GLASS offers a rare glimpse of a great composer at work. What is the process involved in creating a symphony? What forces led to the meteoric rise of the composer whose name is virtually synonymous with the musical revolution known as Minimalism? Filmmaker Scott Hicks, while giving an overview of the Philip Glass oeuvre, frequently captures the often confident and sometimes unpredictable mind-set of this composer as he creates his gargantuan works, Symphony No. 8 for orchestra and the opera Waiting for the Barbarians. With help from Glass’s family and friends, Hicks uncovers parallels between Glass’s aesthetic ideas, his motoric musical undulations, and the many humorous and sometimes mundane aspects of his simultaneous role as a family man.  AK