Sony Masterworks MK 37265

1 Opening 6:25
2 Floe 5:59
3 Islands 7:40
4 Rubric 6:05
5 Façades 7:21
6 Closing 5:59

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.”

Gramophone magazine concurred:

…the Glass works gathered together on Glassworks make an excellent introduction to the sharp, hard sonorities, densely packed, slowly changing patterns and seemingly unstoppable linear flow of this important aspect of contemporary music.

Music Composed and arranged by Philip Glass. Produced by Kurt Munkacsi / Philip Glass. Michael Riesman, Conductor.

Performed by The Philip Glass Ensemble. Michael Riesman: piano, electric organ, bass synthesizer. Jack Kripl: piccolo, soprano sax, clarinet, bass clarinet. Philip Glass: electric organ. Jon Gibson: soprano sax “Floe,” “Rubric”. Richard Peck: tenor sax. Sharon Moe: French horn. Larry Wechsler: French horn. Violas: Linda Moss, Lois Martin, Julian Barber, Al Brown, Maureen Gallagher. Cellos: Seymour Barab, John Abramowitz, Fred Zlotkin.

Engineers: Kurt Munkacsi, Michael Riesman. A&R Coordinator: Richard Einhorn. Recorded at: Green Street Recording, Inc., New York, New York. JVC Digital equipment supplied by: Digital by Dickinson, Bloomfield, New Jersey.

Cover design: Henrietta Condak. Cover photo: John Paul Endress.

All Music published by: Dunvagen Music (ASCAP). © 1982 Sony Music Entertainment Inc.

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COMPOSITIONS:
Façades
Glassworks

BOOKS:
Music by Philip Glass by Philip Glass