Words Without Music

Words Without Music is the long-awaited memoir by the most prolific and popular of all contemporary composers (The New York Times). Whether recalling his experiences working at Bethlehem Steel, travelling in India, driving a taxi in 1970s New York or his professional collaborations with the likes of Doris Lessing and Martin Scorsese, Philip Glass affirms the power of music to change the world.

Rapturous in its ability to depict the creative process, Words Without Music allows readers to experience that sublime moment of creative fusion when life merges with art. Biography lovers will be inspired by the story of a precocious boy, the son of a music shop owner, who entered college at fifteen before travelling to Paris to study under Nadia Boulanger. Glass devotees will be fascinated by the stories behind Einstein on the Beach and Satyagraha among other works. Whether recalling his experiences working at Bethlehem Steel, travelling in India, driving a cab in 1970s New York or his professional collaborations with the likes of Allen Ginsberg, Doris Lessing and Martin Scorsese, Words Without Music affirms the power of music to change the world.

Autorentext

Born in Baltimore in 1937, Philip Glass studied at the University of Chicago and the Juilliard School. The composer of operas, film scores, and symphonies, he performs regularly with the Philip Glass Ensemble and lives in New York.

Klappentext

Philip Glass has, almost single-handedly, crafted the dominant sound of late-twentieth-century classical music. Yet in Words Without Music, his critically acclaimed memoir, he creates an entirely new and unexpected voice, that of a born storyteller and an acutely insightful chronicler, whose behind-the-scenes recollections allow readers to experience those moments of creative fusion when life so magically merged with art. From his childhood in Baltimore to his student days in Chicago and at Juilliard, to his first journey to Paris and a life-changing trip to India, Glass movingly recalls his early mentors, while reconstructing the places that helped shape his creative consciousness. Whether describing working as an unlicensed plumber in gritty 1970s New York or composing Satyagraha, Glass breaks across genres and re-creates, here in words, the thrill that results from artistic creation. Words Without Music ultimately affirms the power of music to change the world.