Philip Glass - Philip Glass: "Low" Symphony (From the Music of David Bowie & Brian Eno) (2014) LP

Glass finds inspiration for his music in the strangest places. Here, he has taken his themes for the Low Symphony from the music of David Bowie and Brian Eno, specifically from their album entitled Low. You needn't be familiar with (or like) the work of Bowie or Eno to appreciate this piece, which is in three movements: Subterrraneans, Some Are, and Warszawa. Glass doesn't quote the borrowed themes directly, but lets them generate their own variations- -which he's very good at. This is an unexpected success and a grand delight. --Paul Cook

When Philip Glass announced his next work would be based on works from the classic Brian Eno/David Bowie album Low, critics assumed that Glass was running out of ideas and that he'd just run some of his patented major-scale runs underneath some recognizable pop music, another example of that darned modern music trying to be cool like rock. But Low Symphony actually works (and haven't classical composers always copped melodies from popular tunes?), with Glass focusing on three pieces and exploring and expanding on the ideas within. The opening, "Subterraneans," maintains the meandering but tense feel of the original. When percussion builds in the mix, it suggests a resolution, but none comes. The middle movement is more of a revelation, based on a bonus track, "Some Are," that only made it to the Rykodisc pressings of Low. The original was more of a sketch, a half-whispered song backed by minimal piano and atmospherics. Glass resurrects this song and whips it into a forceful, stirring number that makes the pulse race. Listeners unfamiliar with Bowie's album may think it started out as an anthem. Finally, "Warszawa" returns to replicating the original track, transcribing Bowie's vocal for cello, bringing out a melody similar to Prokofiev. Highly listenable compositions that do not pander to either side of the pop/classical divide.