From every angle, Glassworks comes across as a tease. Composer Philip Glass hasn't written anything that sounds so "classical," in the Brahms-Schubert-Beethoven tradition, since he helped foment minimalism in the Sixties. Glassworks includes pieces for acoustic piano and for an ensemble, pieces with standard four-bar phrases rather than Glass' usual raga-style rhythm cycles, pieces with crescendos and diminuendos, even pieces with melodies instead of polyphonic webs.

Yet, as classical music, this could only be Glass, not just for the trademarked woodwind filigrees and the eccentric orchestrations (no violins!) but for the way phrases go in circles and harmonies essentially sound static, without the drama that heats up the Romantic repertoire. In other words, Glassworks seems designed to please no one: neither Glass' old fans, who'll expect more propulsive, edgy music, nor handkerchief-wielding classical types, who'll feel cheated of emotional cues. Yet that perversity makes Glassworks interesting. Since he first conceived his current music, Glass has made it less and less minimal, adding counterpoint, harmony and, now, melody. Glass hasn't quite tamed melody on Glassworks, but the album does make you wonder what will come next. (RS 368)

JON PARELES