A salute to Philip Glass on his 74th birthday
There have been so many notable obits in music the past few days -- Milton Babbitt, Margaret Price, John Barry -- that I thought it would be worth remembering someone who's still very much with us: Philip Glass. He marks his 74th birthday on Jan. 31.
I hope the celebrations surrounding his 75th next year will include lots of performances in his native Baltimore. I still think we don't hear enough of his music here, although Marin Alsop has sure been helping make up for the years of local neglect since becoming music director of the Baltimore Symphony (last month's presentation of "Icarus at the Edge of Time" was the most recent example).
Alsop mentioned to me that she is hoping to get a project going with the composer, a project that would bring him back to his hometown for a little bit. That would be cool.
Meanwhile, here's my salute to his 74th birthday -- one of my favorite Glass moments, the slow movement from his
Violin Concerto No. 1. This is minimalism at its most reflective and subtly seductive (to my ears, at least).
