Program opener “Glass Pieces” was a standout at the final performance of New York City Ballet’s fall season Sunday afternoon. Jerome Robbins made the piece in 1983, a bit of a late comer to the music of minimalist composer Phillip Glass who had long been the darling of the downtown world.
The Robbins validation was an important uptown imprimatur for Glass. (Glass’s “Einstein on the Beach” staged at the Met by Robert Wilson had of course preceded in 1976.) Having not seen “Glass Pieces” in some decades, I deeply appreciated it qualities: its disciplined and contained language, sculpted sense of drama arising strictly from movement, and the indelible joy of dance Robbins imbued in his plotless ballet.