The label "avant-garde" is surprising to see used to describe Philip Glass's works. What performance were you attending?
The word "avant-garde" comes up not once in Philip Glass's Wikipedia article [0]. The only uses of the word "experimental" are in reference to his early interest in experimental theater.
Philip Glass is easily the most popular, mainstream living music composer. His music is extremely "listenable," and inoffensive to the casual listener. Calling him avant-garde is a complete disservice to what he has actually accomplished in his career. It's more avant-garde to call Philip Glass avant-garde than his music is avant-garde.
I disagree.
>The word "avant-garde" comes up not once in Philip Glass's Wikipedia article The only uses of the word "experimental" are in reference to his early interest in experimental theater.
What's that meant to show? I opened the first four references on that Wikipedia article and all contained the phrase 'avant-garde':
[1]https://www.biography.com/musician/philip-glass
>Philip Glass is an Oscar-nominated avant-garde composer whose notable works include 'Einstein on the Beach,' 'The Hours' and 'Notes on a Scandal.'
[2]https://nymag.com/news/features/influentials/16903/
>Took the avant-garde mainstream, offering hope and inspiration to countless composer-followers.
[3]https://www.theguardian.com/education/2001/nov/24/arts.highe...
>The project that would propel Glass from downtown New York notoriety to international stardom came in 1976 - an avant-garde music theatre collaboration with theatre visionary Robert Wilson"
[4]https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_9ugCQfxwym0C/page/n5/mode...
OK, this one doesn't use the phrase in reference to Glass.
And fwiw, things change, language is emergent, words acquire and lose meaning based on how people use it, not the other way around.
In 1968, it was fair to call him an experimental composer and musician. In 2021, not so much, certainly no more than any composer who is alive and still trying to write new work.
So in those terms, Beethoven was at one point "avant-garde" in that his some of his compositions were so strikingly progressive compared to those of his contemporaries that they stood out. They were "at the front" of musical innovation in that sense.
John Cage started to compose music that intentionally and radically diverted from the trajectory of traditional western art music, so that was considered "avant-garde," although it was so influential, that I'd say much of it has become "canonized" in a way that performing it isn't really innovative of "edgy" in the way it was at it's original reception.
Today I think it's hard to pin down because there aren't really any established traditions that composers are breaking away from like they were at the cusp between the 19th and 20th centuries. I've seen and performed pieces for amplified fluorescent light bulbs, 4 screaming men in loin clothes, and for a solo performer articulating gestures in ASL to a pre-recorded musical track. None of it was scandalous, and some of it was quite good.
Clearly looking at his age he is already an elder. Nevertheless he definitely qualifies as avant- Garde. You can compose listenable pieces and be avant- garde
Calling any modern regurgitation of Glass's very-listenable minimalism "avant-garde" is misleading and shuts out the contemporary listener to an entire world of avant-garde music - much of it, very listenable.
I think that's reinforced by the anecdote from the original poster, though.
There's still a significant fraction of the audience who dismisses his work out of hand. Yes, they're shut out of even more stuff, but they aren't even open to him, yet.
I could see my mother being the upset person in the first story...
I'm not convinced that someone simply using the word "avant-garde" shuts anyone out of anything.
For example, if I type "Taylor Swift is avant-garde" did this suddenly shut out listeners from an entire world of pop music?
Glass’s music is maybe not consistently on the edge, but his avant-garde reputation comes from works like the “opera” Einstein On the Beach, which is a formidable listening and performing experience, even if it’s heavily diatonic and based on familiar major/minor modalities. It is a sui generis approach to musical structure and musical theater.
Glass' early minimalism makes EotB seem almost conventional by comparison, at least to me.
But, this isn't an article about Danny Elfman....
That was avant-garde, apparently.
Calling music by this term communicates a powerful judgment about its place in musical history. And it is simply, unavoidably incorrect. It has nothing to do with the music itself - it has to do with his musical process and how it jives with the basic musical environment of his time.
If the whole musical world were like John Cage, Philip Glass's works would definitely be avant-garde. But because the musical world is a lot more like Philip Glass, using the word "avant-garde" to describe his contributions is simply untrue.
I struggled and read a lot to understand the foundations of modern art. I found a lot of the intellectual constructions very unconvincing contrivances. I imagine I'd feel the same way about such compositions; an area in which I am certainly a neophyte
I don't think it would convince you to enjoy his work, but I found it to be a really good read, regardless!
https://www.amazon.com/Begin-Again-Biography-John-Cage/dp/08...
Here's an Unplugged version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QVjwEmzxy_w