If I Could Choose Only One Work By...GLASS

It Would Have To Be...Koyaanisqatsi (film score)
Because it offers the perfect marriage of sound and image, and beautifully reveals the seductive power of the minimalist aesthetic.
The List So Far...
1. Ravel: Ma Mère l’Oye (Mother Goose Ballet)
2. Bruckner: Symphony No. 7
3. Schubert: String Quintet in C major
4. Shostakovich: Symphony No. 4
5. Mahler: Symphony No. 2 “Resurrection”
6. Tchaikovsky: The Nutcracker
7. Debussy: Preludes for Piano (Books 1 & 2)
8: Handel: Saul
9. Mozart: Le Nozze di Figaro
10. Brahms: String Sextet No. 2 in G major
11. Vaughan Williams: Job
12. Bach: Goldberg Variations
13. R. Strauss: Four Last Songs
14. Berlioz: The Damnation of Faust
15. Haydn: “Paris” Symphonies (Nos. 82-87)
16. Wagner: Der Ring des Nibelungen
17. Beethoven: String Quartet No. 14 in C-sharp minor
18. Mendelssohn: Violin Concerto in E minor
19. Chopin: Preludes
20. Verdi: Rigoletto
21. Roussel: Symphony No. 2
22. Copland: Appalachian Spring (complete original ballet)
23. Grieg: Peer Gynt Suites Nos. 1 and 2
24. Bartók: Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion
25. Prokofiev: Piano Concerto No. 2
26. Rimsky-Korsakov: Opera Suites (Scottish National Orchestra/Järvi) Chandos
27. Schoenberg: Pierrot Lunaire
28. Smetana: Ma Vlást
29. Falla: Nights in the Gardens of Spain
30. Bizet: Carmen
31. Elgar: In the South
32. Sullivan: The Mikado
33. Dvořák: Symphony No. 8; Cello Concerto (Piatigorsky/Munch/Boston Symphony) RCA
34. Liszt: Hungarian Rhapsodies
35. Monteverdi: Orfeo
36. Scarlatti: Sonatas
37. Schumann: Fantasie in C, Op. 17
38. Berg: Wozzeck
39. Hermann: Psycho (film score)
40. Rachmaninoff: Rhapsody on the Theme of Paganini
41. Purcell: Dido and Aeneas
42. Holst: Suites for Military Band
43. Stravinsky: Oedipus Rex
44. Respighi: Three Botticelli Pictures
45. Sibelius: Symphony No. 5; Pohjola’s Daughter (Bernstein, New York Philharmonic) Sony
46. Britten: The Turn of the Screw
47. Borodin: String Quartet No. 2
48. Janácek: The Cunning Little Vixen
49. Korngold: Violin Concerto
50. Tallis: Spem in Alium
51. Nielsen: Symphony No. 5
52. Barber: Knoxville: Summer of 1915
53. Hindemith: Symphony in E-flat
54. Mussorgsky: Boris Godunov
55. Franck: Violin Sonata
56. Rossini: La gazza ladra (The Thieving Magpie)
57. Saint-Saëns: Piano Concerto No. 5 “Egyptian”
58. Weill: The Seven Deadly Sins
59. Pergolesi: Stabat Mater
60. Albeniz: Iberia
61. Bernstein: Mass
62. Schreker: Chamber Symphony
63. Walton: Variations on a Theme by Hindemith
64. Dukas: Piano Sonata
65. Gershwin: Porgy and Bess
66. Tippett: Piano Concerto
67. Poulenc: Songs (ATMA, 5 discs)
68. Szymanowski: Violin Concerto No. 1
69. Gluck: Alceste
70. Vivaldi: L’estro armonico, Op. 3
71. Puccini: La Bohème
72. Hanson: Symphony No. 2 “Romantic”
73. Alkan: 12 Etudes in All the Minor Keys, Op. 39
74. Dutilleux: Métaboles
75. Glinka: Kamarinskaya
76. Crumb: Makrokosmos III (Music for a Summer Evening)
77. Biber: Sonata violino solo representativa
78. Josquin: Missa Ave maris stella
79. Arnold: Symphony No. 5
80. Fauré: Piano Quartets (Trio Wanderer) Harmonia Mundi
81. Hovhaness: Fra Angelico
82. Martinu: Symphony No. 6 “Fantaisies symphoniques”
83. Grainger: Lincolnshire Posy
84. Corelli: 12 Concerti grossi, Op. 6
85. Bellini: Norma
86. Ives: “Concord” Sonata
87. John Williams: Jaws (film score)
88. Honegger: Le Roi David (King David)
89. Kodály: “Peacock” Variations
90. Milhaud: Une Vie Heureuse (10 CD Set, Erato)
91. Scriabin: Piano Sonatas (Hamelin/Hyperion)
92. Casella: Concerto for Orchestra
93. Rautavaara: Cantus Arcticus
94. Chabrier: España
95. Reich: Music for 18 Musicians
96. Waxman: Sunset Boulevard (film score)
97. Rameau: Hippolyte et Aricie
98. Suk: A Summer Tale
99. Delius: A Song of the High Hills
100. Telemann: Tafelmusik
101. Stenhammar: Serenade
102. Orff: Trionfi (Carmina Burana, Catulli Carmina, Trionfo di Afrodite)
103. Bax: Symphony No. 2
104. Turina: Canto a Sevilla

[@axelx4770]

Brilliant choice. That’s the one I’d have picked. Undoubtably his masterpiece.

[@flexusmaximus4701]

Omg! Great choice, as well as my choice! I love this work, the begining with organ reminds me of massive Bach or Bruckner. I have Glass's autobiography, in which he talks of his early love of Bruckner and Bruckners influence on his own creativity. Keep on listening, indeed! Paul G

[@Whiskykoch]

Its The Photographer for me

[@JamesAdams-ev6fc]

I wonder if any of you have heard his symphony The Light? It was commissioned by Case Western Reserve University to commemorate the Michaelson-Morley experiment. I don’t want to spoil this by telling you all the details, except to say that I like this symphony. Tangentially, I have stood on the spot where the experiment took place.

[@ericleiter6179]

This is a good pick for sure...for me, I might have picked Music in 12 Parts as a whole because he intended it to be a compendium of all minimalist techniques, but for his more 'non-minimalist' works, I really like his 4th and 5th String Quartets and his 2nd, 3rd, and 8th Symphonies...I still agree with your pick, but I just wanted to put my two cents in, and perhaps give the Glass haters or newcomers who may read this, a great group of pieces to try out in addition...congrats on 26K subscribers BTW!!!

[@davidblackburn3396]

Knock knock. Who's there? Philip Glass. Philip Glass Who?... Knock knock. Who's there? Philip Glass. Philip Glass Who?... Knock knock... But seriously folks, though Satyagraha is my own sentimental favorite, Koyaanisqatsi is absolutely the right choice.

[@RonSparks2112]

I agree completely. Koyaanisquatsi was the first Glass recording I discovered, and is still a favorite. I still remember riding around my city listening to it in 2004 while getting supplies ahead of a category 4 hurricane that was bearing down on us. The music matched the mood of the occasion perfectly.

[@Warp75]

I’d definitely go with that choice & it’s been so influential on music. I agree I think Glass is great.

[@karlnehring6114]

I actually got to see Glass and his Ensemble perform this live to accompany the film back when it was first released at a theater in Columbus, OH. My wife and I had purchased tickets for a series of special concerts one year while I was in grad school at Ohio State and this was one of the events. We really enjoyed both the movie and the music -- I occasionally play the music to this day, but have not seen the film in decades. Your post is inspiring me to seek it out! 😊

[@atomkraftteddy]

Koyaanisqatsi is absolutely fabulous. Film and score!

[@windowtrimmer8211]

Agree with this choice. Saw the film when it came out. The way the visuals propelled the music and vice versa were ingenious. Liked the score a lot, but since then I have tried to find a single other composition by Glass to like, to no avail.

[@soniaalvarez1584]

The Photographer? Kinda similar. It is also one of my favorites.

[@eddihaskell]

I never thought that I would actually enjoy Philip Glass, but I listened to Symphony #11 on the Sirius classical musical channel and enjoyed it immensely. I was surprised to see that one of the commissioners of the work was the Bruckner Orchestra Linz, which premiered the work at Carnegie Hall for Glass'es 80th birthday in 2017. I need to hear your reommended work.

[@curseofmillhaven1057]

Koyaanisqatsi really is a wonderful marriage of imagery and music - there's a part towards the end of the film, which shows footage of a rocket exploding and the camera tracks one of it's flaming engines spinning back to earth. The music that accompanies that is for solo organ , and it is just so perfect for the imagery - static but amazingly poetic at the same time. Great choice.

[@Bachback]

I suppose that Mad Rush would be my choice, because it combines meditative music with well...a Mad Rush. Scott Varland

[@CannonfireVideo]

Jeez, never would have thought that you'd be a Glass-ian. Koyaanisqatsi is an excellent choice, but my sentimental favorite is the Tirol Piano Concerto, especially the second movement. Every time I hear it, I can't help visualizing a grand, impossibly romantic film involving thwarted love, set in the waning days of the Second Empire...

[@nelsoncamargo5120]

I saw Philip Glass playing here in Brazil! I would choose the work that made me discover his music: Glassworks.

[@SFreije1]

I agree, Glass is one of the greatest composers alive and of all time.

[@kristinpie]

Glass is a talentless hack, just stop.

[@richfarmer3478]

My intro to Glass was the cassette of Glassworks on my Sony Walkmam. I saw Koyaanisquatsi on PBS and would end up buying 2 cds- first an edited one than the complete soundtrack (maybe I'll spring for the cd with the extra music one day). I agree it's probably the most representative work for the list, but my favorite is the ballet The Upper Room. I also think some of his later concertos (cello and piano) are quite good especially the Fantasy for 2 timpanists and orchestra.

[@tmorganriley]

And as part of the Sony Glass Box Set, in order to be complete, they re-issued the Glassworks cassette mix on its own CD!

[@soniaalvarez1584]

That one and MISHIMA!!! But that makes it two, not one, lol.

[@williamssimon4045]

I love philip glass. The work that turned me on to him was the photographer. My personal favourite piece is the Civil wars especially the Brucknerian 1st part and the opera orphee But koyanisqatsi is I think the right choice and so influential from pop to advertising.

[@twwc960]

As you point out, Koyaanisqatsi is one of three films in the Qatsi trilogy, a collaboration between filmmaker Godfrey Reggio and composer Philip Glass, the other two being Powaqqatsi and Naqoyqatsi. Of the three, I agree that the first, Koyaanisqatsi is definitely the best. I was fortunate to have the opportunity to see a screening of the film in Ann Arbor, Michigan in which the Philip Glass Ensemble performed the music live while the film was shown. Needless to say, it was an incredible experience. You are absolutely right in saying that of the three films, Koyaanisqatsi does the best job of combining the music with the images. Seeing this movie is an experience like no other. And the music is superb. HOWEVER ... as this is a series about choosing a musical work, in making a choice, one must consider the merits of the music itself, separate from the film. As great as the Koyaanisqatsi soundtrack album is, my vote for the greatest of the three, an perhaps the greatest Philip Glass album of all (I admit I have not heard everything) would be Powaqqatsi. This fascinating album also features music of Philip Glass at his prime, but has a bit more variety, with more interesting vocal contributions and pieces with more rhythmic and instrumental variety (the opening piece Serra Pelada being a great example). The pieces marked Anthem build powerfully with ominous undercurrents. (Put to great effect in the film The Truman Show as the hero starts to realize something is amiss.) The variety of mood, textures, and forms make Powaqqatsi one of the great film scores and Philip Glass albums of all time and would be my vote for the album to appease the evil god Cankrizans.

[@geraldmartin7703]

Powaqqatsi for me also. I hear trains... .

[@ruramikael]

Agreed!

[@MDK2_Radio]

I’ve never really checked out any of the many-hours-long “endurance” works of any composer, so I’m not sure what impression it would leave me with. But the minimalist works I know, the so-called repetition isn’t there. There’s a subtle but consistent development in progress so it’s not truly monotonous. I was thinking about that when I recently gave Morton Feldman’s “Piano and String Quartet” piece a listen, which at 80 minutes without break is something of an endurance piece for me, but I understand it’s almost a 60s pop song by Feldman’s standards. Compared to Glass, that’s a repetitive, monotonous work but if you give it your attention it’s anything but. So I have to wonder what those who disparage minimalism are looking for. (Of course I tend to think there’s some insecurity being expressed by people who just witlessly hate anything that has found an audience and gained acceptance in the wider world of art, as if it’s not enough to simply not like something because maybe there’s something they want to understand but don’t. I don’t know, I just find it interesting when people can’t just live and let live with these things.)

[@johkkarkalis8860]

Certainly your last sentence contains the secret of longevity for any civilization: "Live and let live". Simple words, but seemingly impossible for our species to practice. If snobbery is a haughty contempt for what is accepted and enjoyed by many, then the snobs are the ones to be ridiculed. (Hope I'm not being supercilious here).

[@marlute]

I saw the film premiere at the NYFF. They moved the venue to Radio City as the film was in 70mm. It was quite an experience.

[@faville]

My first and still favorite Glass work, even if I don’t listen to it much any more (still tons of Glass I haven’t heard). I still inwardly chide myself now and then for not seeing a live performance by the Glass Ensemble with the film when they came through my city in the early 90s.

[@stuartraybould6433]

Had to be this really, although I also love his symphonies especially the bowie/eno heroes and low symphonies as we as no 7 but agree, they are all great.

[@albiepalbie5040]

I watched Koyaanisqatsias a film buff - completely ignorant of the music and got overwhelmed / amazed by the music Loved the film / music experience Saw Shraders Mishima again oblivious of Glass being a significant aspect and again was overwhelmed by the meshing of pictures and sound Fabulous!

[@Harriet-Jesamine]

As a Teenager I fell in love with Sym 2 mvmnt 1, but find the difference between the Rendition I got to know, (Dennis Russel Davies conducting) and newer renditions Huge. Really want to explore a lot more Glass, but there is tonnes of the stuff.

[@ocelotsly5521]

Couldn't agree more with your choice. I also agree that there is no place for rubato in Glass' large-ensemble works - certainly not in his High Minimalist period. I cordially disagree with your assessment of the film. Yes, it shoves urban dystopia down your throat, but I have rarely been as moved at the cinema. Fans of Terence Malik (another polarising figure) may respond positively to it. To each our own aesthetic.

[@gartenkauz2152]

Found it on YT and listened to about the first 15 minutes. Sounds like Glass was influenced by the music of Tangerine Dream and Klaus Schulze from the 70s.

[@LouiePlaysDrums]

It's actually the other way around. TD and Schulze were influenced by Philip Glass as well as Steve Reich.

[@robertdandre94101]

I fell in love recently while watching the series ''the handmaid"s tale'' (1st season) when I heard an adaptation of the blondie's song ''hart of glass'' adapted by philip glass... ....

[@stephenjcarr1]

My favorite is Symphony No 8, followed by the String Quartets played by the Kronos Quartet

[@albiepalbie5040]

I agree A genius Modest genius as well !

[@culturalconfederacy]

Challenge for Dave. The best Forest Murmurs as a parody video. Because, we all know how much he loves that piece (lol).

[@nealkurz6503]

I don’t really know enough Glass to make this choice, but I do like that score. Also his add on score to the 30s Tod Browning/Bela Lugosi Dracula, even if it’s not the way I really want to watch the film very often. I had a good laugh at the KZbin video “The Chipmunks sing Koyaanisqatsi” (definitely the 30 second one…..not a joke that works for the whole thing, eek!). The cover is hilarious too, with such made up titles as “Those Speedy chords • Nature Does some Spooky Things • Booms Go The atom Bombs • Ew, is That A Copper Mine? Escalators Of Death. Lost in The Stars 'Cause The Freeway's Full Of Cars • Skyscrapers, Skyscrapers, Skyscrapers. Ugly, Depressing New Yorkers • Run For It...Rockets Are Exploding All Over The place”.

[@Sulsfort]

Minimalsm makes me feel like a fly, that wants to get out and so flies against the window pane again and again. But I respect it as a different concept of music than let's say Beethoven. So I try Glass' music once in a while.

[@davidblackburn3396]

Try Dance #9 from his In The Upper Room. I love it.

[@Sulsfort]

@@davidblackburn3396 The first version I tried was with score, but a MIDI file. Couldn't listen to the end. Now I hear the version from Glassworks. Much better.

[@davidblackburn3396]

@@Sulsfort 👍 Do yourself a favor and, if you haven't already, give the Act One Prelude to Akhnaten a listen. It just might whet your appetite for more. 😁

[@kermitbq]

Will you talk about Simeon Ten Holt? (Maybe you have already?). 😀

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

Yes, I did.

[@kermitbq]

@@DavesClassicalGuide thank you I will go look for the clip! 👍🏻

[@danduriscoe1280]

Life-changing film, Reggio-Fricke-Glass perfect collaborative effort. Remove one you have a fragment. Totally disagree with Dave that it is "dated", the film, the concept, and the music are timeless.

[@mickeytheviewmoo]

When I saw the thumbnail, I thought you might be doing Louis Glass. Oh well, my bad

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

I don't think many others had that problem.

[@carbonghadius1408]

Depending on my mood, I would hesitate between The Photographer, Satyagraha or Glassworks. If put a gun to my head I would probably pick The Photographer though.

[@VallaMusic]

I still revile Philip Glass - lol - even though I love a few of his works - overall I think the minimalistic style is a horrific train wreck in the history of music - so my one work by Philip Glass is his Violin Concerto - it's actually my favorite violin concerto - maybe because violin is one of my least favorite instruments - lol - and I thought Philip G opened up a whole new dimension for the instrument that I found mesmerizing

[@bsartist3373]

The music of Phillip Glass can be brilliantly effective, but only in its proper context. That is, as background music in a self-serious documentary of some kind.

[@RichardGreen422]

Only a real estate guy would say "highest and best products" when talking about music.