Philip Glass, Maki Namekawa, Timothy Andres, Clare Hammond, Víkingur Ólafsson

The American composer performs his now complete twenty Études for Piano, alongside pianists Maki Namekawa and Timo Andres.

An introspective portrait of the composer over two decades, The Études is an immersive journey into one composer’s personal soundscape as expressed in the depth and breadth of a single instrument.

One of the most influential composers since the 1970s, Philip Glass started writing this series of twenty piano pieces in the mid-90s to expand his piano technique with music that would enhance and challenge his playing. The result is a body of work that has a broad range of dynamic, tempo and emotion. Throughout the 1990s, he completed 16 of the etudes, each of which take a unique approach to the instrument. The final four études were commissioned in celebration of Glass’s 75th birthday in 2012.