Editing Philip Glass (section)

===2005–2007: ''Songs and Poems''===
[[File:Philip Glass 1.jpg|thumb|Glass in December 2007]]
''[[Waiting for the Barbarians (opera)|Waiting for the Barbarians]]'', an opera from [[J. M. Coetzee]]'s [[Waiting for the Barbarians|novel]] (with the libretto by [[Christopher Hampton]]), had its premiere performance in September 2005. Glass defined the work as a "social/political opera", as a critique on the [[Presidency of George W. Bush|Bush administration]]'s [[Iraq War|war]] in Iraq, a "dialogue about political [[crisis]]", and an illustration of the "power of art to turn our attention toward the human dimension of history".<ref>Philip Glass, notes to the premiere recording of "Waiting for the Barbarians, Orange Mountain Music 2008</ref> While the opera's themes are [[Imperialism]], [[apartheid]], and [[torture]], the composer chose an understated approach by using "very simple means, and the [[orchestration]] is very clear and very traditional; it's almost [[Classical period (music)|classical]] in sound", as the conductor Dennis Russell Davies notes.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/4236740.stm |title=Entertainment &#124; Philip Glass opera gets ovation |work=BBC News |date=September 12, 2005 |access-date=September 20, 2011}}</ref><ref name=mercury>{{citation|first=Richard|last=Scheinin|periodical=[[San Jose Mercury News]]|date=October 7, 2007|title=Philip Glass's ''Appomattox'' Unremitting, Unforgiving}}</ref>

Two months after the premiere of this opera, in November 2005, Glass's [[Symphony No. 8 (Glass)|Symphony No. 8]], commissioned by the [[Bruckner Orchestra Linz]], was premiered at the [[Brooklyn Academy of Music]] in New York City. After three symphonies for voices and orchestra, this piece was a return to purely orchestral and abstract composition; like previous works written for the conductor Dennis Russell Davies (the 1992 [[Concerto Grosso]] and the 1995 Symphony No. 3), it features extended solo writing. Critic [[Allan Kozinn]] described the symphony's [[chromaticism]] as more extreme, more fluid, and its themes and textures as continually changing, morphing without repetition, and praised the symphony's "unpredictable orchestration", pointing out the "beautiful flute and [[harp]] variation in the melancholy second movement".<ref>[[Allan Kozinn]], "A First Hearing for a Glass Symphony," ''The New York Times'', November 4, 2005</ref> [[Alex Ross (music critic)|Alex Ross]], remarked that "against all odds, this work succeeds in adding something certifiably new to the overstuffed annals of the classical symphony. ... The musical material is cut from familiar fabric, but it's striking that the composer forgoes the expected bustling conclusion and instead delves into a mood of deepening twilight and unending night."<ref>{{citation|first=Alex|last=Ross|author-link=Alex Ross (music critic)|title=The Endless Scroll|magazine=[[The New Yorker]]|date=November 5, 2007|access-date=November 11, 2008|url=http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/musical/2007/11/05/071105crmu_music_ross}}</ref>

''The Passion of Ramakrishna'' (2006), was composed for the [[Pacific Symphony]] orchestra, the Pacific Chorale and the conductor [[Carl St. Clair]]. The 45 minutes choral work is based on the writings of Indian spiritual leader [[Ramakrishna]], which seem "to have genuinely inspired and revived the composer out of his old formulas to write something fresh", as one critic remarked, whereas another noted "The musical style breaks little new ground for Glass, except for the glorious [[George Frideric Handel|Handelian]] ending ... the composer's style ideally fits the devotional text".<ref>Timothy Mangan, [http://www.ocregister.com/entertainment/hall-145874-one-new.html "A stellar premiere"], ''[[Orange County Register]]'', September 18, 2006</ref><ref>Mark Swed, [https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2006-sep-18-et-segerstrom18-story.html "Taking a sounding of the Segerstrom"], ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'', September 18, 2006</ref>

A cello suite, composed for the cellist Wendy Sutter, ''Songs and Poems for Solo Cello'' (2005–2007), was equally lauded by critics. It was described by Lisa Hirsch as "a major work, ... a major addition to the cello repertory" and "deeply Romantic in spirit, and at the same time deeply [[Baroque music|Baroque]]".<ref>{{citation |first=Lisa |last=Hirsch |title=Chambered Glass |periodical=San Francisco Classical Voic |date=September 28, 2007 |url=http://www.sfcv.org/2007/10/02/through-a-glass-brightly/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080616141808/http://www.sfcv.org/2007/10/02/through-a-glass-brightly/ |archive-date=June 16, 2008 |access-date=November 11, 2008 }}</ref> Another critic, [[Anne Midgette]] of ''The Washington Post'', noted the suite "maintains an unusual degree of directness and warmth"; she also noted a kinship to a major work by [[Johann Sebastian Bach]]: "Digging into the lower registers of the instrument, it takes flight in handfuls of notes, now gentle, now impassioned, variously evoking the minor-mode keening of [[klezmer]] music and the interior meditations of [[Cello Suites (Bach)|Bach's cello suites]]".<ref>{{citation|first=Anne|last=Midgette|author-link=Anne Midgette|title=New CDs From Musicians Who Play the Field|date=March 9, 2008|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/07/AR2008030700957_2.html|access-date=November 11, 2008|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]}}</ref> Glass himself pointed out "in many ways it owes more to Schubert than to Bach".<ref name="autogenerated1">[[Nico Muhly]], [https://www.theguardian.com/music/2009/may/22/philip-glass-nico-muhly "There will be people who are horrified by these ideas"], ''The Guardian'', May 22, 2009</ref>

In 2007, Glass also worked alongside [[Leonard Cohen]] on an adaptation of Cohen's poetry collection ''[[Book of Longing]]''. The work, which premiered in June 2007 in Toronto, is a piece for seven instruments and a vocal quartet, and contains recorded spoken word performances by Cohen and imagery from his collection.

''[[Appomattox (opera)|Appomattox]]'', an opera surrounding the events at the end of the American Civil War, was commissioned by the [[San Francisco Opera]] and premiered on October 5, 2007. As in ''Waiting for the Barbarians'', Glass collaborated with the writer Christopher Hampton, and as with the preceding opera and Symphony No. 8, the piece was conducted by Glass's long-time collaborator Dennis Russell Davies, who noted "in his recent operas the bass line has taken on an increasing prominence,... (an) increasing use of melodic elements in the deep register, in the [[contrabass]], the [[contrabassoon]]—he's increasingly using these sounds and these textures can be derived from using these instruments in different combinations. ... He's definitely developed more skill as an orchestrator, in his ability to conceive melodies and harmonic structures for specific instrumental groups. ... what he gives them to play is very organic and idiomatic."<ref name=mercury />

Apart from this large-scale opera, Glass added a work to his catalogue of theater music in 2007, and continuing—after a gap of twenty years—to write music for the dramatic work of Samuel Beckett. He provided a "hypnotic" original score for a compilation of Beckett's short plays ''[[Act Without Words I]]'', ''[[Act Without Words II]]'', ''[[Rough for Theatre I]]'' and ''[[Eh Joe]]'', directed by JoAnne Akalaitis and premiered in December 2007. Glass's work for this production was described by ''[[The New York Times]]'' as "icy, repetitive music that comes closest to piercing the heart".<ref>{{citation|first=Ben|last=Brantley|author-link=Ben Brantley|title='Beckett Shorts'; When a Universe Reels, A Baryshnikov May Fall|periodical=[[The New York Times]]|date=December 19, 2007|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9401E5D8133DF93AA25751C1A9619C8B63 |access-date=November 11, 2008}}</ref>