Symphony No. 4 (''"Heroes"'') is a symphony composed by American composer Philip Glass in 1996 based on the album '' "Heroes"'' by

David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known professionally as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer-songwriter and actor. A leading figure in the music industry, he is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the ...

. Glass had based his earlier Symphony No. 1 on the David Bowie album '' Low''.

Symphony

The symphony is scored for 2 flutes, piccolo, 2

oboe The oboe ( ) is a type of double reed woodwind instrument. Oboes are usually made of wood, but may also be made of synthetic materials, such as plastic, resin, or hybrid composites. The most common oboe plays in the treble or soprano range. ...

s, 2 clarinets, bass clarinet, 2 bassoons, 3

horns Horns or The Horns may refer to: * Plural of Horn (instrument), a group of musical instruments all with a horn-shaped bells * The Horns (Colorado), a summit on Cheyenne Mountain * ''Horns'' (novel), a dark fantasy novel written in 2010 by Joe Hill ...

, 3

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...

s, 2

trombone The trombone (german: Posaune, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate ...

s, bass trombone,

tuba The tuba (; ) is the lowest-pitched musical instrument in the brass family. As with all brass instruments, the sound is produced by lip vibrationa buzzinto a mouthpiece. It first appeared in the mid-19th century, making it one of the ne ...

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Ex ...

, harp,

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keybo ...

, celesta and strings. The symphony is in six

movements Movement may refer to: Common uses * Movement (clockwork), the internal mechanism of a timepiece * Motion, commonly referred to as movement Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * "Movement" (short story), a short story by Nancy Fu ...

: "Abdulmajid", the David Bowie song on which the second movement was based, was not included on the original release of ''Heroes'', but was recorded around the ''Heroes'' recording sessions. The song would later be released on the Rykodisc reissue of the album in 1991.

Album

The album ''"Heroes" Symphony'' includes only the ''"Heroes" Symphony'' performed by American Composers Orchestra directed by

Michael Riesman Michael Riesman is a composer, conductor, keyboardist, and record producer, best known as Music Director of the Philip Glass Ensemble and conductor of nearly all of Glass' film scores. Biography Michael Riesman studied composition with Peter Stear ...

and

conducted Conducting is the art of directing a musical performance, such as an orchestral or choral concert. It has been defined as "the art of directing the simultaneous performance of several players or singers by the use of gesture." The primary duti ...

Dennis Russell Davies Dennis Russell Davies (born April 16, 1944 in Toledo, Ohio) is an American conductor and pianist, He is currently the music director and chief conductor of the Brno Philharmonic. Biography Davies studied piano and conducting at the Juilliard Sch ...

. Recorded and distributed by POINT Music record label, a joint venture of Euphorbia Productions Ltd and

Philips Classics Philips Classics Records was started in the 1980s as the new classics record label for Philips Records. It was successful with artists including Alfred Brendel, Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Sir Neville Marriner and the Academy of St. Martin in the Fie ...

Productions, catalog number 454-388-2.

Track listing

# "Heroes" (5:53) # Abdulmajid (8:53) # Sense of Doubt (7:20) # Sons of the Silent Age (8:18) # Neuköln (6:41) # V2 Schneider (6:48)

References

External links

Programme note by the composer
Chester Novello 04 Philip Glass albums 1996 compositions Glass 04 {{symphony-stub