Words Without Music

Review Wonderfully illuminating ... Big-hearted and open-minded, this irresistible memoir helps to show how Glass has channelled and transformed the sounds of our time. -- Boyd Tonkin ― The Independent This elegantly written, funny and sometimes very touching memoir. -- Richard Morrison ― The Times In his long-awaited memoir, Glass weaves together personal and creative epiphanies with all the intricacy you'd expect. -- Things We Like ― NME An unpretentious and often funny account of the life of a remarkable man. ― The Economist [The] story of an amazing journey, borne along by some of the most powerful currents in contemporary art. -- Adam Lively ― Sunday Times Glass's style of writing is devoid of pomposity or fake intellectualism. Words Without Music is informal, chatty and self-aware ... an amiable and entertaining book. -- Richard Fairman ― Financial Times [A] lively, readable memoir ... Aids, Woodstock, Vietnam, the film world, the art world, the jazz era of John Coltrane, Ornette Coleman, Charlie Parker: all spring to life in these pages. Philip Glass is a deft, quietly witty writer. Finding his own music - how to make it, where it comes from - is his first priority. -- Fiona Maddocks ― The Observer An engaging, even charming book, one of the most readable autobiographies ever written by a classical composer. -- Terry Teachout ― Commentary [A] well-written, well-observed memoir with a charming New York flavour of directness and specificity about small things. -- Philip Hensher ― The Spectator Martin Scorsese ... has remarked that Glass is as good a writer as he is a composer. I agree; I couldn't put the book down. This is a splendid memoir and essential reading for anyone interested in the contemporary scene. -- John Robert Brown ― Classical Music Words without Music is a simply told delight, without pretension or aspiration to abstract poetry. Yes, it might test the staying power of a reader with only middling interest in music. But alongside the technical details of his edification, this son of tough-guy Baltimore record-store owner Ben Glass and formidable academic Ida offers a breezy, colloquial kind of story-telling, with idiomatic dialogue occasionally reminiscent of Raymond Carver or JD Salinger. -- Jane Graham ― Big Issue [A] lucid and highly readable story told by one of the indisputable key figures of 20th century music. -- Jonathan O'Brien ― Sunday Business Post It's impossible to imagine the memoir of an arch-modernist like Pierre Boulez or Karlheinz Stockhausen spending two pages explaining how to install a toilet, as Glass gleefully does here .. This memoir fizzes with bathos - cocking a snook at anyone who dares to take it all too seriously. -- Alexandra Coghlan ― Prospect You don't have to particularly enjoy Glass's music to appreciate this book. It is a fascinating observation on the nature of art, being an artist and the benefits of keeping an open mind. Philip Glass is a truly thoughtful, talented and inspiring writer. Words without Music is not only one of the best musical biographies that I have ever read, it is also a brilliant meditation on the nature of life and creativity. -- Mark Diston ― theregister.co.uk [An] extraordinary memoir ... the clarity, detail and New Yorkerishness of his prose have echoes of Roth. ― Literary Review Product Description The long-awaited memoir by 'the most prolific and popular of all contemporary composers' (New York Times) Rapturous in its ability to depict the creative process, Words Without Music allows readers to experience that sublime moment of creative fusion when life merges with art. Biography lovers will be inspired by the story of a precocious Baltimore boy, the son of a music-shop owner, who entered college at age fifteen, before traveling to Paris to study under the legendary Nadia Boulanger; Glass devotees will be fascinated by the stories behind Einstein on the Beach and Satyagraha, among so many other works. Whether recalling his exp