39′

Music by Philip Glass.
Published by Dunvagen Music Publishers.

Commissioned by the Bruckner Orchester Linz conducted by Dennis Russell Davies.

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November 2, 2005 at Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York City (USA) by BrucknerOrchester Linz, conducted by Dennis Russell Davies.

My recent symphonies – Symphony No. 5 “Requiem, Bardo and Nirmanakaya”, Symphony No. 6 “Plutonian Ode”, and Symphony No. 7 “A Toltec Symphony” – are all driven by text: Symphony No. 5 by Ancient, Classical, and Aboriginal writings; Symphony No. 6 by Allen Ginsberg’s poem; Symphony No. 7 by a transcription of a Native American song.

Symphony No. 8 marks a return to symphonic writing based on instrumental music alone. Dennis Russell Davies asked me think of the orchestra as a collection of virtuoso instruments as you would find in a concerto formation. Symphony No. 8 starts from this point in presenting ideas involved with timbre, density, structure, and melody.
— Philip Glass, April 2005

Symphony No. 8 at Wise Music Classical

RECORDINGS:
Philip Glass — The Symphonies
Symphony No. 8 on Orange Mountain Music