Philip Glass’ First Concert Ever on 180g Vinyl! Limited to 1000 Copies!

This new vinyl release from Orange Mountain Music presents Philip Glass’ first concert ever in what the composer considers his ”debut.” The concert took place on May 19, 1968 at the Film Makers Cinematheque at 80 Wooster Street in Soho, New York City.

The performance was the first ”all-Glass” concert ever and featured solo works and duets with visual elements. This recording captures two of the solo works on the program including Glass himself performing How Now for solo organ and Strung Out for solo amplified violin performed by the legendary Dorothy Pixley-Rothchild for whom Glass had previously written a violin concerto for in 1960. It was soon after this concert that Glass started his own ensemble for which he wrote many new works. Consequently many of the works from this ‘pre-Philip Glass Ensemble’ period were not performed for a long time. Strung Out has the sheet music strung out in an L shape and the performer walks along the music as he/she goes farther into the piece.

This is the oldest recording of any kind of Philip Glass’ early music.

”Every new musical language requires new performance skills. Works such as HOW NOW and STRUNG OUT were, in effect, pieces written to develop these skills which include stamina, sustained concentration, and an ability to play continuously in an easy and relaxed manner.” -Philip Glass