Figures of Glass [Piano Etudes - Edits]
Description
With Figures of Glass (Piano Etudes – Edits), Vanessa Wagner offers a new listening perspective on Philip Glass’s Piano Etudes, shaping a curated selection of edited versions drawn from her acclaimed recording of the complete cycle. These edits do not alter the substance of the works; rather, they refine their temporal focus, revealing their emotional force with renewed clarity.
Conceived in parallel with Figures of Glass, a hybrid project developed with visual arts Collectif Scale, the release extends a dialogue between piano and light, sound and space. Between piano and light, Vanessa Wagner interprets Glass’s Etudes at the heart of a scenographic installation, exploring the visual imagination embedded in the composer’s music. Minimal structures become spatial gestures; repetition opens onto perception, colour, and resonance.
Taken together, these edits form a coherent arc through Glass’s language: from tension and propulsion to suspension and introspection, from rhythmic urgency to contemplative stillness. Wagner’s approach is marked by precision, restraint, and a deep attention to resonance, allowing each piece to unfold with an assumed expressive sobriety. Figures of Glass also exists as a live creation, presented in Paris at the Théâtre du Châtelet on April 7, 2026. In both recorded and staged forms, the project invites contemporary listening contexts — from focused headphone listening to immersive visual environments — while reaffirming the Piano Etudes as a major landmark of 21st-century repertoire.
Bridging modern classical piano, minimalist writing, and spatial listening formats, Figures of Glass (Piano Etudes – Edits) speaks equally to traditional classical audiences and new listeners discovering Philip Glass through curated, editorial-driven experiences.
Tracklist
A1_Etude No. 1 (Edit) - 04:36
A2_Etude No. 2 (Edit) - 03:37
A3_Etude No. 3 (Edit) - 02:28
A4_Etude No. 5 (Edit) - 05:08
A5_Etude No. 6 (Edit) - 03:27
B SIDE - 23:16
B1_Etude No. 8 (Edit) - 03:45
B2_Etude No. 10 (Edit) - 03:27
B3_Etude No. 16 (Edit) - 03:41
B4_Etude No. 17 (Edit) - 05:23
B5_Etude No. 18 (Edit) - 03:19
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