Don't let the 80s-styled cover, and the word "dance" put you off – as the set's filled with beautiful music from Philip Glass – two works done at a time when the composer was maybe at his greatest power, each for two difference dance-related projects! Side one features "In The Upper Room" – done for choreographer Twyla Tharp, and with full orchestrations that are wonderful – very much in the spirit of some of his soundtrack material for Koyaanisqatsi – but without some of the deeper tones and vocal chorus parts. At times, the piano is at the forefront – played by Michael Riesman – but strings and woodwinds are key, too, as the piece shifts through five different dances. "Glasspiece" was done for Jerome Robbins, and has a bit more keyboards at the start, like some of Glass' smaller group 70s work – but then brings in woodwinds and strings in a nice way, before moving back to more keyboards in the final third, which is a reworking of a passage from the opera Akhnaten. (Out Sound, Classical)CD
An amazing record, and one that forever transformed the sound of opera in the US – the amazing summation of all the many musical ideas that Philip Glass had been cooking up since the 60s, done as a mindblowing stage presentation with Robert Wilson! Voices, organ, reeds, and piano come together in wonderful lines that go on and on, seemingly forever, in endless variations and rivulets of sound – as simple in structure as the leaner small combo minimalist work from Glass – but with a very different style in the fuller setting, with a sonic quality that still is as groundbreaking today as it was back in the 70s! (Out Sound, Classical)LP, Vinyl record album
With Ndugu Chancler on persussion, Bill Kanengiser on guitar, and Bob Magnusson on bass on "New Earth Sonata"; and with John Beasley on Yamaha DX7 and Dorothy Ashby on harp on "Amazing Grace". (Jazz, Classical)LP, Vinyl record album
Features McLaughlin's "Mediterranean" guitar concerto, performed with the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Michael Tilson Thomas, and 5 duos for guitar and piano with Katia Labeque. (Jazz, Classical)CD
Pieces include Scarlatti's "Three Sonatas", CPE Bach's "Wurttemberg Sonata No 1", Gould's "So You Want To Write A Fugue", Scriabin's "Two Preludes Op 57", Strauss' "Ophelia Leider Op 67", and Beethoven-Liszt's "Pastorale Symphony"; plus a panel interview conducted in 1980. LP, Vinyl record album