• Tracks

Philip Glass's science fiction music drama, 1000 Airplanes on the Roof, premiered in 1988 at the Vienna International Airport (Hangar No.3). This one-act melodrama contains a text by renowned playwright and frequent Glass collaborator, David Henry Hwang, and originally featured set designs and projections by Jerome Sirlin. When Virgin records released the piece in 1989, the very curious decision was made to totally omit the Hwang text. The original score by Glass, was presented without the context of the drama. Following Third Angle New Music's 2023 staged production at the Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum - directly beneath Howard Hughes' infamous "Spruce Goose" - they endeavored to record this rarely-staged work. As the original recording was largely misunderstood, it is presented here for the first time with both the music and drama as one would hear it in the theater, alongside an additional music-only experience. Volume 1 includes the complete music drama with Hwang's text performed by Ithica Tell as M, and the sound design used in their staged production. Volume 2 presents the entire musical experience including vocals, but without the text and theatrical elements. The beautiful package design by Madeline Sorenson is a play on the formats of old science fiction trade paperbacks.