Pre-order - Philip Glass: Music for Film (2-CD)

Pre-order the new CD Philip Glass: Music for Film. Your order will be processed as soon as the item is released on October 7, 2026.

 

Film Fest Gent proudly presents Philip Glass: Music for Film, featuring comprehensive highlights from the renowned composer’s career in cinema, performed by the Brussels Philharmonic conducted by Dirk Brossé. While there have been countless performances, recordings and releases of Glass’s works, this is the first time that an entire album is devoted to new studio recordings of his original film scores. 

Over the past decades Philip Glass has become a household name in contemporary music thanks to his prolific activity and output across many music genres, including operas, concertos, symphonies and music for theatre. He has also systematically sought out collaborations with musicians and artists from all over the world. Due to his highly idiosyncratic and distinctive style, the American composer has been considered one of the frontrunners of minimalism in music, even though he himself regards his work rather as music with repetitive structures, in a continual search to integrate harmony, melody and rhythm into a single musical expression. In 2025 he received the World Soundtrack Lifetime Achievement Award for his contribution to the art of film music.

This album contains selections from Glass’s most famous film scores, including his triptych of Oscar-nominated scores, namely Kundun, The Hours and Notes on a Scandal. His many scores for documentaries are also represented through his breakthrough score for Godfrey Reggio’s Koyaanisqatsi, its second sequel Naqoyqatsi and a piece from Errol Morris’s The Fog of War, among other tracks. Further highlights include music from Woody Allen’s Cassandra’s Dream, Neil Burger’s The Illusionist and Paul Schrader’s Mishima.

In addition, more than half an hour of music on this album has never been released: all premiering are the selections from Secret Window, Taking Lives, the 9/11 documentary Rebirth, the complete score for Hamburger Hill and a suite from No Reservations. Since Glass’s tracks used in The Truman Show were demos, this album also debuts recordings of two orchestral pieces written for the film. Two final treats are the original complete ending of the piano duet from Stoker and a new arrangement of “Helen’s Theme” from Candyman. 

Released by Silva Screen Records, Philip Glass: Music for Film is the 24th title in Film Fest Gent’s continuing series of annual film music recordings. Other available albums feature the work of Craig Armstrong, Angelo Badalamenti, Marco Beltrami, Terence Blanchard, Carter Burwell, Mychael Danna, Elliot Goldenthal, Cliff Martinez, Mark Isham, Laurence Rosenthal, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Alan Silvestri, Shigeru Umebayashi, Debbie Wiseman and Gabriel Yared.

Tracklist:

CD 1

01 The Hours – The Poet Acts

02 The Hours – Morning Passages

03 The Hours – The Hours

04 The Illusionist – Theme 

05 No Reservations – Suite

06 Hamburger Hill – Title Music

07 Hamburger Hill – Assault

08 Hamburger Hill – End Credits

09 The Fog of War – Invitation

10 Secret Window – Main Title

11 Stoker – Duet

12 The Secret Agent – Theme

13 Animals in Love – The Birth of the Fawn

14 Notes on a Scandal – I Knew Her

15 Cassandra’s Dream – End Credits

CD 2

01 Koyaanisqatsi – Koyaanisqatsi

02 Naqoyqatsi – Intensive Time

03 The Truman Show – Dreaming of Fiji

04 The Truman Show – Truman Sleeps

05 The Truman Show – Raising the Sail

06 Mishima – Opening

07 Mishima – November 25: Morning

08 Taking Lives – Main Titles

09 Taking Lives – Costa Moving Out

10 Taking Lives – Car Chase

11 Candyman – Helen’s Theme

12 Kundun – Sand Mandala

13 Kundun – Chinese Invade

14 Rebirth – Ending Montage