Philip Glass was born in Baltimore, Maryland, on January 31, 1937. He attended the Peabody Institute there where he studied the flute. At 15 he moved on the the University of Chicago and the study of mathematics and philosophy as well as more training in music. Today, Glass is quite probably the most well-known minimalist composer of our time although he has moved on to far more complex composition that he describes as "music with repetitive structure." Whatever one cares to call it, the music of Philip Glass is profoundly individualistic and stylistically unique:
Listening to Glass is often more an experience where one can get "into" the music as a participant rather than merely observe. Even at its simplest, his work has complexities in tone, harmony, tempo and orchestration. For one thing, Glass counts. He plays by the numbers, practicing his musical arithmetic adding, subtracting, multiplying, dividing, and even solving some algebraic formulas here and there. In the end, music to Glass seems like mathematics he studied. Fortunately for our culture, popular as well as haute, he became an extraordinary, prolific composer and a significant international influence in the music world.
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Photos and Illustrations:
Photo credit: Axelboldt, WNYC New York Public Radio
Text:philipglass.com
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