“Einstein on the Beach” – Four Hours of Minimalism by Philip Glass

 

Listening to the Train/Spaceship song from “Einstein on the Beach” gave me a first impression on time and space in the opera. The song switches between hectic and harmonic melodies. The hectic one feels like running away, at some point it turns into just noise. From time to time the singing voice is overshadowed by the piano. Despite the changes in ambiance, the song manages to carry you away. It seems like you enter a different world where there is no space, no time. Reading reviews about the composition, it was claimed that it might be impossible for our generation to concentrate that long on a song without thrifting away. Due to the fact that we do not use our phone while listening, we might feel disorientated. Even though I only listened to one song of the opera, I admit that I felt carried away – not by my own thoughts though, but by the melody. It was not possible for me to form my own thoughts since I was stressed, irritated and carried away by the performance. Listening to the hectic melody it seemed to me like something was arriving. The sudden pause in the middle of the song then stops the creation of time and space. Yet, the instruments restart suddenly and you get again thrifted away. I interpret the repetitive sounds as a kind of time loop. Once again, it feels like running away, trying to escape but time runs by faster and faster. After the repetitive moment, the song changes to a calm, harmonic sound. The singing voice determines the composition; the strident sound seems almost aggressive. This is followed by slower sounds which get faster immediately. At the end, the scale is played up and down repetitively resulting in a feeling of falling.

Concerning the name of the opera, there is clearly no beach or narrative. Even though the costumes seem Einstein-inspired, at first sight there is no link to Einstein. Yet, when listening to the songs, the opera deals with the relating of time and space, expressing Einstein’s theory. Additionally, train and spaceship are proper Einsteinian objects. Consequently, the opera challenges our notions of time and space. The fact that musical and visual movements are hard to discern might occur in disorientation. According to Glass the opera, like Einstein, has its logical and illogical side. The goal is to enter “Einstein” and let it take over your senses.

Reviews also claimed the opera turning the clock backward just as Einstein said time could. Considering only listening to one song, I cannot approve this observation. Instead of the time going backward, I perceived that the time stopped for a while. Nevertheless, I liked the song even though it was long. I find it fascinating in which way sounds manage to create time and space, yet it is also irritating.