an album that's breaking my heart

the kronos quartet plays phillip glass, released august 05.

i don’t know what it is about the music of phillip glass that makes me feel so heartwrenchingly melancholy. when bob everton died last december, i drove around in my car aimlessly a lot with glass on the stereo – the patterned nature of the music, with the occasional minor-key melodies, seemed to speak a story about life’s growth and decay.

it’s the same feeling i get standing on top of an alpine ridge looking at a vista of ancient mountains and skies – heartbroken by the beauty, small in the bigness and young in the timelessness of the landscape.

very few musics do this to me, and despite the intensity of it, i’m glad for those that do.