In 2007 Philip Glass began a collaboration with violinist Tim Fain when he played on Glass’s piece “Book of Longing,” a song-cycle set to poems by Leonard Cohen. Book of Longing features instrumental solos by each member of the mixed ensemble. Since that time Glass became interested in Fain’s interpretations and Fain was one of the soloists who performed with the Glass Chamber Players. Fain has been an advocate of Glass’s music as a soloist for both Glass violin concertos, performed and recorded Glass’s Double Concerto for Violin & Cello, and for the past couple years has toured extensively with Glass in chamber music performances. All this activity culminated with Glass composing “Partita for Solo Violin” specifically for Fain which is featured here in its world premiere recording. This piece is the central work around which their duo performances are based, and Fain has incorporated the Partita into his multimedia project “Portals.” This recital also features solo violin music from “Einstein on the Beach,” the interludes from the Second Violin Concerto, and the solo violin music from Book of Longing, the piece in which the Glass/Fain collaboration began.
