Thursday, January 14, 2010

einstein on the report

How awesome was Philip Glass's and Stephen Colbert's bit on Tuesday night's Colbert Report?
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We Are at War - Philip Glass
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Although the "theater" aspect definitely parodies Einstein, the music is very much newer Glass. Sometimes this style is effective, and sometimes it can sound watered-down. It's difficult to tell if Glass is purposefully parodying his own style here or if he is just playing what he normally does. I think I like it; it reminds me a little bit of John Luther Adams. Either way, it's good to know that Glass has a sense of humor. It's easy to forget that Stephen Colbert is actually a really smart and culturally literate person--his description of Glass as "repetitive and groundbreaking" is spot-on.

It reminds me of two of my favorite old-school, 2006 Colbert clips:
HipHopKetBall: A Jazzebration and HipHopKetBall 2: The ReJazzebration Remix '06

Colbert has a keen knowledge of how to intersect music and funny which is 100% absent from pretty much every classical music event I have ever been to.

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