Philip Glass - Philip Glass Solo
(Orange Mountain Music, 2024)
At 87 years old, composer Philip Glass returns to his piano and the recording studio to create a testament to his 60-year career. Legion are the pianists who have recorded Glass’ solo piano works. There is no need to recount these as we have the genuine article performing some of his most famous compositions. Glass reprises the majority of his Solo Piano (CBS, 1989), specifically “Mad Rush and “Metamorphosis I-V.” Other selections include “Opening” from Glassworks (Sony Classical, 1984) and “Truman Sleeps” from Glass’ soundtrack for the movie The Truman Show (Paramount Pictures, 1998).
Glass’ performances are expansive, even orchestral. They are closely captured with a warmth that many interpreters have tried to completely remove from their performances, making them clinical specimens beneath the glass. The composer’s performance of his “Metamorphosis” is well-paced and authoritative (how else would they be?). He plays his punctuating bass notes lightly, more so than a majority of his interpreters, who prefer an exclamation point to a simple period or comma. Glass has no fear of filling the sonic spaces of his performances. His reminiscence on Philip Glass Solo is long overdue and needed to remind us what the music sounds like minus the myth.