Portland's Third Angle on the First Complete Recording Of Philip Glass' 1000 Airplanes on the Roof

"Founded in 1985, the Portland nonprofit curates site-specific experiences featuring music by young composers and venerated 20th century legends, often commissioning brand new pieces for their performances. For example, in January, Third Angle tucked musicians into the nooks and crannies of Central Eastside experimental playground Hopscotch, using the venue as a concert hall for four different versions of Steve Reich's Counterpoints."

"The approximately 80-minute work was staged under the Hughes H-4 Hercules 'Spruce Goose' airplane in the hangar of McMinnville, Oregon's Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum. Third Angle enlisted acclaimed actress-vocalist Ithica Tell to read Hwang's libretto, which follows a character called M-a distinct nod to Kafka's single-letter antiheroes-around New York City as they descend into a shame spiral of depersonalization."

"Third Angle artistic director Sarah Tiedemann describes the music of 1000 Airplanes as 'a gateway into the deeper subject matter of the piece,' drawing correlations between M's experience and the broader themes of identity and psychological distress explored throughout the composition."

Third Angle New Music, a Portland nonprofit founded in 1985, specializes in curating site-specific musical experiences that commission new works and reinterpret classical pieces by renowned composers. The organization recorded Philip Glass's 1000 Airplanes on the Roof between October 2023 and March 2024, marking the first complete recording of this 1988 science fiction music drama with libretto by David Henry Hwang. The piece was previously staged live at McMinnville's Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum beneath the historic Spruce Goose airplane. The work follows a character named M through New York City experiencing depersonalization and identity crisis. Third Angle cast M as a queer Black woman, performed by actress-vocalist Ithica Tell, alongside soprano Arwen Myers. The music serves as a gateway into the piece's deeper psychological themes.

Read at Portland Mercury