Irish Glass Guitars

December 4, 2014 11:30 AM

The Dublin Guitar Quartet performs 4 Philip Glass string quartets (in their own original arrangements) at an NPR Tiny Desk Concert. [11m45s] Brilliant!
posted by hippybear (18 comments total)

(granted, not in their entirety... these are excerpts... but still... great stuff)
posted by hippybear at 11:32 AM on December 4, 2014

Ack.. Okay, they don't play 4 quartets, they play 4 movements from 2 quartets. Damn, I read everything entirely wrong. Still, I love this.
posted by hippybear at 11:34 AM on December 4, 2014

Wonderful. Thanks.
posted by aught at 11:36 AM on December 4, 2014

They seem like nice blokes with their suits and accents and all, but then you see those sharp fingernails and, yup, pretty sure: vampires.
posted by gwint at 11:42 AM on December 4, 2014 [1 favorite]

This is awesome. Thanks for posting it!
posted by schmod at 11:45 AM on December 4, 2014

This is my working music until Christmas holidays.
posted by furtive at 11:49 AM on December 4, 2014

This is great, thanks. The classical guitar is so so underrated.
posted by Cpt. The Mango at 11:52 AM on December 4, 2014

I can't be the only one who read that headline as "Ira Glass Guitars." (Very cool tunes.)
posted by echocollate at 11:59 AM on December 4, 2014

Fabulous. I'm going to have this on loop for the rest of the day. I think Phillip Glass would approve.
posted by Joey Michaels at 12:10 PM on December 4, 2014 [1 favorite]

Wow, I love it! Thanks for posting this!
posted by feste at 12:17 PM on December 4, 2014

So disappointed the guitars are not made of glass
posted by InfidelZombie at 1:08 PM on December 4, 2014 [3 favorites]

this combines so many of my favorite things
posted by parallax at 1:11 PM on December 4, 2014

I can't be the only one who read that headline as "Ira Glass Guitars." (Very cool tunes.)

Ira Glass and Philip Glass are cousins, which is the most public radio fact that I learned the day I found that out.

it was the day that this american life broadcast an opera written by philip glass.
posted by sparklemotion at 1:16 PM on December 4, 2014 [1 favorite]

Boy they really add some dynamism to these pieces. Well done.
posted by lumpenprole at 1:42 PM on December 4, 2014

I wish I was good at something.
posted by turbid dahlia at 1:59 PM on December 4, 2014

Thank you for posting, just lovely! Glass can be just a bit tinny, these guys warm it up a lot. I'd love it if they did DancePieces.
posted by sammyo at 3:28 PM on December 4, 2014

Dublin Guitar Quartet website with links to their Philip Glass album, a different video of them performing, and information about a very limited tour that includes several US dates.

Also, it appears that the entire album is available on soundcloud.
posted by hippybear at 3:51 AM on December 5, 2014

Oh my god I just started this and it is AWESOME. I was waiting to see if it would turn up on the audio podcast today and it didn't, so I was all "screw it" and listened. BEST DECISION!
posted by immlass at 7:45 AM on December 5, 2014 [1 favorite]