Philip Glass (1937)

I have mixed feelings about the music of Glass. When it works (on me), I can enjoy the obsessive dynamism and world-music wistfulness of it. Oftentimes though, I feel that Glass is just lazily milking the cow of a style and compositional processesĀ  that have brought him success, writing sacccharine tonic-dominant chord progressions that all too visibly try to pull the sentimental strings of his listeners and would put to shame a first-year student in composition.

Violin Solo Music From “Einstein On The Beach”, by Gregory Fulkerson on New World Records 80313-2 “Cadenzas and Variations” (with works of Copland, Ornstein and Wernick) is one of those that have worked with me.

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