His compositions have been defined as minimal music, whereas he himself defines it differently. "The problem is no one is doing minimalism now. It's music we wrote in the 1970s. It's over 30 years out of date. It's a crazy idea to use a description made up by journalists and editors to cover all kinds of music. It's more confusing than descriptive. What do I really do? Listen to me. I've written 26 operas, 20 ballets, I don't know how many film scores. I write theatre music", as he states it.
Philip Glass made contributions with several artists such as David Byrne, Paul Simon, Ronstadt, Patti Smith. Glass' film music has earned him an incredible amount of awards, so it's no surprise that he's had a huge influence on film composers as well, including Hans Zimmer.
David Bowie is another figure who's absorbed Glass's music - and this influence has worked both ways. Glass based two of his symphonies (no.1 and no.4) on albums by Bowie (Low and Heroes respectively), whose music in turn has been hugely influenced by Glass's minimalism.
He inspired young harpist Lavinia Meijer to create her newest album The Glass Effect, which was released last year.
In September 2016, former President Barack Obama presented Glass with a National Medal of Arts. At the ceremony, Obama said Glass was being honored "for his groundbreaking contributions to music and composition," and described him as "one of the most prolific, inventive, and influential artists of our time, he has expanded musical possibility with his operas, symphonies, film scores, and wide-ranging collaborations."
Philip Glass is turning 80 years on January 31st; let's celebrate his 80th birthday and enjoy the albums we had the honor to release on vinyl.
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Coming Soon: Original Soundtrack - The Illusionist (Philip Glass)
Heroes Symphony is a symphony (also known as Symphony No. 4 "Heroes") composed by American composer Philip Glass in 1996 based on the album "Heroes" by David Bowie. Glass also based his earlier Low Symphony [MOVCL009] on the David Bowie album, Low.Heroes was one of David Bowie's most experimental and avant-garde records, so it made sense that Philip Glass would follow the Low Symphony with the "Heroes" Symphony, adapting Bowie and Brian Eno's original, minimalistic synthesized sketches for full orchestra.
"Low" Symphony, composed by Philip Glass in the spring of 1992, is based on the record Low by David Bowie and Brian Eno, first released in 1977. Glass allowed ideas of Bowie and Brian Eno, who worked together on Low, to influence how he worked on the music, leading to surprising musical conclusions and becoming a real collaboration between the music of all three maestros.
With Solo Piano, Glass presents himself "unplugged" - no electronic keyboards or synthesizers, and no overdubs, either - just solo piano.
Directed by Josh Trank, and screenwriters Jeremy Slater and Simon Kinberg (X-Men: First Class, X-Men; Days of Future Past, Sherlock Holmes), The Fantastic Four is a contemporary re-imagining of Marvel's first, and longest-running superhero team.The Fantastic Four score by Marco Beltrami and Philip Glass developed from the inquisitiveness of the film's young protagonists.
Lavinia Meijer's new album The Glass Effect is her latest album released in 2016. This double album includes the theme of Koyaanisqatsi and 10 Etudes by Philip Glass.
Glassworks is the most pleasant craftwork ever from the great minimalist exploiter. Six warm pieces in a successful attempt to create a more pop-oriented work. Glassworks is another Music On Vinyl Classical release by this fantastic composer.
Passages is a collaborative chamber music studio album co-composed by Ravi Shankar and Philip Glass, released in 1990. The album is a hybrid of Hindustani Classical music and Glass' distinct American minimal contemporary Classical style.
30-01-2017