KEY POINTS:
For many, the music of Philip Glass defines minimalism, from its chug-a-chug chords to mesmerising whiplets of sound. The 70-year-old composer may not quite have the intellectual credibility of the younger John Adams, but Glass proves in his score for the 2002 film The Hours that you don't need cerebral cogitation to come up with nifty atmospherics.
You may not be familiar with the man's symphonies and concertos but, if you have seen movies like Koyaanisqatsi, Kundun or Candyman, you have certainly heard his music.
The latest Glass album, Book of Longing, offers 22 tracks based on the poetry of Leonard Cohen, with a few recited by the poet himself. The remainder are set to music by Glass and sung to an airy chamber music-like accompaniment.
In fact, Glass was so impressed with Cohen's original poems that he described them as flowers simply waiting to be put into vases.
The composer certainly comes up with some skilful musical origami here, although, bearing the Glass house style in mind, there is not too much variation in the vases themselves.
If it is lyricism you want, then linger over the Middle Eastern lilt of How Much Do I Love You; humour is meted out by the line and the whole song (Mother Mother has the ultimate Jewish mother coping with the consequences of Buddhist afterlife).
This is not music to ruffle the senses.
Major and minor chords trip along, only occasionally having to navigate a spot of turbulence.
Unexpected touches range from passing moments in which violin and cello wax Bachian to a spot of eroticism in The Night of Santiago, inspired by a Garcia Lorca poem.
However, with Dominique Plaisant's soprano, the mood of the song is far from steamy - how much grittier it would have been with Cohen's own rasping monotone and his customary girlie chorus.
If you are headed south this weekend, Glass closes Wellington's International Arts Festival with a performance of the piece.
* Philip Glass: Book of Longing (Orange Mountain Music, OMM 0043, through Ode Records)
* Philip Glass: Book of Longing live, Michael Fowler Centre, Wellington, Sunday 8pm
