Episodes
| Episode | First Broadcast | Repeated | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | 20150427 | Memoir by the world-renowned composer of symphonies, operas and film scores, Philip Glass.
'If you go to New York City to study music, you'll end up like your uncle Henry,' Glass's mother warned her incautious and curious nineteen-year-old son. It was the early summer of 1956, and Ida Glass was concerned that her precocious Philip, already a graduate of the University of Chicago, would end up an itinerant musician, playing in vaudeville houses and dance halls all over the country, just like his cigar-smoking, bantamweight uncle. One could hardly blame Mrs. Glass for worrying that her teenage son would end up as a musical vagabond after initially failing to get into Juilliard. Yet, the transformation of a young man from budding musical prodigy to world-renowned composer is the story of this memoir.
From his childhood in post-Second World War Baltimore to his student days in Chicago, at Juilliard, and his time in Paris, where he studied under the formidable Nadia Boulanger, Glass movingly recalls his early mentors while reconstructing the places that helped shape his artistic consciousness. Then, to the gritty streets of New York in the 1970s, where the composer worked as a cabbie, leading the life of a Parisian bohemian artist transported to late-twentieth-century America.
Yet even after Glass's talent was first widely recognized with the sensational premiere of Einstein on the Beach in 1976, even after he stopped renewing his hack license and gained international recognition for his operatic works, the son of a Baltimore record store owner never abandoned his earliest universal ideals, all of the highest artistic order.
Read by Kerry Shale.
Abridger: Laurence Wareing
Music details:
Track: "Bebop"
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in April 2015.
The composer recalls his childhood and acceptance into university at a young age. Memoir by the world-renowned composer of symphonies, operas and film scores Philip Glass. | |
| 02 | 20150428 | Funding himself by working in a Baltimore steel mill, the young Glass secures a place at Juilliard and begins his music studies in earnest. New York City in the late 1950s was a heady place, offering a range of creative opportunities. He soon found himself immersed in the city's vibrant contemporary art scene.
In this memoir, Philip Glass recalls his early mentors while reconstructing the places that helped shape his artistic consciousness.
Read by Kerry Shale
Abridger: Laurence Wareing
Music details:
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in April 2015.
Gaining a place at Juilliard, Philip Glass begins his music studies in earnest. Memoir by the world-renowned composer of symphonies, operas and film scores Philip Glass. | |
| 03 | 20150430 | 20150429 (R4) | Philip Glass recalls his early mentors while reconstructing the places that helped shape his artistic consciousness.
In the mid-1960s, and keen to expand his musical knowledge further, Glass went to Paris to study with the acclaimed teacher of musical composition Nadia Boulanger. While there, and working with the likes of Samuel Beckett, he developed his life-long interest in composing music for theatre.
Memoir read by Kerry Shale.
Abridger: Laurence Wareing
Music details:
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in April 2015.
1960s, Paris: Philip Glass studies with acclaimed teacher of composition Nadia Boulanger. Memoir by the world-renowned composer of symphonies, operas and film scores Philip Glass. |
| 04 | 20150430 | After decades working day jobs to fund his music, Philip Glass finally broke through with the opera "Einstein on the Beach".
Collaborating with director Robert Wilson, the five-hour production sold out each night during its 1976 European and American tour and made the pair's careers.
American composer, Philip Glass's memoir read by Kerry Shale.
Abridger: Laurence Wareing
Music details:
Track: `Knee Play 3`
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in April 2015.
The making of Einstein on the Beach. Philip Glass's memoir, read by Kerry Shale. Memoir by the world-renowned composer of symphonies, operas and film scores Philip Glass. | |
| 05 | 20150501 | Asked to write the score for visionary 1982 documentary Koyaanisqatsi, Glass discovered a new avenue for his musical composition.
He later worked with Martin Scorsese, writing the soundtrack for Kundun (1997).
Conclusion of the memoir by Philip Glass, the world-renowned composer of symphonies, operas and film scores.
Read by Kerry Shale.
Abridger: Laurence Wareing
Music details:
Track: "The Grid"
Track: "Closing"
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in May 2015.
Koyaanisqatsi to Kundun, Philip Glass explains his approach to composing film soundtracks. Memoir by the world-renowned composer of symphonies, operas and film scores Philip Glass. |