in the left. But there’s more variety here than meets the eye, particularly in the five-movement work called Metamorphosis, where the whole point isn’t how the piece starts, but rather how the music develops (differently in each movement, as it turns out). Mad Rush also moves from its typically Glassian opening to become something quite individual, and I particularly enjoyed the disc’s opener: Wichita Vortex Sutra, a work that somehow does manage to suggest a sort of East/West confrontation along the lines of Alan Ginsberg’s eponymous poem. Aleck Karis, whose recording of Cage’s Sonatas and Interludes for Bridge remains a personal favorite, knows how to direct the listener’s attention to the steady transformation of simple melodic and harmonic ideas that governs each work’s progress. His silky sonority and solid sense of rhythm consistently beguile the ear, and the final result, gorgeously recorded, makes the best possible case for this obstinately seductive music.
