Philip Glass – Heroes • Low Symphonies (From The Music Of David Bowie & Brian Eno) (2003)

Picked up for a couple of quid a few years back in the charity shop on the basis of "this looks interesting", I have listened to this a few times and enjoyed it.

Classical music (if that's what this is) isn't my thing, possibly because of the force feeding during my teenage years by my father, a bit of a classical music buff, and I'm not clear how seriously Glass is taken in that community (I suspect quite seriously as a modern minimalist), nor how these pieces (his 4th - Heroes, and 1st - Low) are regarded, but I quite like them.

They aren't 'classical versions' of the Bowie albums, but are pieces inspired by various tracks on those albums.

Heroes is, to me, the easier listen of the two symphonies. The opening title section is a gentle, flowing orchestral piece, followed by Abdulmajid which takes the basic theme from the Bowie track, adds an almost Spanish percussion and builds on it. Sense Of Doubt is the most recognisable from the Bowie, with the sinister four note descending theme building to an exciting crescendo. Sons Of The Silent Age features a sweet horn(?) melody, followed by Neuköln, again borrowing heavily from Bowie before the concluding section V2 Schneider providing a bright ending, with little of the original melody, until it pops up in the middle section, and a soaring climax to the symphony.

Low, on the other had, doesn't inspire me quite as much. Subterraneans is a slow minimal soundscape, which is a bit of a plod, with Some Are getting a little more interesting, before the final section Warszawa, a dark, slow piece which livens up later but tend to meander rather than reach a climax.

All in all, a very enjoyable listen, with Heroes being far more inspiring than Low. Probably a good 4* for Heroes, and a solid 3* for Low.

Link to Heroes symphony and Low symphony

4* - some lovely sections here, inspired by Bowie and Eno