Artists: Sufjan Stevens, Philip Glass
Venue: Carnegie Hall, NYC, NY
Date: March 1, 2006
My first Carnegie Hall performance, this benefit event for Tibet House featured a wide variety of performances, including my faves Sufjan and Glass, but also others ranging from Antony (from ‘Antony and the Johnsons’ singing his brand of off-kilter folk music) to Nawang Khechog, a Tibetan flutist, to Irish pop superstar Damien Rice. Philip Glass was actually the organizer and MC for the whole event, and after the solemn opening (done by Buddhist Monks from Drepung Gomang Monastic University from southern India),the rest of the show was fast-paced, with performers changing every song or so. Many of the artists came on several times, in all kinds of combinations with other artists, which made for some interesting collaborations.
For me, however, the other artists (while talented and interesting) were of limited interest, as I was most looking forward to Sufjan and Glass. Sufjan played first, and my first shock was to see Glass playing piano for him on a track! It was quite an honor for Sufjan, I’m sure, to have one of the most influential composers of the late 20th century to accompany him on a track–especially since Glass is more than twice his age! However, Sufjan’s performance was not as solid as I’d have liked, a fact which I attribute mainly to the fact that he was probably playing for a very different crowd than he’s used to, and I don’t think he was playing with his band (many of his instrumentalists were other performers at the show). The net effect was that his performance felt more muted, less expressive, and way way too short (only 2 songs!).
Glass, as MC, did not abuse his power to perform more than the other artists, and did only 2 of his own pieces. He chose an etude from his recent etude collection, and an older piece. He performed both himself, on the piano, and it was good to see and hear him perform his own compositions (no matter how good any performer is, there’s something different when the composer performs his own work). All in all, the night was quite enjoyable, but the large number of performers (most of whose music was only marginally interesting to me) made it less so than it could have been for me. In all fairness, however, it was to be expected, since the Tibet House has to cater to all of its members and supporters, which includes a fair number of old rich progressively-thinking people.
Leave a Reply