Two world premiere recordings of pieces for cello by Philip Glass are paired on this debut solo recording by the American Wendy Sutter. The first, Songs and Poems for solo cello, composed for her last year, emphasises the singing quality of the instrument (here she plays on the renowned “ex Vatican Stradivarius”) while Tissues, written originally for Godfrey Reggio’s celebrated film Naqoyqatsi but not used in the final cut, also features percussionist David Cossin and Glass himself on piano.
At one point back in the days of LPs it seemed that conductor Bernard Haitink was waging an Ormandy-like campaign to record all of the Western orchestral literature for Philips. Moreover, for many listeners this was a welcome pursuit because Haitink was so good at so many things; his 1973 recording of Stravinsky's Le Sacre du printemps is still considered one of the most superlative readings of the work, even though Haitink's catalog ultimately grew to the extent that it became difficult to single out what was best within it.