Search - Michael Riesman :: Philip Glass Soundtracks

A solid taste of Glass

Frank J. Meckel | 02/05/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"With all due respect to InlandEmpire's opinion, Glass' soundtracks are not filled with "unimaginative doodles". To characterize them in that way is to reveal a lack of understanding of how soundtracks are written and work with a film. Quite the contrary, Glass' soundtracks work particularly well with film because they allow the filmmaker to move the film in a direction using Glass' music to add color, depth and pacing. It is no accident that so many directors want a Glass score, and that so many others cut their film using Philip Glass music as a temp score. Anyway, I do agree that this is an excellent sampling, and is very well played. Other than Glass himself, it is unlikely that anyone other than Riesman has a better insight into the music. I would imagine that hooked by these performances, listeners will want to explore the full soundtracks sampled here. Enjoy!"

The best of the soundtracks

InlandEmpire | Israel | 12/05/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Philip Glass' manufacturing line produces way too much soundtrack albums. Each one usually contains one decent tune and other than that lots of unimaginative doodles.

Riesman, who already released excellent piano transcriptions of Glass' Dracula and The Hours, picked the best of those soundtracks tracks, and he performs them energetically. Great album."

Tender Interpretation of Glass

James E. Kiely | Medford, Massachusetts United States | 03/30/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I recently heard Mr. Riesman perform a piano transcription of Glass's soundtrack for "Dracula" in New York before a projection of the movie. He transcribed it from the original score written for string quartet. It was masterful, technically complex and full of appropriate emotion.



That would describe Mr. Riesman's performance on this CD as well. I don't know of anyone who can perform Glass on the piano as well as he. Glass never "doodles" as one reviewer has stated, and this recording never suffers dips in complexity or execution. Played with guts and emotion, precision and freedom, each piece is defined but creates a most wonderfully coherent whole. Please consider adding this recording to your collection."