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By ALLAN KOZINN /  ArtsBeat/The New York Times

Philip Glass’s big-ticket works, for the last 35 years, have been operas and symphonies, with works for the smaller, electronic keyboard-based chamber ensembles with which he made his name inevitably taking a back seat. But for many of Mr. Glass’s most ardent fans, some of the composer’s best, most harmonically inventive music is in his Piano Études. That collection of 20 works is about to take the spotlight, thanks to both a new recording by the pianist Maki Namekawa, and concerts at the Brooklyn Academy of Music on Dec. 5 and 6, at which Mr. Glass, Ms. Namekawa and eight other pianists (among them, the composers Nico Muhly, Tania León and Timo Andres) will perform the full set.

Philip Glass performing at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in September. Chad Batka for The New York Times

Mr. Glass began the Études in 1994, partly as a 50th birthday gift for the conductor and pianist Dennis Russell Davies, but mainly because Mr. Glass was playing solo piano recitals, and wanted material that would challenge his technique. The original five grew to 10, which Mr. Glass recorded for his own Orange Mountain Music label in 2003. A second set of 10 was promised. Mr. Glass took a decade to complete it.

Ms. Namekawa’s recording (also on Orange Mountain Music) includes all 20 works, and will be released on CD and as a digital download on Nov. 25. People who preorder the digital download set on iTunes will have an advantage: between now and the release date, two Études from the second set will be automatically downloaded to their iTunes playlists every week – as if Mr. Glass were releasing a weekly single.

Mr. Glass is also publishing the score for the Études, both in physical form and as an iBook. “Apple has this vision of 21st-century piano works being performed from music read on iPads,” said Richard Guérin, who runs Orange Mountain Music. Eventually, Mr. Guérin said, iTunes would offer what he called “an enhanced bundle” with the scores and the music together.

“For Apple,” Mr. Guérin said, “Philip represents a complete experience of live music, published music, and recording.” In January 2007, iTunes released what was then a new version of Mr. Glass’s “Music in 12 Parts,” making one of the 12 sections available every month. When Mr. Glass celebrated his 75th birthday, in 2012, iTunes released a recording of his Ninth Symphony just hours before the work had its American premiere, at Carnegie Hall. That recording reached No. 15 on iTunes’s pop chart.

Reference: ArtsBeat/The New York Times  By ALLAN KOZINN