Live Review: Philip Glass

It's Saturday night and I'm one of those people. You know: it's a world premiere and they have the nerve to waltz into the Panopticon-like Perth Concert Hall ten minutes late! Luckily my shame and horror were to evaporate faster than the universally-acclaimed fingers were moving across the majestic grand piano before me. Perth Festival's Philip Glass Complete Piano Etudes has been one of PIAF's buzziest announcements since it launched late last year, yet the excitement of that moment paled in comparison to the rapture I felt over the next 2.5 hours. Glass's 20 etudes – the final three of which were commissioned by the festival – were performed by pianists Maki Namekawa, Sally Whitwell and of course Philip Glass himself.

Arranging an “integrated set of pieces” for the night that saw the etudes played out of order, Glass opened each time with three etudes, before Whitwell and Namekawa took to the stage in the first and second half, respectively. With a visor of bubblegum pink hair and multiple tattoos, Whitwell surprised classical dilettantes with her serene style and humble manner. Her interpretation exhibited a softness that suggested an introspective exploration of Glass's compositions and affirmed her ARIA-nominee (Best Classical Album) status.

Closing the evening, Namekawa played seven etudes, ranging from #3 to the long-awaited #20. In a highly memorable interpretation, Namekawa elicited gleeful murmurs from the audience as she smiled sweetly at the sheet music before her as if the notes were dancing before her. As such, Whitwell and Namekawa's performances highlighted Glass's notion of the relationship between personality, the pieces and interpretation. Glass himself seemed to take a while to warm up with his final piece, etude #10, clearly his most vibrant. Hours felt like minutes and soon Glass stood grinning between Whitwell and Namekawa for two standing ovations.