It was Music in 12 Parts, composed between 1971 and 1974, that really put Philip Glass on the map. That huge, four-hour score is now recognised as one of the landmarks in the history of minimalism, alongside such scores as Terry Riley’s In C and Steve Reich’s Music for 18 Musicians. But Music in 12 Parts didn’t come out of the blue, and this collection of five early pieces by Glass, composed between 1968 and 1970, presents some of the creative background and the precursors of that defining work.
The chronological set begins with what is perhaps the most severely “minimal” piece. In the 28-minute long Two Pages for two keyboards, from 1968, a succession of five pitches is repeated without break, while being shortened, extended or reordered according to a defining set of rules, so the music seems to be simultaneously unchanging and in constant flux.
Music in Fifths, composed the following year, does what it says on the label. It proceeds in a similar way to Two Pages but keeps the two lines moving constantly in parallel fifths. Music in Contrary Motion and Music in Similar Motion, both also composed in 1969, extend the procedures first to three voices (Contrary Motion) and then to four (Similar Motion), gradually thickening the textures and so enriching the harmonic palette.
Music With Changing Parts, from 1970, looks forward most directly to Music in 12 Parts. There are hints of that work’s monumentality, and also of its more varied sound world, with flutes, clarinets, saxophones, trumpet and marimba added to the matrix of three organs that still lay down the ground rules for the 50-minute piece. There are now long pedal notes in the textures, too, which seem to anchor the processes and orient them harmonically, so that the music seems purposeful, even goal-directed, in a way that the earlier pieces never do.
What’s remarkable about the performances by the Cluster Ensemble is that they never seem didactic, and are wonderfully natural and constantly involving musically. The Slovak group, led by keyboard players Ivan Siller and Fero Kiraly, has devoted itself to Glass’s early music for the last three years, and that total familiarity shines through every aspect of their playing. The fact that this set is being released on Glass’s own record label shows that he recognises this, too.
