This song didnt even work when i tried to download it. It didnt show up and then i had to repay for it and then when i tried to play it- its a blank file. what the hell is the issue itunes. ?

The first time I heard the Glass Ensemble was on a college radio station in 1977. His music was impossible to find at the time. Most of his early work was released on his own lable in very limited qunatities. I enthused enough about it to a friend that when he went to London by chance he found the first two parts on a Caroline records LP. They chose not to continue with the rest of the work. When he got back, I was a bit taken aback as part 1 isn't much like what I heard on that radio station. In fact, part 1 isn't much like anything else Mr. Glass has produced. Slow, melodic, drawn out notes, unusual sound combinations, this is a wonderful piece but unique. Mr. Glass has stated that originally this part was the entire Music in 12 Parts but he was inspired to expand on it by friends reactions to it. The later parts return to the unusual sax, organ, voice ensemble sound of Glass' early years, a sound I prefer to his later symphonic works. This is still cutting edge music 30+ years later.

Whether you're into it or not, this is a bold middle finger to music at large. I am not particularly enchanted by it, but truly astonished that people are into this. In my mind it is worth further inquiry and discussion but not further listening.

Good music with a great marketing gimmick. Now I've gotta get the whole set.

The recording on the Nonesuch release from the early nineties is far slower, more lucious and more sensual. This performance is great, but find the Nonesuch version, pay fifty dollars, and have a recording you'll listen to for the rest of your life.

I first heard this album over 25 years ago. it's still an amazing piece of work.

As luck would have it, I was at the Schermerhorn for the same performance. As compared to seeing this stuff live, the recordings are really just trivial...it's unfortunate that it loses so much of its presence when the performance element is lost. Then again, the pieces are so long and the changes so subtle that it's not hard to see why it's better live...I guess being able to see the performers makes the monotony take a back seat.

I heard the Philip Glass Ensemble perform this piece at the Schermerhorn Symphony Hall in Nashville, TN on Sunday night February 18, 2007. It is the most beautiful music in the world, and as you listened you never wanted it to stop.

Music in 12 Parts, Part 1 Part 1 of the seminal 'minimalist' piece "Music in 12 Parts". The entire 4 hour piece will be presented on iTunes for downloading one Part per month. "Music in 12 Parts would most likely be classified as a minimal work, it was a breakthrough for me and contains many of the structural and harmonic ideas that would be fleshed out in my later works. It is a modular work, one of the first such compositions, with twelve distinct parts which can be performed separately in one long sequence, or in any combination or variation."- Philip Glass Live recording from a performance on April 8, 2006 at Auditoreum Fausto Melotti in Rovereto, Italy. Performed by Philip Glass and the Philip Glass Ensemble Music Director: Michael Riesman Woodwinds: Jon Gibson, Richard Peck, Andrew Sterman Keyboards: Philip Glass, Michael Riesman, Mick Rossi Vocals: Lisa Bielawa Recordist: Dan Dryden/Stage sound engineer: Stephen Erb