Philip Glass Soundtracks

Michael Riesman is the conductor and producer of nearly every Philip Glass soundtrack recording, including the Academy-Award nominated scores to KUNDUN, THE HOURS and NOTES ON A SCANDAL. PHILIP GLASS SOUNDTRACKS presents his own transcriptions for solo piano of some of the best Philip Glass film scores.

Philip Glass’ score to the film NEVERWAS is the fourth release from the Philip Glass Recording Archive. Neverwas, a film starring Ian McKellen, Aaron Eckhart, Nick Nolte, Brittany Murphy, Jessica Lange and William Hurt , is a fantasy-mystery with a bold, playful and fantastical score by Philip Glass. Neverwas never received wide distribution and was largely forgotten. The 53 minute Glass score possesses some of Glass most accessible and heartfelt music.

With SOLO PIANO, Glass presents himself "unplugged" - no electronic keyboards or synthesizers, and no overdubs, either - just solo piano. Here, Glass' connection to the established "classical" tradition is most evident. Though his pieces are "minimal" (subtly altered repeated patterns or melodic motifs), yet they have an unsentimental beauty and heartfelt grace that one would hear in J.S. Bach's English Suites, as well as the piano music of Chopin and Erik Satie.

In 1990 Philip Glass was asked by director Bernard Rose to compose a score for his film Candyman. Rose, a young director had an intriguing film, Paperhouse to his credit and the Candyman story, (written by Clive Barker), was a tale of contemporary myth and horror that possessed a truly frightening psychological plot. Glass accepted this task and wrote a "gothic" score for chorus and pipe organ. Somewhere down the line the film's producers and Clive Barker became dissatisfied with Rose's work, probably because he wasn't creating enough overt gore and horror and relieved him of the job of finishing the film.

Music for the IMAX documentary film by George Butler about the Mars Exploration Rover mission.
Score preparation by Nico Mulhy. Score recorded and mixed at Looking Glass Studios, New York. Score engineer: Ichiho Nishiki. Score music production coordinator: Christian Rutledge. Score published by Walt Disney Music Company (ASCAP). Glósóli performed by Sigur Rós. Written by Jon Thor Birgisson, August Aevar, Georg Holm, Kjartan Sveinsson, Orri Pall DyRasson. Published by Universal-Polygram Int. Publ., Inc. on behalf of Universal Music Publ. Ltd. Courtesy of Geffen Records under license from Universal Music Enterprises.

In my concert career I have played a lot of minimal— or minimal related music. Pieces by John Adams, Steve Reich, Simeon ten Holt and Arvo Pärt are favorites on my repertoire list. Philip Glass is an eccentric composer, and for some reason I had never played his pianomusic, until last year when I did several concerts in The Netherlands. It was a real eye-opener. The music is so sensitive and pianisticly written. It is a joy to play and perform Glass.

1000 Airplanes recreates the original production with color photographs of Jerome Sirlin's holographic set projections accompanied by David Henry Hwang's compelling script. It is the story of "M.," a New Yorker who is apparently abducted by aliens, probed and questioned, then returned to Earth and told to forget the event. The ambiguity of M.'s experience - was it real or hallucinated? - is never fully resolved; it is a parable on contemporary's man's search for identity in a bewildering world. Philip Glass, David Henry Hwang and Jerome Sirlin stage a vivid, intense journey through M.'s world - inner and outer - which challenges our very notions of reality and sanity. We experience the full force of M.'s dilemma: no place could be as alien as the world has become.

Notes on a Scandal is a story of loneliness, loyalty, envy and love. Directed by Richard Eyre, the film follows a free-spirited and charismatic art teacher Sheba Hart (played by Cate Blanchett), who is brought down by scandal when she is arrested for engaging in sexual relations with a 15-year-old student. Academy Award winner Judi Dench plays a fellow teacher, Barbara Covett who befriends the younger woman and observes her fall from grace. "The score essentially is about Barbara," Glass states. "It begins with Barbara and it ends with Barbara."