Amsterdam Sinfonietta and violinist William Hagen take Philip Glass’ violin concerto to India: Glass’s American Four Seasons are interwoven with traditional Indian ragas. Water by Jonny Greenwood also contains traces of Indian music.
Minimal music composer Philip Glass wrote his second violin concerto “The American Four Seasons” as a companion to Vivaldi’s famous The Four Seasons. In the early 1960s Glass became fascinated by Indian music. In the Indian ragas the seasons have their specific improvisations. These traditional ragas, sung by Madhu Lalbahadoersing, are interwoven through the seasons of Glass in this concert. We also find traces of Indian music in Water by Jonny Greenwood, known as the guitarist of Radiohead. With a wide palette of classical and modern instruments he creates limitless worlds of sounds.