Glass - Symphony No 8 on CD
20th April 2006
After a series of symphonies which featured text and voices, Philip Glass was asked by Davies to "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. "[Symphony no. 8] is about continuous change...the chromaticism that has crept into Mr. Glass' music since Koyaanisqatsi is now more extreme, and more fluid. Indeed, the great attraction of the work is the unpredictable orchestration." (New York Times)
