The cyber-gods have been kind. Up to now the only music of Philip Glass that's come my way were his operas: Akhnaten, Einstein on the Beach, Nixon in China -- stuff like that.
Everything I heard I liked; well, actually I was extremely enthusiastic about him and was at the point of declaring him a genius, or something equivalent. Then a friend loaned me the CD called Koyaanisqatsi reviewed in E2 by Ashley Pomeroy. Frankly, I think her assessment was not only fair but also exceedingly generous -- even when she described the part called "The Grid" as "the audio-visual equivalent of being trapped inside a washing machine."
I don't give up my saints easily, so I looked around until I found a copy of his CD called "Heroes Symphony." The jacket provides this information:
Heroes (5:56)
Abdulmajid (8:57)
Sense Of Doubt (7:23)
Sons Of The Silent Age (8:23)
Neuköln (6:44)
V2 Schneider (6:48)
Total playing time 44:13
Reading further, I found that these pieces are...ah... reworkings, adaptations, whatever of music originally composed by David Bowie & Brian Eno. Well, I did think there were more melodies in "Heroes" than in the other Glass works I've heard. This might explain it.
Nothing, however, can explain why a few bars into the title piece I think I hear a direct quote from Tchaikovsky's "Swan Lake." Speaking of ballets, the dancer and choreographer, Twyla Tharp, used "Heroes" for one of her ballets. The last piece, "V2 Schneider," was written so that the work could end on a very high note.
I don't know that I'd go out and buy the CD, but it is interesting to hear another side of Glass' music.
Reference:
http://www.monsterbit.com/pcp/glass.html
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