I’m sym­pa­thetic to Justin Davidson’s view, since Glass is a com­poser that I had to con­cen­trate on appre­ci­at­ing. And while we pre­fer dif­fer­ent pieces — for me the great works are Music in Twelve Parts and Another Look at Har­mony — we’re also both drawn to the operas. I think Glass is a fine melodist, craft­ing expres­sive and beguil­ing com­bi­na­tions of words and notes, and his Hydro­gen Juke­box and Mon­sters of Grace sets are some of his best pieces.

Of course, he recy­cles his own mate­r­ial. Every com­poser has done that, even Mahler. Where I think Glass’ work is weak is in that he often reuses lesser mate­r­ial and that he presents every nth set­ting of that same old arpeg­gio with the po-faced inno­cence that no one has ever heard it before. I don’t claim that’s his inten­tion, but that the intense objec­tiv­ity of his style comes off, in the weaker moments, as disingenuous.

Tonight is the US pre­miere of his Ninth Sym­phony, at Carnegie Hall. Worth­while, of course, but even this early in the day, I find myself drawn far­ther away from that and more towards Cage. Per­haps because it’s hard to escape the feel­ing that, though I’ve never heard this new piece, I’ve heard it all before.