Philip Glass
Solo
is a pandemic-era project, having been recorded at the composer's home in 2021 with the composer on piano and no electronics or other modifications whatsoever. It overlaps with the earlier
Philip Glass: Solo Piano
(1989) and does not really replace it, although one must give the composer, 84 when the album was recorded, credit for keeping his chops in shape. It is true that there is nothing technically difficult in the music, but he is fully capable of giving it a distinctive expressive tinge. Compare the performances of the
Metamorphosis for piano
on the two albums; the work had its premiere on the earlier release (The fourth piece is omitted here with no explanation.)
Glass
is a good deal slower the second time around. Perhaps he was trying to give himself more time, but there is also a reflective, valedictory flavor here that is quite attractive. The pieces are all classics by now;
Opening
is from the 1982 album
Glassworks
, while
Mad Rush
was written for the
Dalai Lama
's 1979 visit to New York and somehow seems even more relevant today.
Truman Sleeps
is from
' soundtrack for the film
The Truman Show
. Any performance by
raises the question of how much weight to place on composers' interpretations of their own music. One may easily find versions of these pieces by other pianists that one may prefer, and
would probably be the first to say that his readings have no special priority. For all that, this is a moving document that will remind any
fan how much the world has been through with his music as a soundtrack. ~ James Manheim