A founder of the minimalist school of composition, American composer Philip Glass was introduced to a wide variety of classical music by his father, who owned a record shop. He entered the Peabody Institute’s preparatory programme as a flautist, before studying math and philosophy at the University of Chicago. After being exposed to the music of Anton Webern, Glass went on to complete keyboard studies at Juilliard as a contemporary of Steve Reich and won a Fulbright scholarship to study with Nadia Boulanger in Paris. Composed in 1981 for his own Philip Glass Ensemble, Glassworks was intended as an accessible piece of music for the “Walkman generation” and was successfully marketed as such. This re-edition of the original recording features Glass talking about the piece and his process. Whether you’re already familiar with it or not, this is a great companion guide.