Glassworks

I was introduced to Philip Glass’s music through the movie Koyaanisqatsi which I saw in 1984 in Cupertino, CA. I absolutely loved his style.

Next came the music for the movie Mishima. Rarely a week goes by for me without listening to Glass. Brilliant stuff. He’s done the music for quite a few movies, including the movie Kundun, which is a biopic of the 14th Dalai Lama.

I have tens of hours of his music in my collection. Glassworks is a favorite. He writes operas too. His opera Einstein on the Beach is about a man of science; his Akhnaten is about a man of religion; and Satyagraha about a man of politics. I’m not into operas.

I had heard an interview of Philip Glass that Terry Gross (the best interviewer in the world) did on her Fresh Air program. I learned that Glass used to a blue-collar worker moving furniture while working on composing music. Recently I read a piece on the blue collar jobs of Philip Glass. He’s been a plumber, taxi driver, a steel worker, and so on. That was the guy who entered the University of Chicago at 15 years of age and then went on to the Juilliard School.

Now he is 87 years old and still composing music.

Just a few days ago I discovered an amazing performance of Glass’s Etude 12 by XA4. Listen.

Ah yes, I had attended a concert by Philip Glass when I was at UC Berkeley. I wrote about it here.

Sometime around 1998, I got to see the Dalai Lama at the Zellerbach Hall. Over the years, I attended many musical events. Two stand out particularly. One was “Monsters of Grace” by my favorite composer Philip Glass. Seeing him play the piano from about 50 feet away was a treat.

Well, that’s it for now. Thank you, good night and may your god go with you.