Words Without Music: A Memoir [Hardcover]

Warm, low-key and often delightful&. A portrait of a composer who rose to prominence almost entirely outside of the usual institutions&.Lively and colorful&. Glass is one of the most articulate composers around. Insight and practical common sense pervade his new book&. With a composers sense of form, Glass returns, in the final pages, to his youth, the subject that elicits his most evocative writing.Glass, a key figure of musical minimalism, was one of the first composers to reject a distinction between ethnic music and Western classical music, and in this memoir he explains how he came to view a composition not as a linear narrative but as progressive rhythmic sequences.Philip Glass's place in musical history is secure.America's most significant symphonist.An icon of the avant-garde.The most prolific and popular of all contemporary composers.An engaging memoir of an adventuresome, iconoclastic career&Writing with warmth and candor, Glass portrays himself as driven, self-confident and tenaciously determined to invent his own, radically new musical language.No matter your opinion of Glass music, you will like Glass the man&.Aspiring musicians and artists will learn much from Glass, as will general readers, musical or not, who will discover an artistic life exceptionally well lived.Philip Glass has written a fascinating account of his life with recollections of family, teachers, and friends. From his childhood in Baltimore to his studies with Ravi Shankar and Nadia Boulanger and the collaborations with Robert Wilson, Allen Ginsburg, Godfrey Reggio, and Martin Scorsese, among others, Glass offers insights to his music and personal life.I came to Philip Glasss music very simply, without any critical prodding or guidance. I listened and was transfixed. I was excited to work with Philip on[Glass has] fascinated several generations of listeners, demonstrating mesmeric properties that are as palpable as they are inexplicable.An appealing memoir l³’