Glass Koyanis

The Orange Mountain Music release "Music 4 Hands" is a collection of new recordings on dual pianos performed by Dennis Russell Davies and Maki Namekawa. The compositions are "Six Scenes from Les Enfants Terribles" for two pianos based on the original opera by Philip Glass as well as a Steve Reich’s "Piano Phase". "Music 4 Hands" debuts these new arrangements by Dennis Russell Davies and Maki Namekawa.

In 1982 Philip Glass became the first composer since Aaron Copland to join the CBS Masterworks label. Glass had formed the Philip Glass Ensemble in 1968, but it wasn't until his opera Einstein on the Beach (1976) that he achieved great critical and popular success. His first album for Masterworks, Glassworks, tripled all sales projections, pleasing audiences, critics and Glass himself: "I'm very pleased with it, the way it's received in performance. The pieces seem to have an emotional quality that everyone responds to, and they work very well as performance pieces."

For 18 months director Scott Hicks (Shine, No Reservations) followed composer Philip Glass around with a video camera capturing all aspects of his life. His film provides an intimate look at Glass as a family man, delves into his spiritual life and produces some insights on how he composes music. Orange Mountain Music’s soundtrack to “GLASS: A Portrait of Philip in Twelve Parts” contains much of the music from the film including a wide variety of music from every part of Philip Glass’s career. Included on this collection are selections from Einstein on the Beach, Etoile Polaire, Glass’ music for solo piano, and more.

Philip Glass' string quartets may contain his most intimate music. They are works through which a very public composer, perhaps the most important opera reformer of our age and a longstanding collaborator in large-scale music theater, holds up a mirror to himself and his way of composing.
Even Glass' most loyal listeners may be surprised to learn that he has written eight quartets to date. His first three compositions, he says, were string quartets — student works, now discarded. His first numbered quartet was written in 1966, in Paris, shortly after Glass had finished his studies there with Nadia Boulanger and had been introduced to the music of India by Ravi Shankar. It is the culmination of Glass' earliest attempts at a highly reductive style, containing a series of short sections comprised of tiny repeated motives, and it proved the precursor of the classic minimalist technique he was soon to develop.

The Japanese progressive rock trio GERARD is one of the most well known names in this genre from Japan. The band is lead by the keyboard player Toshio Egawa (ex. EARTHSHAKER, NOVELA, SCHEHERAZADE). Toshio is the main reason why GERARD have so many similarities to EMERSON, LAKE & PALMER. His virtuous keyboard playing brings ELP to mind and the band is a trio, just like ELP. What differs these to bands though, is that GERARD is heavier, almost towards hard rock now and then…