Worldwide Release of Glass' Ninth Symphony Exclusively on iTunes!

Philip Glass Celebrates 75th Birthday with U.S. Premiere Performance Of His Ninth Symphony At Carnegie Hall

Recording of Glass’ newest Symphony Mastered Specifically for iTunes Released by Orange Mountain Music Now Available Exclusively On The iTunes Store

New York, NY (Jan 31, 2012) Philip Glass, America’s most esteemed composer, celebrates his 75th birthday with performances and events across the globe encompassing every facet of the composer’s decades-long career as a preeminent America composer—opera, chamber music, film music, dance, theatre works and more.

For this occasion Orange Mountain Music presents the world premiere recording of his Ninth Symphony exclusively on the iTunes Store (www.itunes.com/philipglass). The recording is available on the composer’s 75th birthday, a work which the composer calls “big and unrelenting.”

Glass' newest symphony is among the first albums mastered specifically with iTunes in mind and delivers the music to listeners exactly the way the artist and recording engineer intended. Glass’ long-time collaborator Dennis Russell Davies, conductor and music director of the Bruckner Orchester Linz, Landestheater and the Sinfonieorchester Basel, who has premiered all but one Glass symphony, conducts this new recording mastered for iTunes using high-resolution sourced audio to provide fans with an incredibly rich listening experience.

In addition to major performances including his opera Satyagraha performed at the Metropolitan Opera, Koyaanisqatsi performed at the New York Philharmonic, Powaqqatsi performed with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and an international tour reviving the Glass/Wilson opera Einstein on the Beach perhaps the highlight is Glass’ newest composition, his Symphony No.9.

Composed on commission from the Bruckner Orchester Linz, Carnegie Hall, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Philip Glass’ Ninth Symphony was written for large symphony orchestra - piccolos are doubled, the horn section fortified, and bass, brass, and timpani doubled.  Glass’ three-movement 52-minute Symphony No.9 received its world premiere in Linz Austria on New Year’s Day 2012.  The West Coast Premiere of Glass’ Symphony No.9 takes place at Disney Hall in April 2012 with the LA Philharmonic with John Adams conducting. The U.S. premiere of the new symphony takes place at Carnegie Hall on 31 January 2012, Glass’ 75th birthday.

Glass began writing symphonies in his early 50s and has described the symphony in a post-Shostakovich/Mahler form as being a “container.”  Often Glass’ symphonies use texts, soloists and/or a chorus.  However, as with his Eighth Symphony, the Ninth uses only the orchestra as the means of expression. It is a work focused only on “the language of music itself," says Mr Glass.

The Bruckner Orchester Linz, continues its long association with the music of Philip Glass having performed and recorded his Symphonies No. 6,7,and 8, as well as staging of his operas The Voyage, Kepler, and Orphée.

The Carnegie Hall performance will be performed by the American Composers Orchestra, an ensemble long associated with the Glass and conductor Dennis Russell Davies.  The ACO recorded the Glass Fourth Symphony “Heroes” based on the music of David Bowie and Brian Eno and last premiered Glass’ Sixth Symphony “Plutonian Ode” which uses the famous poem by Allen Ginsberg in 2002 at Carnegie Hall.

The celebration of Glass’ 75th year continues with the world tour of Einstein on the Beach, a new remix album of Glass’ music curated by Beck,  worldwide performances of his operas including Galileo, Les Enfants Terribles, Orphée the US premiere staging of his grand opera Kepler at the Spoleto Festival,  a festival at New York City’s Amory which includes a complete performance of Glass’ magnum opus Music in 12 Parts.  Glass us currently composing two operas: The Lost scheduled to premiere and open the new opera house in Linz, Austria in fall 2012, and The Perfect American, about the death of Walt Disney, scheduled to premiere in Madrid in 2013.

Comments

[Rob Skidmore]

Happy Birthday Philip - thank you for writing the soundtrack of my life with your superb music.

[SyntheticMan]

No CD release then? :-(

[Maxim]

Stop the presses! I was browsing through PG's music catalogue on this site when I came across this:

Songs & Poems No.2 for Solo Cello

http://www.philipglass.com/music/compositions/SongsPoems2.php

Richard, is this true? Did Philip Glass actually make a sequel of sorts to the original Songs and Poems?

If so then awesome!

[Richard]

Indeed it is true. When it will be recorded no one knows...

[Rob Skidmore]

Richard,
Could you please let me know if Philip's 9th Symphony will be released on CD. I have tried to contact Orange Mountain Music but to date have had no response. Many Thanks.
Rob

[A Facebook User]

The expanded bass sections of the Glass Ninth symphony reportedly include two infrequently used sub-bass intruments; the contrabass clarinet and contrabass trombone. I'll assume the composer also called upon the more frequently used contrabasson, although it was hard to sort out all the low raspberry notes that were auduble in the performance I heard on the radio today!

[Steve Glassfan]

Rob,

I read that it is going to be released on CD in a month or two (can't remember where I read that). You can always download it from iTunes and easily burn it to a CD with the iTunes software if you have a drive that can burn CD's which almost every laptop has.

[Maxim]

Thank you for confirming this, Richard. I wouldn't be suprised if this second volume shares something with the muscial score for "The Holy See". I'm very excited to hear it.

[boolez]

Eh, I'm not sure what the fuss is all about. Glass isn't exactly Beethoven. At least it didn't include a choir. It's more of the same so if you like that it's fine. Has he started on number 10 yet? I wish the man no ill will though, and hope that he had the best of birthdays.- BZ

[Fran]

To boolez:
I'm sure PG is grateful for your birthday wishes.
If you want your constant criticism to be taken seriously (or as anything other than a good laugh), you need to keep up. Symphony #10 has been completed.
Have a nice day.