Philip Glass
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Signature - Philip Glass / Dubeau, La Pietà
CD$20.99$18.89Analekta
Nov 03, 2023AN28755 -
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Hourglass
$16.99CDNaïve
Jun 05, 2026V9238 -
Glass Two
$19.99CDNeue Meister
Jun 05, 20260303484NM -
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Philip Glass: Complete Piano Etudes
Glass: Symphonies, Vol. 2 / Shirinyan, Ralskin, Staatsorchester Rheinische
While Louis Glass until about 1910 had endeavored to develop a personally colored type of late romantic symphonic music, a new, strange dimension then suddenly opened up in some of his works. This dimension was connected to the influence of theosophy, which began around 1913 and would lead to some works of speculative stamp. Helena Petrovna Blavatsky and others had established the Theosophical Society in New York in 1875. One of her pupils, the English author Annie Besant, served as the society’s president beginning in 1907 and established the Order of the Star of the East in 1910. When the Danish section first met, Louis Glass played the organ. It was around this time that Glass began his work on the Fantasia for Piano and Orchestra, as this work is the first that reflects the composer’s relation to theosophy- which is shown above all in the work’s introspective motto alluding to theosophy: “From the spirit’s eternal canopy tones calling man sound down. And man turns away from the world and remains alone in order to find peace.”
Sonic Wires / Katia & Marielle Labeque
Katia Labèque/Marielle Labèque/David Chalmin/Bryce Dessner -"Sonic Wires"
Founded in 2018, the Dream House Quartet is bringing classical and contemporary music into completely new forms as a matter of course. The members draw on decades of expertise: the two piano sisters, Katia and Marielle Labèque, are joined by Bryce Dessner (Grammy-winning guitarist, composer and founding member of The National), and composer, musician and producer David Chalmin. Together they perform radical commissions from visionary composers and key contemporary works from the past half century.
Glass: Akhnaten / Davies, Esswood, Et Al
Characters as such barely exist, indeed the very notion of 'characterization' is quite inapplicable to the elusive figures who pass through the music like ghosts or shadows. Religious fervour always excepted, everything is drained of human detail and emotion. Even the Act 2 duet between Akhnaten and Nefertiti has all the passion of a pair of scarab beetles mating, indeed, it comes as no surprise to find that the words of this domestic exchange are the same ones used just minutes earlier to address the sun-god Aten. Such is the manner of this solemn, ritualistic work. Decades pass; religions are set up and topple; always the orchestra, the ultimate protagonist, throbs underneath with its almost seamless weft of minor-mode arpeggios. Like Satie's Socrate, another piece of 'white music' and a score to which Akhnaten owes a great deal, this is a statuesque work of such earnestness that the term 'opera', with its implication of drama, fails to communicate the nature of the conception.
Akhnaten contains some of Glass's very best music. The Act I funeral scene, almost anthropo-logically observed with its terrifying drumming and the wild trumpet that accompanies the male chorus at the climax of the procession, strikes a chilling note from which the atmosphere never recovers. The final scene, sung wordlessly by the ghosts of Akhnaten, his wife and his mother in the ruins of their city, haunts the mind long after the music has ceased to play. Strangest and most wonderful of all is the ''Hymn to the Sun'', sung by Akhnaten himself at the centre of the opera, and addressed to the audience in its own language—English was chosen for the recording. It is one of the very few moments when we are invited to participate in Akhnaten's private world of belief, and with Glass's mesmeric music it's difficult not to be drawn in completely and utterly.
Success in the performance of Akhnaten relies more upon the orchestra than on voices, and here the Stuttgart State Opera (which commissioned the work) does a superb job. With relatively limited scope for interpretation, the soloists are to be judged more for the nature of their voices than for what they put into the playing of their parts, and in this regard I was slightly disappointed only by Paul Esswood, whose tense, tight-toned singing of the title-role turns Akhnaten into a colder, more remote figure than he need have been. The chorus is marvellous. Documentation, vital for an understanding of the story, is more than adequate, with full texts and translations from the Egyptian and Hebrew.
-- Gramophone, 02/1998
Glass: Satyagraha / Keene, New York City Opera
-- Penguine Guide [2003/4 Edition]
Philip Glass: Einstein On The Beach
Signature - Philip Glass / Dubeau, La Pietà
"After releasing my album Portrait: Philip Glass in 2008, I wanted to take a deeper dive into the vast œuvre of this composer, an icon of our era and one whose work has and will long continue to have impact. For many years now his fascinating and captivating music has been nourishing me intellectually and musically. Glass being one of the most prolific of composers, there was no shortage of works to include on this my 48th album. My selection approach remains the same; I choose those works I find significant and compelling. Like Glass’ work as a whole, the content of this album is very diverse: music for theatre and for cinema, for chamber and for symphony orchestra, and recent works as well as some written almost 50 years ago! Thank you for giving me carte blanche to revisit these works with my ensemble." (Angèle Dubeau)
Best Of Philip Glass
Tracks:
1. GLASS, PHILIP - LIGHTING
2. GLASS, PHILIP - FACADES
3. GLASS, PHILIP - EVENING SONG
4. GLASS, PHILIP - A GENTLEMAN'S HONOR
5. GLASS, PHILIP - HYMN TO THE SUN
6. GLASS, PHILIP - METAMORPHOSIS FOUR
7. GLASS, PHILIP - OPEN THE KINGDOM
8. GLASS, PHILIP - DANCE II
9. GLASS, PHILIP - GLASSPIECE NO. 1
10. GLASS, PHILIP - CHANGING OPINION
11. GLASS, PHILIP - OPENING
12. GLASS, PHILIP - FLOE
13. GLASS, PHILIP - KNEE PLAY
14. GLASS, PHILIP - FUNERAL FO AMENHOTEP
15. GLASS, PHILIP - WICHITA SUTRA VORTEX
16. GLASS, PHILIP - FORGETTING
17. GLASS, PHILIP - DANCE IX
18. GLASS, PHILIP - DAM
Glassmasters / Philip Glass
This set contains both ADD and DDD recordings.
Glass: Itaipu, The Canyon / Shaw, Atlanta So & Chorus
Glass: Three Pieces in the Shape of a Square / Morris
Craig Morris, former principal trumpet player of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, has recorded brilliant solo trumpet versions of three Philip Glass classics. Morris’s new recording features works ranging from Glass’s constantly shifting ‘Melodies’ (1995) to the driving minimalist rhythms and figures of ‘Gradus’ (1968) and ‘Piece in the Shape of a Square’ (1967). ‘Melodies’ was written as incidental music for a play based on the novel, Un Captif Amoureux (Prisoner of Love) by the French author Jean Genet. Glass’s thirteen melodies cover a wide range of emotion, from touching and introspective to joyous and dancing. The visual element of ‘Piece in the Shape of a Square,’ is much more a part of the composition than it is in ‘Gradus.’ The music is set up in a roughly 10’ square, with one performer on the inside of the square and one performer on the outside. The performer on the inside moves around the square in a clockwise direction, while the performer on the outside moves around in a counterclockwise direction. Virtuoso trumpeter Craig Morris plays both parts on this fascinating recording.
Glass Organ Works - Music Of Philip Glass / Donald Joyce
Glass: Complete String Quartets / The Smith Quartet
The success of Philip Glass outstripped the first flush of celebrity in the 1980s and 1990s. This logical set serves further to consolidate his reputation in a world in which no single style has monopoly or ascendancy.
The Third Quartet owes its existence to a commission for the music for Paul Schrader's film of the life of Yukio Mishima. Mishima’s samurai life and death by seppuku made him almost as much of an iconic figure in the 1960s as Che Guevara. The music moves between a lulling iterative murmur (II) and a sense of rise and uplift (IV). The finale (V) is almost Schubertian or may remind you of a fragment from Smetana’s bustling Aus Meinem Leben. I have heard Company in two other different orchestral version recordings recently: the Naxos Glass set and the EMI ‘American Classics’ disc. The first and third movements are suggestive of a melancholic slowed fanfare. The third is chaffingly Sibelian. The finale is shot through with urgently propulsive power; angst and exhilaration meet and mediate. The early death of the artist Brian Buczak from HIV/AIDS was the spur for the Fourth Quartet. It is one of the longer quartets and has only three movements. It's a work of more complexity than its mates on CD1. There is a great tenderness here and the slow-rocking and piercing poignancy of the second movement is memorable. In the finale it is as if the lock-gates have been raised to release a surge of Schubertian melody.
The First Quartet is from the mid-1960s; pretty early for Glass. It dates from shortly after he had completed his not entirely comfortable studies in Paris with Nadia Boulanger and Pierre Boulez. The work has some of his trademark iterative cell-patterning but the world he creates is more involved, varied, troubled and dissonant. The Fifth Quartet - so far his last - is contemporary romantic. Its second movement is launched with a typical sombre ostinato but other figures of passionate and sanguine weight are interleaved. Passion too drives the third movement which is thrillingly empowered. The fourth carries reminiscences, in Schubertian cotton wool, of those unhurried fanfares of Company. In a flighty finale high-pitched bustle and wonderfully inventive optimistic writing lead to a triumphantly winged episode. There's just a hint of Tippett at full throttle in this music which at the close moves into tender reflection.
As with the other performances you feel that the Smith Quartet have lived and breathed this music.
The set is well presented and the whole effect is very pleasing prompting curiosity about the other Signum/Smith collaborations - Different Trains (Reich) SIGCD 064 and Ghost Stories SIGCD 088.
-- Rob Barnett, MusicWeb Internationl
Glass: Complete Piano Etudes / Veen
Glass: Violin Concerto, Etc / Yuasa, Anthony, Ulster Orchestra

Naxos' exciting and important American Classics series now includes music of the present day, in this case three recent works by Philip Glass. The Violin Concerto, a work that (surprisingly) adheres to classical conventions, lures us in with beautiful, seductive harmonies. Glass relies both on his trademark arpeggiated technique (sounding in the first movement somewhat like Vivaldi's "Winter" concerto) and on his favorite harmonic progressions to suggest a sustained melodic line. In the first two movements Glass' carefully timed harmonic and rhythmic shifts keep you in a happy daze. He breaks the mood in the finale, however, leaving the soloist to practice arpeggios at length until the quiet, serene coda steals in. Adele Anthony, who plays with the kind of skill and grace we would expect in a Mozart concerto, brings off Glass' work with consummate, convincing musicianship. Company (music for Becket's prose) for string orchestra is in four movements, characterized by stimulating changes in time signature and rhythm. The Prelude and Dance from Akhnaten, Glass' third opera, sound exceedingly repetitious without the opera's spoken dramatic narrative, but of course, this won't bother committed Glass fans who will find much to cherish in this recording. Newcomers, too, will enjoy this tuneful if unchallenging music, which benefits from the characterful playing of the Ulster Orchestra under Takuo Yuasa's keen leadership. The sound is excellent. Another home-run from Naxos.--Victor Carr, ClassicsToday.com
American Classics - Glass: String Quartets Nos 1-4 / Carducci Quartet
Although Philip Glass came late to the string quartet, his contribution to the genre has since become a significant one. This disc features the first four of his five quartets, ranging from the uncharacteristic yet fascinating sound-world of the First, through the compact dimensions of the subsequent two (themselves derived from theatre and film scores). The more expansive manner of his Fourth Quartet makes allusions to the formidable string quartet heritage, in particular those of Schubert and Dvořák.
American Classics - Glass: Heroes Symphony, The Light
One main difference between Marin Alsop's interpretations and Dennis Russell Davies' premiere recordings on Nonesuch concerns engineering philosophy. On Naxos, the Bournemouth Symphony emerges in a more natural, concert-hall perspective as you might perceive from a dead-center orchestra seat in a vibrant but not overly resonant hall. The Russell Davies recordings reproduce their orchestras (the American Composers Orchestra in the Symphony, the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra in The Light) at relatively close, detail -oriented range and pack a more immediate punch. For example, in Alsop's slightly faster rendition of the symphony's fourth-movement Sons of the Silent Age, the antiphonal cross-rhythms midway through the work converge to more fluid and blended effect. By contrast, Russell Davies' slower, more heavily accented version beefs up the harps and low brass. And while Alsop begins V 2 Schneider (the final movement) at a bright clip that ever-so-slightly slows down within the first minute, Russell Davies is rock steady. Although I lean toward Russell Davies' recordings (which result from the composer's production team), Alsop's equally world-class interpretations unquestionably convey their own character and validity.
--Jed Distler, ClassicsToday.com
Glass Essentials: An 80th Anniversary Tribute / Horvath [Vinyl]
This compilation celebrates Philip Glass’ 80th birthday through his unique contribution to the solo piano repertoire. It includes the sweepingly diverse and intricately melodic Etudes which are both technique-expanding and also intimately personal statements. His importance as a ? lm composer is shown in the subtle power of his transcriptions from stage and screen music, Metamorphosis I-V, and in his BAFTA-winning score for the The Hours. And Music in Fifths – which Steve Reich called “like a freight train” – dates from his experimental years and is full of a mesmerising variety of pulse patterns.
DANCES & SONATA
Glass: Complete Symphonies, Vol. 1
Hourglass
Glass Two
6 SYMPHONIES
Glass: Glassworlds, Vol. 5
Glass: Glassworlds, Vol. 6 - America / Horvath
Glass - Glassworlds Vol 1 / Horvath
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Reviews:
This disc is important because it demonstrates that Glass’s music works quite nicely alongside other composers of the past and alongside quite traditional approaches to performance generally.
– American Record Guide
Somehow, the objectivity of the sound of a piano suits the music of Philip Glass perfectly. Certainly that’s how it seems in Nicolas Horvath’s expert performances.
– International Piano
Philip Glass - Portrait / Dubeau, La Pieta
The French-Canadian string ensemble La Pietà - all female, in case you hadn’t guessed - and their leader Angèle Dubeau present what is essentially a sampler of the accessible, more recent Glass. Does that mean it will only appeal for someone wishing to hesitantly dip their toe into the Glass pool and be of no interest to the Glass aficionado? Definitely not - the works are all complete as long as you count overtures and opening credits as individual pieces. Some lesser known pieces are included and the performances and acoustics are excellent.
The overture for the “multimedia opera project” La Belle et al Bête (Beauty and the Beast) for piano and strings is the most dramatic and up-tempo music on the disc and gets proceedings off to a fine start. You can see the whole piece performed by Dubeau and La Pietà on Youtube.
I regard the score for The Hours as one of the finest ever written, and this concerto-style arrangement by long-time Glass collaborator Michael Reisman allows a greater continuity than the original itself allows.
I hadn’t heard The Secret Agent film-score before, and based on this haunting cello-dominated extract, I went searching for the complete music, which is available on Nonesuch and I am ordering it as I write. Echorus was written for Yehudi Meuhin and the sleeve-notes describe it as akin to a Baroque chaconne, and quotes Philip Glass “it is meant to evoke feelings of serenity and peace”, which it certainly achieves.
Mishima and Company are respectively string quartets 3 and 2, presented here in their string orchestra versions. The former is more sombre, the latter dominated by the archetypal Glass motoric rhythms and the final eponymously titled movement of Mishima is quite beautiful. The disc ends as it began with piano joining the strings for the elegiac Closing, from Glassworks, and one of the first compositions intended to broaden the audience for Glass’s music.
Detractors will say that there is little variation in atmosphere through the fifteen tracks on the disc, and that is true. However, as I said at the start, you already know that with this composer. In fact, the very constancy of the music’s mood makes this a recording that works at two different levels. Listen to it intently and you are rewarded by glorious melodies and the subtle variations that are his stock-in-trade, or have it playing in the background and soothe your troubled soul.
Suffice to say in conclusion that this is one of the best CDs I have bought this year.
-- David J Barker, MusicWeb International
Philip Glass: Glassworlds, Vol. 4 - On Love / Horvath
One of Philip Glass’ most glorious themes, this release focuses on the subject of love. From his BAFTA award-winning music for The Hours to his iconic Music In Fifths, the genius of this composer is felt throughout the duration of this album. The Hours is featured here in its entirety, complete with three previously unpublished movements. The release also includes the breathtaking Modern Love Waltz and the world premiere recording of Notes On A Scandal. Performing these works is Nicolas Horvath.
Glass – Glassworlds, Vol 2 / Horvath
"Nicolas Horvath, with precise playing and imaginative interpretation has made Glassworlds 2 an indispensable reference for the serious enthusiast as well as marking an important milestone in the evolution of the music of Philip Glass." -- Sequenza 21
Glass: The Perfect American / Purves, Pittsinger, Davies, Teatro Real
The last days of the American icon Walt Disney form a powerful and poignant subject for Philip Glass's latest opera, which was filmed at its first performances in Madrid in January 2013. Phelim McDermott's spectacular production is worthy of Disney's own visual imagination and its definitive influence on American culture, while in the pit is the conductor Dennis Russell Davies, an experienced and authoritative champion of the composer's hypnotically beautiful music, which gives wings to Rudy Wurlitzer's operatic transformation of Peter Stephan Jungk's novel, using both fact and fiction to peer into Disney's troubled psyche as illness forces him to confront his mortality.
What the press said: ''...one of the crowning events of the past year's globe-trotting celebration of Mr. Glass's 75th birthday.'' The New York Times
Philip Glass
THE PERFECT AMERICAN
Walt Disney – Christopher Purves
Roy – David Pittsinger
Dantine – Donald Kaasch
Hazel George – Janis Kelly
Lillian Disney – Marie McLaughlin
Sharon – Sarah Tynan
Diane – Nazan Fikret
Lucy / Josh – Rosie Lomas
The Improbable Skills Ensemble
Madrid Teatro Real Chorus and Orchestra
Dennis Russell Davies, conductor
Phelim McDermott, stage director
Recorded live from the Teatro Real, Madrid, February 2013
Bonus:
- Cast gallery
Picture format: NTSC 16:9
Sound format: LPCM 2.0 / DTS 5.1
Region code: 0 (worldwide)
Subtitles: English, French, German, Spanish, Japanese, Korean
Running time: 120 mins
No. of DVD: 1
