CD Review | Signature: Philip Glass (Analekta, 2023)

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Signature: Philip Glass
Angèle Dubeau, violin and conductor; La Pietà
Analekta, 2023

On her 48th album, Angèle Dubeau interprets works by composer and pianist Philip Glass, alongside her ensemble, La Pietà. The success of her interpretations varies from track to track.

Dubeau’s ensemble arrangement of Glassworks: Opening starts with a piano playing the piece’s deceptively simple polyrhythmic melody at a slower tempo. This lessens its percussive strength, but Dubeau adds more reverberant and swelling string instruments to compensate. Most of the tracks offer similarly styled ensemble arrangements, demonstrating the conductor’s vision for the album; instead of just rerecording Glass’s compositions, she recreates them, exploring the emotional weight they could provide in an expanded configuration.

In Koyaanisqatsi, composed for the experimental documentary film by the same name, the cello replaces deep chanting voices. This makes the work sound smooth and mellow instead of cold and unsettling. As a result, it fails to capture the original intent of the song. Metamorphosis Two includes sweeping arpeggiations performed by violin instead of the usual piano. This change is effective; it maintains that sharp and tense performance style, rendered by a different instrument.

Even if some of Dubeau’s arrangements lack the original’s provocative emotions, they are well-executed and pleasant to listen to.