A clear-eyed account from a minimalist master

Autobiography: Words Without Music. By Philip Glass. Faber & Faber, €30. Reviewed by Jonathan O’Brien

Philip Glass: survived terrifying taxi journeys across 1970s New York City to become a world-acclaimed composer. Picture: Fernando Aceves
Philip Glass: survived terrifying taxi journeys across 1970s New York City to become a world-acclaimed composer. Picture: Fernando Aceves

‘I had that Salvador Dalí in the back of my cab once. Very clever man.” Philip Glass doesn’t quite put it in these exact terms, but that’s the gist of the story. In a previous life, roughly four decades ago, the then unknown composer was driving a taxi in New York to make ends meet. He ...