Thanks Phil...er Rich for the love. Big hugs from me to you. It's sad that you feel so negative about this. To be honest Glass does tend to sound exactly the same and has for about the last four decades with a few exceptions. Of course you must have read my decent ratings of the Brubaker reading of the other version of the Etudes last week. That version is still the prefered one to the 94 orgional. The rest of this album is par for the course so if you like this sort of thing you'll like it anyway. Still one should check out Glass's first string quartet. It's a good piece and the recording by the Smith Quartet is wonderfully played. The recording of the Opera a few weeks ago that you..er he co-wrote was hauntingly sweet. Hope you don't hold this against me. I enjoy your overly positive reviews of every single Glass recording ever comitted to record. You're the go-to guy I referrence anytime I'm in the mood to look for some glass to listen to. Thanks again and much love. - Bz

For those who want something beyond Boolez' far too frequent Glass-Bashing, please read on. This new album presents the world premiere recording of Philip Glass' Four Movements for Two Pianos. The composer hasn't focused on chamber music really since his 1991 fifth string quartet. 2008 saw the composition of not only Four Movemetns for Two Pianos but also the Sonata for Violin and Piano. The performance by Davies and Namekawa, from this recording made at the piece's 2008 premiere at the Ruhr Piano Festival, is fantastic. The second part of the disc is Davies' performance of the "six original piano études" which were written for him by Glass. The numbering of the études might appear confusing for listeners who are familiar with Glass' own recording. Glass renumbered the pieces later on. Davies' recording goes back to the original sequence when they were composed in the 1990s. Davies' interpretations are far difference than Glass'. You'll notice strict adherence to tempo and a lack of rubato. Davies is a wonderful pianist and this is a technically assured performance. The album is rounded out with three piano transcriptions (arr. Riesman) from Glass' Oscar-Nominated score to The Hours in 2002 performed by Namekawa. Namekawa is a very strong player. These three pieces only hint at the borad range of her technique.