Music in Twelve Parts (1975)

Ti­tle of the album: Music in Twelve Parts
Ti­tle: (Seite 01)
La­bel: Virgin Records Ltd, London
Da­te: 1988
Me­di­um: 6 records 30 cm in box
Cover: Sol LeWitt

The work Music in Twelve Parts was created by Philip Glass between 1971 and 1974. It is a four-hour composition divided into 12 parts. The increasing complexity and cyclical nature of the entire work throughout the twelve parts is interpreted as a reflection of Glass's musical development since 1967.

In addition to the electric organ, saxophones and woodwinds, the singing of a female voice is an essential part of the instrumentation. Originally planned as just one piece containing twelve harmonising counterpoints, Glass subsequently created eleven further parts of the composition, giving new meaning to the designation "Twelve Parts".

Glass uses frequent repetition, but through gradual change and increases in complexity, he knows how to develop a piece that the listener can follow effortlessly for its entire duration. The music journalist Andrew Porter of The New Yorker magazine described the effect in 1978 as follows: "A new sound and a new chord suddenly break in, with an effect as if one wall of a room has suddenly disappeared, to reveal a completely new view."

The work gained significant popularity and is now considered one of the great musical works of the second half of the 20th century.

The album comprises a total of six records, each containing two of the twelve parts. Here you can hear the first side of the first record. The musicians Philip Glass, Richard Peck, Jon Gibson, Richard Landry and Joan La Barbera were involved in this piece, which was recorded in 1975 at Greene Street Studios, NYC.

_PS