is a 1993–99 musical composition by the American contemporary classical composer
Philip Glass
Philip Glass (born January 31, 1937) is an American composer and pianist. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential composers of the late 20th century. Glass's work has been associated with minimalism, being built up from repetitive ...
. Its first recording was performed by the Brazilian instrumental group
Uakti.
Originally composed as a dance score for a ballet company of
Belo Horizonte (Grupo Corpo),
following the introduction between Uakti and Philip Glass by
Paul Simon, it draws inspiration from the
Amazon waters with tones of
classical,
new age
New Age is a range of spiritual or religious practices and beliefs which rapidly grew in Western society during the early 1970s. Its highly eclectic and unsystematic structure makes a precise definition difficult. Although many scholars consi ...
and
jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a majo ...
music.
Tracks
The track listing dedicates each song to one of the rivers:
#
Tiquiê River
#
Japurá River
The Japurá River or Caquetá River is a river about long in the Amazon basin. It rises in Colombia and flows eastward through Brazil to join the Amazon River.
Course
The river rises as the Caquetá River in the Andes in southwest Colombia.
...
#
Purus River
The Purus River (Portuguese: ''Rio Purus''; Spanish: ''Río Purús'') is a tributary of the Amazon River in South America. Its drainage basin is , and the mean annual discharge (hydrology), discharge is . The river shares its name with the Alto P ...
#
Negro River
#
Madeira River
The Madeira River ( pt, Rio Madeira, link=no ) is a major waterway in South America. It is estimated to be in length, while the Madeira-Mamoré is estimated near or in length depending on the measuring party and their methods. The Madeira is ...
#
Tapajós River
The Tapajós ( pt, Rio Tapajós ) is a river in Brazil. It runs through the Amazon Rainforest and is a major tributary of the Amazon River. When combined with the Juruena River, the Tapajós is approximately long. It is one of the largest clear ...
#
Paru River
The Paru River is a northern tributary of the lower Amazon River, Amazon in Pará state in north-central Brazil.
The river flows through the Uatuma-Trombetas moist forests ecoregion.
Part of the river's basin is in the Maicuru Biological Reserve.
...
#
Xingu River
The Xingu River ( ; pt, Rio Xingu, ; Mẽbêngôkre: ''Byti'', ) is a river in north Brazil. It is a southeast tributary of the Amazon River and one of the largest clearwater rivers in the Amazon basin, accounting for about 5% of its water.
...
#
Amazon River (version of ''Etude No. 2'' Vol. 1 for piano)
A last title much in the same style but departing from this nomenclature is also part of the album:
# Metamorphosis
Performance History
Glass composed the music which the group performed under the artistic direction of, and with arrangements by, (also at the strings). This was the first time that Glass's music was arranged by another composer. Paulo Sérgio dos Santos and Décio de Souza Ramos Filho played the percussion instruments and Artur Andrés Ribeiro the woodwinds. Regina Stela Amaral and Michael Riesman complemented Uakti's performance of the work at the keyboard. Glass described the result as "a true melding of my music with their sensibilities."
In 2017, Charles Coleman released an orchestral arrangement of the work featuring the
MDR Leipzig Radio Symphony Orchestra
The MDR-Sinfonieorchester (in English, MDR Leipzig Radio Symphony Orchestra) is a German radio orchestra based in Leipzig. It is the radio orchestra of Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk, the public broadcaster for the German states of Thuringia
Thu ...
and Absolute Ensemble, conducted by
Kristjan Jarvi.
References
External links
Entry for ''Aguas de Amazonia''on Philip Glass's website
{{Authority control
Compositions by Philip Glass
Philip Glass albums
1999 classical albums
1999 compositions