Philip Glass
Philip GlassComposer of the KoyAanisQatsi soundtrack as well as several wonderful operas. Glass prefers long pieces with slowly transforming elements. Hypnotically lovely music.
Glass seems to have an affinity with the cinema. He's composed new incidental music for the re-released 1931 Universal production of Dracula, which had no accompanying music when made. The world premier of the music was held at London's Royal Festival Hall, where a screen was erected at the front of the stage, with Glass (piano) and the Kronos Quartet behind. The stage and performers were dressed in black, with key lights on their faces and instruments. So, as each section of music was played the performers would appear suspended behind the film image, but were almost invisible between playing. I'd thought that this would be very distracting, but the effect worked very well.
The music, essentially chamber music but unmistakably Glass, adds greatly to the film. It was noticeable that the audience, who, at first, tittered and giggled at the rather hammy and camp performance in the film (talkies were "new media" in 1931, and the technique is a little rough), soon suspended their disbelief, and I'm certain that the music had a lot to do with this. MichaelNyman?'s music for PeterGreenaway?'s films (which are also hammy and camp) has a similar emollient effect.
Some critics complained that these performances were marred by the lighting designer's decision to keep a low light on the performers throughout the film. It doesn't seem to have occurred to these people that anyone sitting behind a translucent projection screen while a film is being shown will necessarily receive some illumination.
If you like PhilipGlass, you may also like TerryRiley?. He plays hypnotic minimalist music on organ using tape delay effects similar to those used by SoftMachine? and RobertFripp. His CD Persian Surgery Dervishes is wonderful. -- MichaelFeathers
The other canonical minimalist is SteveReich?. PhilipGlass, TerryRiley?, and SteveReich? are grouped together (see ThingsInThrees) as the nominal "founders" of minimalist music. During the mid-to-late 1960s, they opened the door to a musical style characterized primarily by repetitive, slowly changing rhythmic patterns in mainly non-dissonant but non-progressive harmony (i.e. without tonic->dominant->tonic structure). They were all heavily influenced by jazz (especially modal jazz) and non-Western musical traditions (Indian music in the case of Glass and Riley, gamelan and West African drumming in the case of Reich). Minimalism (perhaps including Glass, Riley, and Reich themselves) has since entered the mainstream (and thus died, some would say), being acknowledged and embraced by the "classical" establishment and spawning legions of imitators who view the minimalist "style" as just another tool in their neo-Romantic toolbox.
For what it's worth, the highlights of Glass' oeuvre for me are (1) the music from KoyAanisQatsi, (2) Music in Twelve Parts -- a true minimalist masterpiece, the culmination of Glass' early work, and (3) some of the selections in Hydrogen Jukebox, a collection of settings of poems by Allen Ginsberg.
-- JosephDale
Another recent gem is Glass's collaboration with the Brazilian ensemble Uakti titled Aguas de Amazona. The music is a true synergy, and is well worth investigating.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00000JQJT/
A different attitude to Philip Glass's work is beutifully illustrated by the following:
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(last edited September 8, 2004)
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