Glass: Einstein On The Beach – The Philip Glass Ensemble

   in Opera Now (Nov, 2016)
Philip Glass’s Einstein on the Beach made quite a splash when it premiered in 1976, and in 2012 a new production went on tour, captured here on film at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris. The original staging was directed by Robert Wilson and choreographed by Lucinda Childs, who reunited with Glass for this production. It was extraordinarily avant garde in its time; has it worn well? Generally yes – audiences are more acclimatised to Glass’s highly organised and structured music, which he describes as ‘autodidactic’. He says: ‘The piece teaches you how to watch it (and) to hear it. It’s a state of attention.’ At over four hours of …