Regarding the Passion. First of all…since when is Glass likely to stop the action and add an aria? The Passion is the story of the death of this man. The soloists are the people surrounding hsi death bed: his wife, a doctor, a student of his called M. who transcribed his speeches. All those roles including two roles by “devotees” in the chorus are solo roles and quite lyrical.

In an interesting choice, chorus itself is Rmamakrishna. And contrary to what’s reported it’s not 50 minutes of recitative. It’s trademark Glass choral writing, very much in the vein of Symphony No.5. Glass took the 1200 pages of Ramakrishna’s teaching and created a libretto of about two pages. There were really great moments like in Part 1 where the chorus sings “Here is your consciouness, And here is your Unconsciousness, Keep them Both! Mother, and give me pure love” which erupts in a giant tutti. Great stuff.

Finally, The Passion of Ramakrishna is a finished piece. Glass has talked about how he composed the odd number movements and someday he’d like to do the rest. That would make for another 90-100 minute piece like Symphony No.5. Personally, I find that because he did the piece the way he did it, it’s very unusual and interesting in its current form.

The Prologue is the Indian version of the Big Bang as he explained before the concert. Parts 1-3 cover his death, and the Epilogue is a sort of Indian Hymn. The whole thing isn’t far off from a St. Matthew’s Passion or something like Les Stations de la Croix.

And by the way…minimalism really did die about 30 years ago. Let’s everyone move on.