The music of Philip Glass is, primarily, about process. Much like his other colleagues championed in the name of minimalism (Steve Reich, Terry Riley, LaMonte Young, etc.) Glass’ works focus more on how a piece of music evolves rather than how it handles the holy trinity of rhythm, melody, and harmony. The extensive use of repetition enables the music to become a mantra and set the listener in a trance, making any shifts in tonality or texture no matter how subtle seem radical.
The inherent nature of an etude is to challenge a musician; for the unaware, they are studies typically written to focus on specific musical or technical elements. While most are traditionally intended for pedagogical purposes, there has been a tradition of wickedly challenging etudes that make fine concert repertoire (Franz Liszt’s Transcendental Études, Heitor Villa-Lobos’ Douze Études). Composed between 1994 and 2012 Glass’ two collections of piano etudes were written in part to develop his keyboard skills, yet they undeniably stand as solid musical compositions on their own, perfect for the technically skilled modern pianist.
One of the most respected young pianists of our time, Jenny Lin was one of the select few chosen by Glass himself to premier both collections of the etudes on their complete concert debut in 2014 at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. Performing only a select few that evening, Lin masterfully completes the set, all 20 challenging and ravishingly beautiful studies, with her latest release, Philip Glass: Complete Etudes for Piano.
The playing throughout the album, unsurprisingly, is exquisite. Lin’s performance is virtuosic and poetic in equal parts, flawlessly blazing across the keyboard while retaining a soulful touch. Her sense of timing and nuance on “Book 1, Etude 5” emphasizes the beauty in the work’s simplicity of static rhythm and a fragile melody. She maintains the perpetual motion of “Book 2, Etude 12” with an unceasing conviction that highlights the work’s pensive mood. The repetitive nature of Glass’ etudes require a commitment to their purpose, and Lin’s skill and musicality make her a perfect fit for their debut recording as a complete set.
A phenomenal composer in nearly any medium he chooses, Complete Etudes for Piano also reflects Glass’ evolution beyond a stately godfather of minimalism alongside Reich. Elements of the two books hint at brief flirtations, intentional or not, with (gasp) popular musical styles. “Book 1, Etude 4” feels oddly reminiscent of Chick Corea’s Children’s Songs set, themselves an exploration of piano miniatures with modern jazz tendencies. Likewise, the chromatic sliding 6ths and slinking melody of “Book 2, Etude 14” give the impression of a blues progression filtered through Glass’ trademark modernist bent. These elements don’t imply a robbing of opposing genre tendencies – it’s likely Glass never even considered these ideas outside of a passing notion. Instead, they feel much more like explorations of raw musical material and how they can be reconsidered/recontextualized within an entirely new musical format.
As a document of Glass’ compositional prowess and Lin’s mastery of the instrument, Complete Etudes for Piano is a required recording for pianists, audiophiles, and new music aficionados. With two discs and over two hours of solo piano music – music of a specific aesthetic taste at that – it’s too exhaustive a listening experience to take in a single sitting. Likewise, the album is too rich with virtuosity, both technically overt and musically subtle, to experience passively Consider the album documentation of modern piano, in composition and performance, at its finest, one to be segmented and revisited again and again.