It is a longstanding custom for musicians to depart a small something-or-other on the completely disorganized wall of “stuff” that backdrops our Tiny Desk. My favourite is the Johann Sebastian Bach bobblehead.

However now, transfer over Bach. Right here comes Philip Glass.

When Timo Andres arrived at our workplace to play a pair of etudes by Philip Glass, the director of Glass’ publishing home, Adrienne White, tagged alongside and generously donated the one remaining Philip Glass bobblehead to NPR — an acceptable gesture to mark the composer’s 87th birthday on Jan. 31.

The wiggly statue depicts Glass standing at considered one of his trusty Farfisa organs, an instrument related to the early days of his profession when he performed intricate patterns again and again in his SoHo loft, as followers and fellow musicians, like Laurie Anderson, laid on the ground and let the music wash over them.

A lot of Glass’ music can have that remodeling, mesmerizing impact, together with these two etudes. They’re reverse twins from a set of 20, items Glass wrote over a two-decade span, starting within the early Nineteen Nineties. Andres is aware of the music intimately — he helped edit and design a stunning new folio facsimile of the sheet music.

With Etude No. 6, Andres combines stitching machine precision with a deep feeling for Glass’ melodies, stitching collectively delicate arpeggios and thundering chords. Etude No. 5 is, in contrast, a meditation in gradual movement. A see-sawing rhythmic thought units the inspiration for a journey whereby time appears to face virtually nonetheless whereas the areas between the notes communicate volumes.

SET LIST

• Philip Glass: Etude No. 6
• Philip Glass: Etude No. 5

MUSICIANS

TINY DESK TEAM

• Producer: Tom Huizenga
• Director/Editor: Maia Stern
• Audio Technical Director: Neil Tevault
• Collection Producer: Bobby Carter
• Videographers: Maia Stern, Kara Body
• Audio Engineer: Phil Edfors
• Manufacturing Assistant: Ashley Pointer
• Photographer: Elizabeth Gillis
• Tiny Desk Workforce: Joshua Bryant, Hazel Cills
• Government Producer: Suraya Mohamed
• Collection Creators: Bob Boilen, Stephen Thompson
• VP, Visuals and Music: Keith Jenkins