Settle the Score

You might not recognize the name Philip Glass, but you know his work.

by Mickey Jou

screening

You might not recognize the name Philip Glass, but you know his work: He's the all-but-ubiquitous composer behind the scores of films such as Candyman, The Hours and, more recently, Notes on a Scandal. For the last month and a half, the Rutgers-Camden Center for the Arts' Stedman Gallery has screened films scored by Glass in anticipation the Oscar-nominated composer's April 29 visit. Glass will participate in a moderated discussion and perform selections of his work in a solo piano performance.

Born in Baltimore in 1937, Glass studied flute at Peabody and picked up math and philosophy at the University of Chicago at the age of 15. By the time he finished his musical education at Juilliard, he had become interested in experimenting with how sounds form the texture and rhythm of narration.

Glass' first score came in 1982, when he collaborated with director Godfrey Reggio on Koyaanisqatsi: Life Out of Balance. The experimental montage film consisted of a series of conservation-themed images (such as shots of factory workers juxtaposed with idyllic nature scenes) without the direct connections of a plot. "[Glass] has a larger understanding that movies exist because of the music," says Robert Emmons, curator of the Glass on Film series and associate director of Rutgers' Fine Arts honors program."His scores are never behind the images — sometimes, [they're] even pushing the images forward."

The last two films in the series, 1997's Kundun (the Scorsese-helmed biopic about Tibet's 14th Dalai Lama) and 2006's The Illusionist (a thriller about a magician, a prince and the woman they both love), see the practicing Buddhist branching into contemporary drama. The films may be more conventional, but Glass' tense trademarks — repetitive notes, eerie melodies and minimal instrumentation — are far from absent.

Adds Jeffrey Parks, coordinator of the Glass retrospective and external affairs associate director of the Rutgers-Camden Center, "[Though] his sound is more complex now, his hypnotic, subtle motifs and orchestrations [give films] an otherworldly quality."

In other words, without Glass, many films would come off as nothing more than Powerpoint slides; after all, audiences are paying to be immersed, not to stare idly at pretty pictures. "Music has always had a strong relationship with movies," says Emmons. "[Glass' music is what] moves the story along."

Glass on Film: Kundun and The Illusionist, through Sat., April 28, 10:30 a.m. and 2 p.m. daily, free; Philip Glass: Works for Solo Piano, Sun., April 29, 8 p.m., $26-$30; Rutgers-Camden Center for the Arts, Third and Pearl streets, Camden, N.J., 856-225-2700, www.ruarts.org.