Michael Riesman is the conductor and producer of nearly every Philip Glass soundtrack recording, including the Academy-Award nominated scores to Kundun, The Hours, and last year’s Notes On A Scandal. Philip Glass Soundtracks presents his own transcriptions for solo piano of some of the best Glass film scores.
Riesman is also known as the Music Director of the Philip Glass Ensemble and has an association with the composer dating back to 1974. He has artfully served Glass' music as a producer, conductor, transcriber and pianist. Riesman was the masterful solo pianist on the soundtrack recording to The Hours. He later arranged its score into a three-movement concert suite for piano and orchestra which he has performed internationally with orchestras including the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Brooklyn Philharmonic, Milwaukee Symphony and Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra.
Recently, Riesman has been transcribing Glass' film music into virtuosic solo piano music and releasing CDs of these arrangements. This includes a transcription of the entire scores to The Hours (OMM0012) and the Glass score to Dracula (OMM0033) which he performs in a live-to-film in concert. Philip Glass Soundtracks features many new suites and transcriptions including music which has never been heard before. The films, which span over 20 years of Glass’ composition for the medium, are No Reservations, Naqoyqatsi, A Brief History Of Time, Anima Mundi, Jenipapo, Mishima, La Belle et La Bête (Glass’s 1995 opera used as an alternative score for Jean Cocteau’s iconic film), Neverwas (Riesman also conducted the Neverwas soundtrack which was released in August as OMM0052), Candyman, The Fog of War, Notes On A Scandal, and The Illusionist.
