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Philip Glass – Music with Changing Parts

 

This piece is very soothing to listen to. Not a lot is happening, so it is a bit boring. But it is nice to have as a background music while doing something else, as it is not distracting.

A theme is introduced at the beginning, which gets played over and over again in different variations. In the course of the whole piece, very small changes are being made to this theme, which are barely noticeable as they happen really slowly. But when you go to different timestamps within the piece, you can hear the slight differences.

Different instruments play interchanged, sometimes louder, sometimes quieter. Sometimes a single instrument will play a long note, adding a bit of variety to the whole piece. But at some point, the music just fades into the background and becomes this ever-recurring soundscape. I am not opposed to that, but it does get boring after a while and it just keeps dragging on.

The more I listen to it, the less I like it. At the beginning, I quite enjoyed it, it was relaxing. Now, after listening to it for the third time in a row, it just becomes a bit annoying to hear the same thing over and over again. It’s like nothing really happens, because the change is so gradual.

If I had to find a metaphor for this piece, something that I associate with it, it would be a kaleidoscope. You see something new every time you turn it, but after a while you are stuck in a loop of always slightly different pictures with the same essence, just arranged differently. And the more you look at it, the less interesting it gets. Same with this piece: the longer you listen, the more boring it gets. But it is nice to hear for a little while.

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