On Wed, 16 Aug 1995, Johnathan A. Rickman wrote:
quoted 2 lines Glass is a very futuristic composer -> Glass is a very futuristic composer -
> easily the Aphex Twin of the classical music/new composers world.
Glass has one great idea that he's been reusing for many years. Having
said that, I consider _Glassworks_ and _The Photographer_ to be genius.
Your analogy is very appropriate, though maybe not for the reason you made
it. Richard James and Phillip Glass are both important and talented
composers who are nonetheless desperately overrated, and who repeat
themselves.
Now that your ears are accustomed to new musical experiences, you might
consider looking into some of these composers/works: (not IDM, I realize)
Glenn Branca / Symphony #3 (Gloria) Music for the First 127 Intervals of
the Harmonic Series. -- A successful blend of the visceral power of Rock
and the subtleties of orchestral music. Performed on a number of
custom-built electric stringed instruments, the harmonics blend, collide
and bounce off each other to create a dense mist from which phantom
instruments may emerge.
Morton Feldman / Triadic Memories, For Bunita Marcos, For Phillip Guston,
Piano and String Quartet -- Impossibly beautiful, elegant and
time-warping, almost religious, minimalist music without a trace of the
cliche. Triadic Memories and For Bunita Marcos are piano pieces. For
Phillip Guston is a good starting point if you don't feel the need to dip
your toes in the water before diving in. It is a 4-1/2 hour meditative
(non-repetetive) head-trip. Piano and String Quartet performed by Kronos
will probably be easiest to find and the least expensive.
Conlon Nancarrow / Studies for Player Piano -- Only bother with the Vol.
I-V on Wergo, don't settle for anything less. Nancarrow meticulously
composed about 4 dozen amazing polyrhythmic musical creations using the
best sequencer available to him: player piano. Since the piano is a sound
one normally associates with human hands, these performances sound
"superhuman" rather than "non-human" or "mechanical". Nancarrow often
goes well beyond what is remotely playable by human hands, sometimes
creating sounds which no longer even sound like piano.