Philip Glass (b.1937)
The American composer Philip Glass has enjoyed a degree of popularity unusual among contemporary composers. A pupil of Nadia Boulanger, he was influenced too by the Indian sitar player Ravi Shankar and has won a reputation as an exponent of minimalism, based on the systematic repetition of a motif, modified or extended.
Stage Works
Glass’s stage works Einstein on the Beach (1975–6), in collaboration with Bob Wilson, Satyagraha (1980) and Akhnaten (1983) have won particular favour in some quarters. He has written a number of theatre works since, including Hydrogen Jukebox (1990).
Film Music
Glass has written a number of successful film scores, including The Hours and The Truman Show.
Orchestral Music
Philip Glass has developed the expressive power of his music in a phase that may be described as post-minimalist. His Violin Concerto of 1987 is a lyrical and dramatic work, written in a style characteristic of his compositions of the period, three years after the first performance of Akhnaten.
Listen to PHILIP GLASS – COMPLETE GLASSWORLDS on Spotify
Discography
Grand Piano has gained a reputation for producing high quality recordings of rare keyboard gems. Dedicated to the exploration of undiscovered piano repertoire, the label specialises in complete cycles of piano works by many lesser-known composers, whose output might otherwise have remained unknown and unrecorded.
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