Kronos Quartet - Mishima (1985)

Writer-director Paul Schrader's films are always as memorable for their music as they are for their visuals--sometimes more so. Think of Giorgio Moroder's synthesizers pulsing through Cat People; think of Blondie's anthem for American Gigolo; think of Scott Johnson's remarkable score for Patty Hearst--and think of the full suite of music composed by Philip Glass for Schrader's ode to the deeply conflicted Japanese novelist Yukio Mishima. With its gilded, impressionistic set and its plot-eschewing cinematic vision, Mishima depended upon Glass's compositions for grounding. Despite the Japanese setting, the music is pan-global, typical of Glass's genre-absorbing minimalist style. A standout track is "Osamu's Theme," which features a catchy rock & roll guitar part against a string setting. And the album's quartets feature none other than the Kronos Quartet. -- Marc Weidenbaum