Some of his movie scores have been decent, I guess, but I'm a bit surprised to find Glass fans on GAF (if I'm sensing that correctly from some of the posts). For the most part he's not really the kind of composer I would think people would sit and listen to a recording of. I don't recall ever seeing a recording of his among the collections of anyone I know. I've had to sit through a PNB performance of some of Glass's compositions. Absolutely mind-numbing, seriously. I've also had the misfortune to sit through a Glass opera. Banal, bizarre, and really, really long. Lots of pleasant-enough harmonies with no melody to speak of, although that's the watchword of a lot of late 20th century music, I suppose. If John Cage represents the very bottom of the curve that 20th century music reached in its exploration of how far musical composition can get from melodic, thematic music, classical forms, indeed from Music itself, I can only hope that people like Glass represent a gradual move by composers back to compositions with real melodic themes. He's not that terrible, (well, compared to hacks like Cage) but it's just too bad that there isn't a whole lot that's much better being produced right now in current "classical" composition.
