Philip Glass has produced ten symphonies so far the ones immediately preceding this one inspired by sources as diverse as Allen Ginsberg poetry Aboriginal writings and Native American song. Symphony No 8 however has noreferences to non-musical materials and takes as its subject according to Glass ‘the language of music itself’.The three-movement work does not conform to classical symphonic form with an extended twenty-minute first movement a slow passacaglia for the second movement and a short dense theme joined by a counter theme then ending with an extended cadence to complete the work in the third movement. Symphony No 8 was commissioned by the BrucknerOrchester Linz under the direction of Dennis Russell Davis.American composer Philip Glass is widely known as one of the most celebrated influential and prolific of the modern composers. He is frequently referred to as aminimalist though he prefers to call himself a composer of ‘music with repetitive structures.’ His operas among them the renowned Einstein On The Beach are performed across the globe and he has created work for small andlarge ensembles film and experimental theatre and founded his own performing group The Philip Glass Ensemble.
