So excited to present Time Travelers to the Dartmouth audience, in the inspiring Rollins Chapel, a perfect setting for Bach and Glass. This may have influenced the results - Glass sweeping all rounds, the overall vote as well as every breakdown category.
Comments on the Classical Smackdown experience
A fun and engaging evening |
Amazing |
Amazing job! Thank you for making my night amazing. |
Delightful concert. Bring him back to the HOP |
Heavy. Sad. Better |
I am from Georgia (Tblisi) In the middle of Metamorphasis, I felt the wave of a powerful emotion hit the room. It felt moving, so beautiful, that it made me feeling the presence of the bounty of life |
Please come back |
So fun! Thanks for your performance. |
Thank you for this deeply meditative program. Time seemed to collapse and expand simultaneously. Bach elevated Glass and vice versa |
Thank you. This was a transportive experience |
This was wonderful. Thank you. |
Very interesting, informative and entertaining. And very talented artist |
Wonderful show. I loved it! |
wow! |
Comments on the Time Travelers program
Bach has a very nice rushing river where he plays so many notes so quickly. Glass' choice of chords is completely stunning. Both of them are amazing, though I wouldn't like to play Bach. Honestly I think Frederic Chiu is the overall winner. |
Bach is always best, but I would enjoy the fugue and last movement of the Partita at a slower tempo |
Bach sounds a bit childish (not in a bad way) and prancey next to Glass' intense |
But really love Glass. Bach had more volume/space IMHO. The Glass seems more linear. Love Philip Glass, but Bach just it. |
Choice of composer is intriguing, not so famous contemporary composer compared with Bach |
Excellent program. Thank you. |
For me this was a soaring discovery of Philip Glass. Thank you. |
Glass = more emotional Bach = more technical. Go spreadsheet! |
Glass felt so passionate and nimble and beautiful. Growing up playing Bach, I remember scales, and Glass felt so much like the inner mind. |
Glass is blunt, explosive and unfiltered emotionality, moved me at this particular point in my life |
Glass was simpler but more interesting. Mad Rush was a better version of Metamorphasis |
Glass would go on my Spotify playlist. Glass has spooky sad vibes, which is why I like it. Bach is upbeat and lighter, and faster, which is not my but it's . You are magical. |
I have always loved Bach, but now I love Glass too |
I have always loved Bach's music, and I thoroughly enjoyed hearing Bach and Glass together. I definitely feel more attuned to Glass' music as a result. Thanks. |
I identify more Glass |
I liked both but Bach is my soul |
I love the pieces that were chaotic but not too crazy |
I really enjoyed the format of the Smackdown. It really engages you when you have to score the program. |
I think that maybe alternating the orders of the pieces could be interesting and remove the recency bias. |
I voted 2 for Glass based on drama and how it kept me homed in. But Bach's pieces were much more complex and nuanced. |
I'm a flute player and I find it interesting that Baroque technique no vibrato certain ornamentation sometimes feel as contemporary as modern music. Great concert |
Impossible choices. I do love Glass, had to go with my emotional gut, and Bach edged out Glass, but overall I voted for Glass to even things out. |
It was very close each round, beautiful program, can't wait for results |
Light colors better for Glass pieces |
Loved the contrast of these composers. You could appreciate them better that way. Thank you |
Loved the meditative component of Glass' works. This was wonderful. Were your fingers tired? |
Mad Rush felt extraterrestrial, Erbarme dich a perfect amount of repetition and mirroring. Beautiful call/response between upper and lower. Round 2: I enjoyed Glass's commitment to his theme, but a few deviations would have been refreshing. A middle ground betwen the two composers would be my prefernce. I enjoyed listening to the evolutin of Glass's theme. Round 3: Very conflicted vote. I found myself enjoying the repetition/familiarity of Glass's music. Still, I would personally choose to listen to Erbarme. The climaxes of Mad Rush were beautiful and I loved the melody singing out amidst the rumble. |
Mad Rush is a masterpiece |
Now I know why PG has always resonated with me, even though I primarily listen to Baroque and Early Music. Thank you for showing me Glass' beating heart |
Philip Glass is excellent but for some reason IDK I feel anxious listening to the music without visuals, kind of like motion sickness |
Round 1 Bach outward Glass inward. Round 3 Bach tender/internal, Glass enormity/close feel. Fantastic thinking! And your translations, Bravo Chiu! |
Round 2 Glass, I heard complex clarity and despite a less convoluted repetition was constantly surprised. Hearing Glass live was new for me. It makes a difference. I was in sightline of the keyboard. The choreography of your hands shaped my hearing/experience of Glass. A deeply and emotional listening experience for me. Thank you |
Soul Bach Warm complex tapestry. Void Glass angular cold empty sublime |
Still think Bach is the better composer. Glass pulls me in. I find the changes in harmony, dynamic and rhythm just as mesmerizing. Decisions were so hard to make, but the challenge made me listen differently. What a great idea. |
Thanks. Very fun way to listen, wondering if the pieces you choose are in the same key. |
The Glass Metamorphasis 4 was truly riveting |
This is a great idea. |
This was awesome. I also want to note that I think my choices were influenced by who I heard last |
Tonight I was less interested in bombastic music. I preferred calm. |
Why do you always start with the Bach first? |
Yaaaasssss, Philip Glass shante you stay. JS Bach sashay away. |
Comments on Frederic Chiu
Can't believe your fingers can move so quickly. Thank you |
I unfortunately did not like your interpretation of Bach. I would have preferred one that adhered more closely to his accurate notations |
nice playing! |
No Piano, just ears and a heart. How could I choose? I guess I could, who knew, Frederic Chiu knew. Wonderful. Thank you! Jacob plays piano, my 30 year old autistic musician synesthete son with perfect pitch, loves Philip Glass. I'm probably biased because he has helped me hear Philip Glass and Bach too. But he has no musicians to play with, very sad. P.S. Mr. Chiu, you had no music in front of you, wow, wow, wow! |
Really enjoyed your dynamics with the Glass pieces |
The playing was absolutely phenomenal. I have no experience playing, but I love Chiu's flexibility and how he takes on the two personas so seemlessly. He really captures their essence, divergence and convergence. Huge fan after tonight. |
The spectacular playing made if very difficult to choose |
This was an amazing performance. I loved every single piece! |