Philip Glass: Music In 12 Parts by Philip Glass Ensemble, Philip Glass

supersigil

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I hardly ever listen to Philip Glass. I like some of his film scores, but generally if I want minimalism I opt for... Reich or pretty much any of the other composers from that scene. I love music that uses extended durations and repetition to transcend time, but somehow Glass doesn't do that for me. Instead, I find myself all too aware of what his compositions must look like on paper: an endless stream of 8th notes going up and down. It's just too clinical. However, I was listening to Laurie Anderson on Desert Island Discs and she chose a track from this piece. I kinda liked it so thought I'd give it a go. Then I remembered I once sat through a live performance of this entire 3.5-hour-long composition, which I found mind-numbingly boring. This time, I was grateful for the ability to press stop after the first disc. show more