Philip Glass (Spotify Playlist)

Most modern classical music is unlistenable and tuneless and can range from minutes of silence (literally) to “music” that sounds like a dropped tray of dishes in the kitchen; Philip Glass on the other hand is wonderful. Below is a playlist composed of the best tracks of two of his most popular albums, Glassworks and Liquid days, and one from the Orphee Suite.

Composers who write for paying audiences like Glass with his scores for theater and movies must write music people actually want to listen to - as compared with the majority of modern "composers" who earn their living as college teachers and write music more properly thought of as a kind of term papers for other professors. Most modern "composers" and music academies look down with utter contumely on music merely meant to be listened to and enjoyed (A development that would have astonished all composers from 1000bc up to 1920.) This is why the vast majority of modern classical music is not appealing to conductors, orchestras and audiences and must be programmed before the intermission, or huge swaths of the audience would take the opportunity to walk out, as would the orchestra too if they could. Good music has a nice tune and bad music doesn't - all else is mere gloss on the text. Glass although modern, can write great tunes. When I am not in the mood to listen to any classical music and nothing interests me I often turn to Glass who has 50 albums on spotify.