Philip Glass

Concerto Fantasy for Two Timpanists and Orchestra

Philip Glass was approached by timpanist Jonathan Haas to write a timpani concerto for himself nearly ten years before Glass was finally able to get down to it. The timpani concerto 'grew up' into a double concerto for twotimpanists and nine timpani in total, in three movements with a pair of cadenzas which are usually added onto the third movement. As is often the case with Glass's music, this is a propulsive, noisy piece with someunusualperformance instructions, e. g. at one point the timpanists set their sticks aside and play bare-handed. American composer Philip Glass is widely known as one of the most celebrated, influential and prolific of the moderncomposers. He is frequently referred to as a minimalist, though he prefers to call himself a composer of 'music with repetitive structures. ' His operas, among them the renowned Einstein On The Beach, are performed across theglobe, and hehas created work for small and large ensembles, film and experimental theatre, and founded his own performing group, The Philip Glass Ensemble.