Per il centenario della nascita di Allen Ginsberg, celebrato lo scorso 3 giugno, Philip Glass ha raccolto in un breve ep dal titolo Allen Ginsberg-One Hundred tre distinti episodi di una lunga e fruttuosa collaborazione: un inedito (Magic Psalm, Etude No.17), un montaggio audio finora reperibile solo nell'antologico The Fall of America Vol II (Have You Seen This Movie- Distant Figure) e l'emozionante Wichita Vortex Sutra, loro esordio del 1988 - ma il poema di Ginsberg è datato 1966 - divenuto nel tempo un autentico classico.
Allen Ginsberg and Philip Glass first collaborated on Wichita Vortex Sutra. A chance meeting in St. Mark's Bookshop in the East Village led to their first collaboration, when Allen Ginsberg pulled his book of poetry off the shelf and landed on Wichita Vortex Sutra (1966), a poetic reflection of the anti-war mood of the 1960s. Glass composed music to match the rhythm of Ginsberg’s reading. The work premiered at a benefit for the Vietnam Veteran Theater in 1988, at the Shubert Theater, Ginsberg reading his poem and Glass playing piano. The work inspired a larger collaboration and became a part of the evening length opera Hydrogen Jukebox, which had its world premiere at the Spoleto Festival in Charleston, South Carolina in 1990.
