Another beautiful “minimalist” piece of music for this week, the mesmerizing Metamorphosis II by Philip Glass, originally composed for solo piano. This is an exceptional version for the harp adapted and performed by Dutch harpist Lavinia Meijer (born in South Korea) taking on an almost “stream of consciousness” character that transports the listener to new spaces of perception and thought.
It was an encounter with Ravi Shankar and Indian raga music that led Glass to his hypnotic-repetitive style based on simple chords and arpeggios that are played in gyrating patterns.
Due to the nature of the harp as an instrument, Lavinia Meijer’s interpretation is so rich in harmonics that the circular repetitions take on their own sound qualities along each turn of the musical spiral.
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