Brad Kronen  

Show Notes

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  Date / Time: 9/15/2009 3:10 AM UTC

  Philip Glass - The New Frontier / Uranus - Song of the Day Part TWO
  

  COMMENTS REGARDING GLASS’ CURRENT WORK IN PROCESS,

  THE OPERA, “KEPLER”

   

  Glass: “Then there’s a whole side of Kepler which is completely bonkers by scientific standards but yet from the side of the dreamer, the poet...”

  Glass does not finish this statement due to the interviewer (whose uncanny sense of timing made me want to attempt to telepathically have his head explode) interrupting the composer by saying “LIKE ALCHEMY!” which began a discourse on the favorite study of every medeaval kook and quack: alchemy. Let me do some interjecting of my own, if I may,  by saying that even though astrology is under the domain of Uranus, the sign that is ruled by Uranus, Aquarius, condescendingly considers astrology to be a bunch of irrationally emotional hoopla and nothing like the o so mentally cold and analytical intellectual deity, Science. Call me Dr. Phil, but if allowed the chance to complete his thoughts, I think Glass, as an Aquarian, was ready to make an insider’s joke with the audience that although the stuff of lunacy, there is something sentimentally adorable  about a whack job scientist who resorts to astrology.

   

  You wanna talk lunacy?  Try telling an Aquarian that Utopia has not, can not, and will not ever exist!  But I digress……….

   

  Glass goes on to talk about a pivotal event in Kepler’s life regarding a thwarted invasion of the Turks on Austria due to Kepler’s astrological predictions:

   

  Glass: “By luck, maybe it wasn’t luck, (Maybe Voodoo Magic perhaps?) He managed to predict the invasion of the Turks across the Austrian border, the place and the date and he informed the government of that. And By God! The Turks showed up on the exact day and time that Kepler predicted!”

   

  Glass then finishes Kepler’s tale by telling the audience what befell the astronomer after his application of Astrology with events that did indeed come to pass:

   

  Glass: “His living was made for life. He did it through astrology, or so he says.”

  Thankfully at this point I was NOT imbibing liquids – Luck? Maybe not…..

   

  And just when Brad thought he was safe……….

   

  Glass: “He had an astrological chart that predicted that. And from that moment on he (Kepler) could make his living doing charts, which he hated. He hated doing it but that’s how he made his living. That was his cab driving in those days.”

   

  For those of you who don’t even know me from a hole in the wall, take a mental leap and try to picture my facial expression at this point of the interview……….By the way, the phrase “cab driving” is self referential.  That was Glass’ “modus of torture” whilst being a struggling composer in NYC in the late 60’s and 70’s.…. At least he didn’t get stuck with that chump job of doing charts!!!

  O wait, that was a sucker’s way to make a living 500 years ago, my bad!

   

  Upon completion of random chortles and tittering coming from the audience  in the overall scoffing of astrology, Glass intimates that after “Kepler”, he is practically confirmed on what the subject matter of his next opera will be.

  An opera dealing with the end of the life of a person who I myself have brought up on numerous occasions and have personally bequeathed him “one of the most evil people in History.”  You guessed it!  WALT DISNEY! Going by the title of the book that Glass is using as his main point of reference, I’m sure you’ll all agree this new piece may well may be the operatic equivalent of “The Exorcist”.

   

  Here I must interject again by saying that Uranus by transit, or currently in the sky now is in the sign of Pisces, the sign of fantasy and delusion.  The genius of the Uranian mind is to mentally pick up the overall zeitgeist, or feeling of the times, since Uranus is the planet of rebellion with the goal of egalitarianism in mind.  Back to the horror that is Disney:

   

  Glass: “I was propositioned to write about Disney by the author of the latest book about him called “Walt Disney “The Perfect American” (Brad is frozen in a screeching silent scream) Disney is another one of these guys: feet in the mud, head in the clouds. (If by “clouds” he means Nazi’s a**es, then I concur wholeheartedly.)

   

  Glass theorized in true Aquarian dualistic fashion how fascinating it was that the man so deified for work that he essentially did not do, was the same man who was openly proud that the only women allowed in his buildings were secretaries and the only African Americans allowed on the Disney Studio premises were there to trim the grass! The composer then captured the overall zeitgeist of his planetary ruler’s current transit in the sign of delusion, deception, idealism, fantasy and of film itself by making this powerful statement:

   

  “Walt Disney is responsible for a global fantasy.”

   

  Kind of sums up Uranus’ current placement in Pisces quite effectively, I must say.

   

  Good Night Folks! Thanks for Stopping By!!!!

   

  Ummm, Brad this is a MUSIC piece, remember?

   

  My apologies, I was looking at the latest rates to rent a cab.  Music, right!

   

   

  WHITE RAVEN

  I saw a staged performance of “White Raven” by Philip Glass and it changed the way I actually “see” music! The opera touches upon discoveries throughout time beginning with the expeditions of the Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama.  The actual piece of music I have chosen from the opera to represent the futuristic and inventive dynamics of the planet Uranus ironically takes place in the distant past but upon hearing the music performed and especially seeing it in a live venue, the scene produces an electrical tension where all of one’s senses are on vigilant guard!

   

  The music houses the royal court of the King and Queen of Portugal, Manuel I and Isabella in the year 1503. Da Gama has just returned from his 2^nd momentous voyage where he daringly ventured around the Cape of Good Hope to the Indian Ocean over to Calcutta, down to Ethiopa and the eastern coastline of Africa and back again to Portugal. Despite da Gama’s horrific acts of violence and aggression against both Muslims and Hindus, his voyage is a triumphant success, mainly from the looting and pillaging of goods from the victims of his attacks. The discoverer tells his Queen with great pomp and majesty of the various spices he came upon that were never heard of before such as Cinnamon, Cloves, Ginger and Nutmeg; hitherto unbeknownst food stuffs such as Walnuts and Peppers;  plus newly found land that bore vast deposits of silver, gold, rubies, sapphires, as well as coastline that yielded pearls and other precious stones – all of it claimed in the name of Portugal! He also relays to his monarch the suffering and tragedies he bore witness to;  such as the sick and dying conditions of most of the colonists on the island of Goa, the victims of the many Muslim attacks of jihad in  Mozambique, the decay and disrepair of his fleet of ships from his first Expedition, and most ominously “La Ruina de Costada”, the man made ruining of the Coast. The Queen commends da Gama and promises to relay his findings to the King.

   

  The music begins just after da Gama has left the court and The Queen is approaching King Manuel I.  Isabella begins by repeating the new names of food and spices that da Gama has just enlightened her of, and she announces them in an almost suspended dream like state which is of both fascination and trepidation. She then proclaims the list of jewels and precious stones that the explorer has brought back to Portugal with him.  There is a very pregnant hesitation before Queen Isabella tells the King that along with all these strange and new things, da Gama has come upon unchartered lands rich in natural deposits of silver and gold and has claimed them for Portugal.

   

  King Manuel does not even look in the Queen’s direction but is transfixed in a haze of gluttony of power and sheer greed as he begins to state out loud the additions of royal titles to his name as well as the names of the lands he now rules as King of an ever expanding empire!

   

  We now sense that Isabella saw this coming all along as far as her husband’s one track focus on riches and power are concerned, she then immediately speaks over Manuel’s musings of now being “Lord of Guinea and of all Navigation and Commerce.” She attempts to relay to the King the pain and sorrow that da Gama has witnessed, but to no avail.  She then reverts to the dreamlike state of nervously fascinated wonder and dread as when she first bore her tidings and exits declaring the names of the spices that have barely just been added to her schemata of all that is part of this brave and terrible New World.

   

  In this very short range of performance time, Glass’ music puts our minds into the motion of the space/time continuum by creating a dynamic of mental energy that is filled with both awed wonder with the discovery of all things new as well as electrified dread from the  foreshadowing of heartache that has yet to befall both humanity and the planet itself.

   

  And speaking of continuums, I’ll end this piece by bringing us full circle back to that most recent of interviews with a statement made by Mr. Glass that moves us from the modern day forward into all that is futuristic.  He looked the interviewer square in the eye and proclaimed:

   

  “I’ve discovered a new frontier. The new frontier for me is classical music.”

   

  For the rest of us, the new frontier is Philip Glass himself since his music foretells of our future as a global whole and is the voice of the newly reigned Age of Aquarius!

   

  ____________________________________________________________

  ***Link to view the scene “Canela y Clavo” Cinnamon and Cloves from the Opera, White Raven by Philip Glass:

   

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Pyp910_juU

   

   

  ***Link to hear the April 16^th, 2009 interview of “In Conversation: Philip Glass and Tim Page”

   

   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8LDwqwOkNlA

   

  Opening lyrics to “Canela, Clavo” from White Raven

   

  Canela  Cinnamon

  Clavo Cloves

  Pimiento Pepper

  Jengibre Ginger

  Nuez Nutmeg

  Moscada Walnuts

  Benjui  Benzoin

  Ambar Amber

  Almizcle Musk

  Perlas Pearls

  Rubies Rubies

  Zafiros  Sapphires

   

  Y toda clase de Perdreria

  And all classes of precious stones

   

  Las Viejas Naves Maltrechas

  Old and Battered Ships

   

  Las Gavias Rotas

  Broken Topsails

   

  Las Amuras Rendidas

  The Rendered Bows

   

  La Ruina de Costado

  The Ruining of the Coast

   

  Luto Envejecido

  Ancient Mourning

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  • uranus
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