Art in Practice: Encountering the Buddha with the Philip Glass Ensemble is a movie produced in conjunction with the Smithsonian's National Museum of Asian Art. It features performances by the Ensemble recorded specifically for the film, clips of an interview with Glass, and images and video from the Buddhist art collection at the museum.
I've loved the music of Philip Glass since I first heard it in the early 1980s and I've been lucky to see him and the Ensemble perform several times. While the Buddhist art and religious objects shown in the movie are beautiful and striking, what impressed me most about the film was the performances by the Ensemble. This music is challenging in the extreme to perform and to see the members close up during the performances is fascinating.
Music performed includes excerpts from Powaquatsi, Kundun, Akhanaten, and Satyagraha, among others. All performances are superb, especially the final piece from Act III of Satyagraha, which moved me to tears/
The exhibition, Encountering the Buddha: Art and Practice Across Asia, has an excellent website that is well worth spending some time to view.
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