Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Philip Glass is 75

Today is Philip Glass' birthday.

Philip Glass is an inspirational and inspired musician and his work crosses many genres. He has written operas, numerous film scores, theatrical pieces, and more. He has collaborated with many other well-known musicians; a few of my favorite collaborators are Ravi Shankar, Yoyo Ma, and Kronos Quartet.

His music has accompanied me on many creative pursuits, including silk paintings, pottery making, and his work is often playing when I write. I often drive with his music in my car sound system. I've set up a Philip Glass personal Pandora station.

Today I was driving and listening to NPR - which is where I learned that today is Glass' birthday. They also had an excerpt of an interview Ira Glass (his first cousin once removed) did with him in the late 90s, which you can listen to here. They also provide this link to listen to Movement I from his newest work, Symphony No. 9.

One other thing I learned from the NPR program is that I now have a new name for his style of music. Not that I've ever consciously tried to slot his music into any particular genre category. Anyway - NPR calls him "one of the fathers of minimalist music." That fits; I'll take it. But what I really liked is that his style is also called Pattern Music. I've never heard that style label before - but I am going to look into it. "Pattern music" seems to fit with some other things I like in terms of performance and I want to research it a little more and see where it all fits together. One example is a dance/choreography style (I'm not sure it's called "style" - dance is another area I want to learn more about) which is called scoring; also minimalist yet so effective and leaving so much room for creativity and inspiration. Pattern Music - I like it.

Thank you, Philip Glass, for all of your music.

And below are a few of my favorites, or excerpts from some of my favorites. Enjoy!

Einstein on the Beach Medley (Bed, Knee Play 4)



Einstein on the Beach: The Changing Image of Opera (1984) - Part 1



Heart Beats / Naqoyqatsi

Ragas In Minor Scale

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