Brubaker and Cooper, Men of Glass

After Glass Cage in 2000 and Glass Piano in 2015, New York Julliard graduate pianist Bruce Brubaker returns to his obsession with Philip Glass. Brubaker taught Francesco Tristano, who went on to build many bridges between classical and electronic music. He is also a Philip Glass specialist, having played and reinterpreted the composer's work many times.

This time, Brubaker chose to team up with Irish musician Max Cooper, IDM's flagship artist. Cooper, who on his last album, Yearning for the Infinite, invented a sort of “chaos generator”, was the perfect candidate for a tribute to one of the masters of minimalism.

On Glassforms, released on Infiné, the seminal piece Two Pages (1968) acts as a “single track” (provided that this concept has any meaning here). It is a ten-minute hypnotic piano solo deepened by the modular synthesizer that Cooper adds in the background. The record opens and closes with two key pieces: Metamorphosis 2, a cathartic composition, and one of Glass’ major “hits” which is also the Opening of Glassworks on which Max Cooper’s discrete work reinforces the piece’s contemplative feel.

Qobuz met Philip Glass in 2014 in Saint-Etienne during the Nouveau Siècle festival:

LISTEN TO "GLASSFORMS" BY BRUCE BRUBAKER & MAX COOPER ON QOBUZ

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