CD of the week
Shaun de Waal
Koyaanisqatsi was Philip Glass’s first foray into movie soundtracks, a genre that is arguably the best showcase of his talents. It originally came out in the days before CDs, so it was considerably abbreviated, though it still became a big seller. Now Nonesuch has rereleased the soundtrack in full, performed afresh by the Philip Glass Ensemble.
The environmental theme of Godfrey Reggio’s film is summed up in the Hopi word koyaanisqatsi, which means “life out of balance”. It is an extraordinary film: 87 minutes of images coming at you; no narrative, no dialogue. The music is what holds it together, and the combined effect is mesmerising.
Between the menacing chants that bracket the soundtrack at each end, Glass moves through a variety of moods, from the haunting chorale of Vessels to the edgy Pruit Igoe, and we get the full 21 minutes of The Grid, which builds from almost nothing to a seething, hypnotic climax. It’s almost a movie on its own.