recordings

Low Symphony From The Music Of David Bowie & Brian Eno

“Low” Symphony
From the music of David Bowie and Brian Eno
1993
Philip Glass
The Brooklyn Philharmonic Orchestra
Dennis Russell Davies, principal conductor

Catalog

Point Music 438-150-2

Tracks

1 I. Subterraneans 15:07
2 II. Some Are 11:17
3 III. Warszawa 15:57

Notes

The “Low” Symphony, composed in the Spring of 1992, is based on the record “Low” by David Bowie and Brian Eno first released in 1977. The record consisted of a number of songs and instrumentals and used techniques which were similar to procedures used by composers working in new and experimental music. As such, this record was widely appreciated by musicians working both in the field of “pop” music and in experimental music and was a landmark work of that period.

I’ve taken themes from three of the instrumentals on the record and, combining them with material of my own, have used them as the basis of three movements of the Symphony. Movement one comes from “Subterraneans,” movement two from “Some Are” and movement three from “Warszawa.”

My approach was to treat the themes very much as if they were my own and allow their transformations to follow my own compositional bent when possible. In practice, however, Bowie and Eno’s music certainly influenced how I worked, leading me to sometimes surprising musical conclusions. In the end I think I arrived at something of a real collaboration between my music and theirs.

— Philip Glass
New York City, 1992

Credits

Music composed by Philip Glass. From the music of David Bowie and Brian Eno.

Performed by The Brooklyn Philharmonic Orchestra. Dennis Russell Davies, Principal Conductor. Assistant Conductor: Karen Kamensek.
Produced by Kurt Munkacsi and Michael Riesman for Euphorbia Productions, Ltd. Executive Producer(s): Kurt Munkacsi and Rory Johnston. Recorded at the Looking Glass Studios, NYC. Engineered by Dante DeSole. Assistant Engineers: Joe Perera and Elane Rooney.

Art Direction: Margery Greenspan. Design: Phil Yarnall. Photography: Andrew Eccles.

“Subterraneans” by David Bowie. © 1977 Tintoretto Music and Fleur Music. Rights assigned to EMI Music Publishing Ltd. All rights for EMI Music Publishing Ltd. in the USA and Canada controlled and administered by Screen-Gems — EMI Music Inc. All rights reserved. International copyright secured. Used by permission.

“Some Are” by David Bowie and Brian Eno. © 1991 Tintoretto Music, Fleur Music and Opal Ltd. Rights for Tintoretto Music and Fleur Music assigned to EMI Music Publishing Ltd. All rights for EMI Music Publishing Ltd. in the USA and Canada controlled and administered by Screen-Gems — EMI Music Inc. All rights for Opal Ltd. in the USA and Canada controlled and administered by Upala Music Inc. (BMI). All rights reserved. International copyright secured. Used by permission.

“Warszawa” by David Bowie and Brian Eno. © 1977 Tintoretto Music, Fleur Music and E.G. Music. Rights for Tintoretto Music and Fleur Music assigned to EMI Music Publishing Ltd. All rights for EMI Music Publishing Ltd. In the USA and Canada controlled and administered by Screen-Gems — EMI Music Inc. All rights reserved. International copyright secured. Used by permission.

© 1992 Dunvagen Music Publishers, Inc. Symphony administered throughout the world exclusively by Dunvagen Music Publishers, Inc.

© 1993 Point Music / A joint venture of Euphorbia Productions, Ltd., and Philips Classics Productions.

Buy

Related