Akhnaten

Posted on 23 January, 2013 by | 13 Comments

I was lucky enough to attend one of the first London performances of this in 1985. I didn’t understand it, but was very impressed.

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13 Responses to Akhnaten

  1. Karl Fenn | 23 January, 2013 at 8:57 pm |

    This appears to me to be a recital of an priest, concerning the
    death of Akhaten and his rise to eternal life, based on the belief system
    of ancient eygpt,life immortal, in modern terms it could constitute
    a complex funeral right, such as burial of the dead, but in this case I think
    it refers to the gates of immortality and the death of a pharaoh!

  2. Hugo Miller | 23 January, 2013 at 8:57 pm |

    The reason you didn’t understand it is that there is nothing to understand. It is just a series of repetitious spread chords, admitedly pleasing in their effect, and slightly hypnotic. But the bottom line is I could have written it. That is my definition of art. If I can do it, it ain’t art. If I live to be a thousand I could never write, for example, a Brahms string quartet. That is the difference.

  3. Karl Fenn | 23 January, 2013 at 9:21 pm |

    There is some speech at the end of the music that relates to birth, gates,
    sounds similar to translation of priest. fits in with their ideology, the theme
    is of course symbolic to egypt.

  4. Mr Ecks | 23 January, 2013 at 9:38 pm |

    It sounds like incidental music for movie that didn’t get made.

    Stargate:The Musical?

  5. Dr Sean Gabb | 23 January, 2013 at 9:47 pm |

    I think there is somewhat more to PG than Hugo allows.

  6. Hugo Miller | 24 January, 2013 at 12:33 am |

    Such as?

  7. Barman | 24 January, 2013 at 8:36 am |

    It is indistinguishable from the sound track of Powaqqatsi or Koyaanisqatsi…

    Pleasing as Hugo says… and an ideal music soundtrack as Mr. Ecks says…

  8. Karl Fenn | 24 January, 2013 at 7:48 pm |

    you’re all mising the point listen to the words at the end of the music what
    they say, and how they translate, a few minutes prior to the music ending,
    might give you a better insight Hugo!

  9. Hugo Miller | 24 January, 2013 at 9:01 pm |

    I wouldn’t know about the words – Philip Glass only wrote the music, didn’t he? And I could have written it, and so could practically anybody else. Not as bad as that bloody idiot whossisname Ludovico Einaudi I think. I don’t know how these people have the nerve to do what they do. And make lots of money out of it.

  10. Karl Fenn | 24 January, 2013 at 11:13 pm |

    Yes, but you appear to be missing the point, the words or rite at the end of
    the music, appears to suggest similarities with the ideology of immortal
    life, in eygpt, the believed in immortality, the birth, was used by them
    in respect of death, which translated to immortality new life, gates,
    could mean entering immortality, listen to the words.

  11. Hugo Miller | 25 January, 2013 at 12:07 am |

    I thought we were talking about music?

  12. Karl Fenn | 25 January, 2013 at 2:22 am |

    Yes, we were, but listen to the music towards the end, and words on the
    track, they mean something at the end, just before the close, you are
    missing the point.

  13. Karl Fenn | 27 January, 2013 at 3:48 am |

    Note, if you listen to the music, at 8.49, there is a recital, worded as follows, Take this king to the sky, open the gates,this king fly away immortal he flaps his wings like a bird he goes to the sky, this worded recital clearly indicates it is connected to death and immortality, taken from an Eygtian theme, a western translation of the ancient Eygtian beliefs concerning the death of a king or pharaoh. There is a conclusive connection with the symbolic theme picture.

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