According to director Paul Schrader there was never any doubt that Philip Glass would be the ideal composer for Mishima, a mosaic film biography. He wanted a score which would unite the film’s disparate elements and propel it forward.

After several pre-production meetings and a trip to the Tokyo locations, Glass wrote a score from the script as he would from a libretto. With Kurt Munkacsi and Michael Riesman he recorded a temp synthesizer version.

Schrader edited the film to this temp score, altering it as necessary: cutting, expanding and repeating cues. He then played the edited film and score for Glass. Glass rewrote the music to fit the film’s now-precise specifications and recorded it with a full orchestra. Later, he supervised last-minute changes during the final mix.

In keeping with the original concept, Glass has re-edited the score as a distinct musical entity. His Mishima equally serves the film and stands alone.

Philip Glass' soundtrack to Paul Schrader's retelling of the life of Japanese author Yukio Mishima is one of his strongest early scores, one that retains his essential "Glass-ness," but begins to bring in elements of narrative, creating distinct sounds for each of the sections of Schrader's non-linear storytelling structure.
So for Mishima's final day, when he tried to stage a military coup and ended up committing suicide, Glass creates tense, suspenseful music with dashes of military drumming. For the sections retelling Mishima's short story Kyoko's House, he recasts his main theme into a composition for '50s-style surf-rock ensemble. Bizarre stuff, indeed. This is stirring, potent music that never once condescends to throw in some sort of Japanese instrument. The ever-adept Kronos Quartet handle much of the string sections of this album.

Original European pressing from 1985 on Nonesuch is in very good condition. Besides a short crackling start on Side A the record is very clean. The cover has minor wear and a very small seam split at the top.