glass notes
IBM Centennial Film: They Were There – People who changed the way the world works

A new Errol Morris/Philip Glass collaboration of sorts.  The two artists worked on a new film by/for IBM called "IBM Centennial Film: They Were There – People who changed the way the works."

While this is unlike their last collaborations much of the style of the two is at the fore.  Largely a film touting IBM's across the board accomplishments which are numerous,  for this Glass composed about 30 minutes of new music.  As you recall Glass has composed a couple short commercial spots for the company in the past couple of years.

This score was composed and recorded very recently and you can hear some recent ideas in the score including at the two minute mark you can hear the rhythmic idea from the last movement of the second violin concerto.  It's generally light music and plays well underscoring the image of IBM as a company.

1 thought on “IBM Centennial Film: They Were There – People who changed the way the world works”

  1. Thanks for posting this video; I’m guessing that the music will never get a commercial release so this is the only way that Glass fans, like myself, will ever get to hear some of his more ephemeral compositions.
    My favourite track is “Our job is to invent” (24:40), I especially like the synthesis that occurs between image and music as we zoom in on the Mandelbrot set; if ever there were a visual equivalent to Glass’ music, it would be fractals! When Mandelbrot says “A formula can be very simple and create a universe of bottomless complexity, like…a curtain opening” I feel he could also be describing “Glassical Music”.

Leave a Reply