Camille Thomas releases her new double album Philip Glass: For Cello, a wide-ranging journey through the composer’s music for cello, from his two concertos to reworked Études and some of his best-known film scores.
The project has an unusual origin. After Thomas recorded two pieces from Naqoyqatsi for her 2020 album Voice of Hope, Glass got in touch personally to tell her he had enjoyed the recordings and asked whether she knew his cello concertos. That exchange eventually grew into Philip Glass: For Cello, recorded with the Brussels Philharmonic and conductor Oscar Jockel.
At the heart of the album are Glass’s two cello concertos, including an expanded take on Naqoyqatsi, alongside Étudesnewly transcribed for cello ensemble. Thomas also turns to Glass’s film music, with new arrangements of The Hours and The Truman Show. Among them is Truman Sleeps, a piece she has loved since first seeing the film, recast here for cello and piano with Jockel.
Released as Glass approaches his 90th birthday, the album is both a deep dive into his writing for the cello and Thomas’s own take on a musical world she has been drawn to for years.