# Thomas Adès - Inferno



## anahit (Dec 10, 2018)

guys, what do you think? (after hearing the complete, ok?)
Thomas Adès Inferno, for orchestra (2019 - World Premiere, LA Phil Dudamel)


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## Enthusiast (Mar 5, 2016)

I have just finished it. I find it very difficult or impossible to know from one hearing what I will eventually think of a new piece of music from a relatively new-to-me composer. I do know some Ades works and like a few of them but I wouldn't say I really know his style yet. The immediate difficulty I have with this piece is that it _*doesn't sound *__*unfamiliar*_. Maybe his intention was to write in a number of recognisable styles? Like all Ades that I have heard, it is very accomplished. But on first hearing I found little to pique my interest to return to it and I didn't find very much of the "intense inspiration" that I find in the shorter and more compact Tevot, for example. But what do you make of it? I think you like it as you've said a little in the Composer Guestbook about it. Do you know anything about the composer's intention with the work?

Thanks for the opportunity to hear it.


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## janxharris (May 24, 2010)

Unable to play file


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## anahit (Dec 10, 2018)

janxharris said:


> Unable to play file


no? maybe you have a script blocker or so. just click on the play icon, or download it.



Enthusiast said:


> But what do you make of it? I think you like it as you've said a little in the Composer Guestbook about it. Do you know anything about the composer's intention with the work?


as far as I know, this should be a part of a much longer (!) ballet piece. it is inspired by, among others, liszt's symphonic poems, and there are quotes of old music.

concerning the music itself (material, orchestration, form), in my opinion the composer demonstrated all "composer's vices", or to say "examined all composer-don'ts". a prime unfortunate-example.


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## Phil loves classical (Feb 8, 2017)

Sounds great to me. Not a fan of his work in general.


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## Littlephrase (Nov 28, 2018)

I enjoyed the work. Adès is a composer I’m generally fond of and this is no exception. It contains all the chameleonic polystilism (constantly flitting between pastiche and modernism) and the timbral excitement that I’ve come to expect from him.


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## Vasks (Dec 9, 2013)

While I don't have time to listen to it all and having only very Ades selections in my library, I have to say that after 5 minutes of listening, I think it's fine. Totally get what he's doing, no complexity, just attention-grabbing, clever ideas. And the abrupt changes suggests a ballet


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## Clairvoyance Enough (Jul 25, 2014)

It's hard for me to get through loose and longform structures when I don't find the melodies especially captivating. I didn't dislike them, but they weren't quite earworms that tempted me to rewind either. That left the orchestration and overall mood of the piece to stand on its own, which was a bit like a contemporary film trying to dazzle me with outdated special effects. I enjoyed it but found my attention drifting pretty frequently.


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## longgone (Jun 6, 2019)

There's a somewhat long section which pastiches Liszt's _Valses Oubliées_ which are originally (beautiful) works for piano solo. I imagine other parts of the piece are such re-orchestrations?


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## Enthusiast (Mar 5, 2016)

Littlephrase1913 said:


> I enjoyed the work. Adès is a composer I'm generally fond of and this is no exception. It contains all the chameleonic polystilism (constantly flitting between pastiche and modernism) and the timbral excitement that I've come to expect from him.


That seems to sum it up well. I have never really found much reward in polystylism myself but that is just me.


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