# John Adams



## Meaghan

Maybe I'm missing something, but I haven't been able to find a Composer Guestbooks thread for John Adams. So - here's one!

Perhaps the element I most enjoy in Adams' music is rhythm - the relentless rhythmic propulsion of many of his works, and his use of complexly layered polyrhythms.

Also, Adams has a blog on his website which is often entertaining and/or enlightening reading. He seems to have just returned from a long blogging hiatus.

Anyway, I really enjoy Adams; he may be my favorite living composer, and I thought he needed a guestbook.


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde

YES. John Adams!


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## clavichorder

You know that I heard his Doctor Atomic symphony live. I found it interesting. But my teacher, who hates minimalism turned to me and assuredly said, "its dumb." I guess we all have our blind spots, I thought it wasn't bad at all.


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## Meaghan

clavichorder said:


> You know that I heard his Doctor Atomic symphony live. I found it interesting. But my teacher, who hates minimalism turned to me and assuredly said, "its dumb." I guess we all have our blind spots, I thought it wasn't bad at all.


I like your teacher, though I am glad you do not feel it incumbent upon you to agree with him about everything. I would be interested to hear how you liked the rest of the concert! Perhaps it is in your letter.


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## Argus

John Adams has done some stuff I enjoy but he's also done quite a lot I'm indifferent towards, however the oft overlooked and beautifully understated Light Over Water is an excellent synthesis of various elements of Riley, Marshall, Eno and even Roach.


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## Oskaar

Adams is a mothernist, that have given me a lot of pleasure. He have roots TO MUSIC (My oppinion of music), not just mixing something together...

I love his elegie, String Poetic, Atomic Symphony, Century Rolls, Chamber Symphony, China Gates...


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## Sid James

I've heard some of his music & I generally like it. Especially how he mixes popular culture with classical music. I think with guys like him, the old distinctions between "high" and "low" art simply vanish (I don't even know if there ever where any hard and fast boundaries between them, anyway, or if it really matters?).

His chamber symphonies are good. Two of them, I think, the second one whimsically called _Son of a Chamber Symphony_. Maybe he should do a _Daughter of a Chamber Symphony _as well? Music from television cartoon shows that his kids were watching and the three movement classical form mix with modern techniques, eg. minimalism.

There's also an interesting clarinet concerto of his called _Gnarly Buttons_, which inocorporates the favourite old timer music of of his father who was dying of Alzheimer's disease at the time. Adams played the clarinet himself, and this piece has a lot of the music which he played and which his father knew and loved, from jazz to classical...


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## Clementine

Yep, Adams certainly is the real the deal, though I think he's in a little bit of a creative lull at the moment, common for most composers at his age. He definitely isn't the most consistent composer, probably because he consistently does the same thing (busy 3 movement works), but his _Violin Concerto, Naive and Sentimental Music, Chamber Symphony, Grand Pianola Music_, and _On The Transmigration of Souls_ are all masterpieces in some shape or another (in my opinion).


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## Romantic Geek

Adams music is hit or miss. Harmonium is a fantastic piece and there's a recording that won a Grammy floating around. He'll be known in music history as an opera composer however. I've heard excerpts from some of them, and liked some...hated others. Depends on the opera.


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## Vaneyes

Tom Service continues his oft bewildering journey of his 50 I dunno whats. This week it's John Adams' Harmonielehre.

http://www.theguardian.com/music/to...ny-guide-john-adams-harmonielehre-tom-service


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## GioCar

I agree with Tom Service when he writes that Harmonielehre _is one of the late 20th century's most significant and sophisticated examples of the form_ (symphony), but I find more interesting his Naive and Sentimental Music (1998), which was composed in a "symphonic" form as well. 
Harmonielehre is, imo, actually "naiver" than his later work (in spite of its name) with those E minor chords at the beginning (a sort of unrequested pamphlet) and all those cross-references to the composer's dreams...
Naive and Sentimental Music, although less known than Harmonielehre (afaik there is only one nice recording of it, with Esa-Pekka Salonen conducting) is much more intriguing and, I'd say, enjoyable.


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## Cosmos

I've just started listening to his music. From what I've heard so far in A Flowering Tree, his music is...interesting...


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## Guest

I've only listened to The Dharma At Big Sur so far, but I liked it quite a bit.


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## Neo Romanza

arcaneholocaust said:


> I've only listened to The Dharma At Big Sur so far, but I liked it quite a bit.


_Harmonielehre_ is the best thing Adams has composed IMHO. Check it out sometime. My next favorite work would be _Harmonium_ and then _Naive & Sentimental Music_.


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## KenOC

Adams has been spoken of as "hit and miss", which is probably true. But his "hits" add up to an impressive body of work. I'm very happy that he has been able to make a living writing such fine stuff.


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## Albert7

I need to hear your The Death of Klinghoffer again next month because I feel that it is worth presenting it to our music society. Political yet accessible which puts it in line with Henze's type of agenda. Bravo, John. Your works are great.


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## Avey

Quickly become enthralled with Adams material. *Violin Concerto* is amazing. *My Father Knew Charles Ives* -- the title is just as good as the piece. The *fantasia *on Tristan and Isolde. *Dharma*.

Delving deeper, and deeper...


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## Cosmos

Revisiting this thread: After listening to some more Adams, I can say that he is FANTASTIC with color. I only know Harmonielehre, Century Rolls, and Dr. Atomic Symphony


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## Albert7

Yep good enuf 4 me.


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## Avey

*Grand Pianola*

Gave me a certain revelation the first time hearing it, driving past some pretty scenes and thinking of some significant stuff.

Heard it a second time, and was equally great. Third time, pretty good. Fourth time, not as great. Fifth time, OK, a work I really enjoy. Settled.

Then I went to listen to *China Gates*, *Transmigration*, *Chamber Symphony* -- all over the place and all great.

Seriously, overall, *Adams* music is such high quality. And the variety, too, is terrific. Newfangled love.


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## Avey

Avey said:


> Quickly become enthralled with Adams material. *Violin Concerto* is amazing. *My Father Knew Charles Ives* -- the title is just as good as the piece. The *fantasia *on Tristan and Isolde. *Dharma*.
> 
> Delving deeper, and deeper...


This is so embarassing:

_EDIT: Franz Waxman wrote the fantasia, not John Adams. Reading the back of a CD cover and not looking closely, shame on you._


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## elgar's ghost

I almost lashed out on Earbox some years ago but ended up going for Reich's box set instead - my pockets were certainly not deep enough to consider buying both. As it is, I only have five examples of John Adams' work - the standout for me is The Wound Dresser where Whitman's harrowing text is well-served.


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## KenOC

For a treat check out Adams's "Lollapalooza" on YouTube. A not-so-serious work from 1995, but pretty darned good.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8DXWMVfFdPY


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## Guest

Any opinions on _The Gospel According To The Other Mary_?

Or any of his other less-discussed theatrical works, for that matter...? (_The Flowering Tree_, _El Niño_, _I Was Looking At The Ceiling And Then I Saw The Sky_)


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## Abraham Lincoln

I keep getting him mixed up with one of the first US Presidents.


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## Avey

http://www.npr.org/sections/decepti...ign=classical&utm_term=music&utm_content=2036

What do people think of _Absolute Jest_? I thought it was fun. Pretty much turns LvB's Op. 135 scherzo into a massive orchestral romp, which seems appropriate.


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## Nereffid

I like it a lot; very entertaining. And I like _Grand Pianola Music_ too. That's among my favourite albums of the year.


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## PeterFromLA

Grand Pianola is one of my all time favorite Adams works. So happy to have a new recording of it. First heard it in 1983, when a concert performance was broadcast on FM radio by the NY Philharmonic in their weekly series, after the work had been featured as part of its festival, "Since 1968 -- A New Romanticism?" The work was met at its end by very strident boos, which was shocking to me, as I had found the piece to be quite enjoyable; apparently, New York's uptown crowd had to draw the line somewhere, and with Adams it would be. Adams definitely made a splash for himself with this work, more so than any of his prior pieces, believe it or not. Harmonium was an immediate hit with the SFO audiences where it was premiered a few years earlier, but Grand Pianola was the work that got New York riled up and made John Adams a composer that was being talked about in wider circles.

Listening to this new recording, it all came back to me, the excitement of hearing this for the first time, playing it for my floormates in my California dorm room, as we got high and tripped out on Adams' wave like musical patterns. The music speaks to me now of a time in my life when I was naive and hopeful and everything seemed possible; its kind of painful to listen to, in fact, because it takes me back to that primal dorm room life and comments on time's passing. I don't think this new recording surpasses that aircheck, or Ransom Wilson's soon thereafter studio recording, but I'm delighted to see this work continue to have a recorded life.

I'm not sure about Absolute Jest just yet. I never was able to get through the novel of similar name; hopefully that does not bode ill for my future with this new piece.


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## Skilmarilion

This is maybe, just maybe, extraordinary.


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## Avey

PeterFromLA said:


> Grand Pianola is one of my all time favorite Adams works. ...
> 
> I'm not sure about Absolute Jest just yet. I never was able to get through the novel of similar name; hopefully that does not bode ill for my future with this new piece.


1. I appreciate your opinion on the nostalgia, "put back into a place in time" feeling -- that is common and commendable. I feel that all the time.

2. I do not agree with your opinions on intoxication.

3. The novel is _Infinite Jest_. Disagree strongly with the mislabel.

4. I disagree with your opinion on _Absolute Jest_.

Score: Disagreement 3, Agreement 1.

Guest referee: *John Adam*s. Score: ????????????????????????


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## PeterFromLA

> 3. The novel is Infinite Jest. Disagree strongly with the mislabel.
> 
> 4. I disagree with your opinion on Absolute Jest.


Yeah, that's why I said it was of similar title, not identical.

Don't have an opinion on AJ. Wasn't able to get through the tome. Maybe I'll get back to it someday.


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## Avey

PeterFromLA said:


> Don't have an opinion on AJ. Wasn't able to get through the tome. Maybe I'll get back to it someday.


Double fault. Tome = IJ. Music = AJ. Not related.


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## PeterFromLA

I have no idea if the work is meant to be a spin-off of or allusion to the novel. Adams' title hints at an association, but it may not in fact be there; LVB seems far more relevant. I consider the matter closed.


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## Avey

I just found about an upcoming concert in Seattle, where John Adams is conducting(!) his _Scheherazade.2_, which was only written and premiered last year (!!).

Tickets bought.

Then I find out he is doing a Q&A afterwards (!!!). I would love to hear any questions y'all would ask, since I intend to present one during the session. Anything specific come to mind?


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## violadude

Been listening to Fearful Symmetries and The Wound Dresser lately. Both pretty great works. Fearful Symmetries is sort of like the long epic version of Short Ride on a Fast Machine. It's hustling and bustling, lots of "urban sounds" and it has so many massive build ups and climaxes.

The Wound Dresser is a piece for voice and orchestra. The lyrics recount the terrifying, soul crushing images experienced by a nurse/doctor treating soldiers in the American Civil War. It has some traits of minimalism, but the repeating cycles aren't nearly as persistent as Fearful Symmetries or some other more pure minimalist works. It's elegiac and sad, and at some points the ghastliness of the situation gets the best of our singer.


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## Vaneyes

Why Adams won't write an opera about Trump.

https://ww2.kqed.org/arts/2017/02/07/why-john-adams-wont-write-an-opera-about-president-trump/


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## Vaneyes

'John Adams at 70'

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2...ath-theres-no-empathy-hes-a-manipulator-nixon


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## Vaneyes

David Robertson on *John* *Adams'* "Gospel".

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/26/arts/music/david-robertson-john-adams.html?_r=0


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## millionrainbows

I like "China Gates."


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## Julius Seizure

I like Adam opera Nixon yes!!! Aria is soo o cool sung by the tenor!


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## 20centrfuge

I am thinking about Adams right now, so I thought I'd add to this thread!

I became a fan as a senior in high school back in 1990, performing "Short Ride in a Fast Machine" with a local university. I had never heard anything quite like it. It was minimalism but also had a spontaneity and lyricism that was unique, daring, and beautiful. I came to love the piece and launched into a personal exploration of his music.

Nixon in China became a favorite, as well as Harmonielehre, and some other minor works like Christian Zeal, Chairman Dances, Common Tones, and some of his solo piano music.

But for several years after that, I felt like the music he was creating didn't "sing" to me quite as much. I had trouble getting into some of his small scale oratorios and operas as well as his post 9-11 work - On the Transmigration of Souls. On the other hand I really enjoyed the lyricism of Naive and Sentimental Music.

So, for me personally, I have come to realize that he is a wonderful composer, America's greatest-living (IMHO); a man whose career I will always follow. But some of his compositions (for me) are home runs and some are simply good base hits.

On another note: 

Politically, I have found his views on Israel and the Palestinians to be absolutely refreshing and spot-on. I feel like it would be beneficial for all of western society to try to see the point of view of the Palestinians with a measure of compassion and an understanding that they are real people and not simply a group of potential terrorists (as often I feel they are seen by the American public as a whole). John Adams biography "Hallelujah Junction" explains his point of view quite well.


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## millionrainbows

John Adams is the John Williams of minimalism.


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## Vaneyes

'John Adams reflects what it means to compose music in a small cultural arens'

http://www.chicagotribune.com/enter...ent-classical-adams-0719-20170718-column.html


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## Vaneyes

millionrainbows said:


> John Adams is the John Williams of minimalism.


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## PeterFromLA

Delighted to see that someone posted the performance from the Proms this summer of Adams' Harmonium (Edward Gardner conducting). It's the work with which Adams made his first big splash... the recording of the septet, Shaker Loops, came out a year or two later and won him notice with the cognoscenti, but before that Harmonium was premiered by the SF Symphony and won him legions of local admirers immediately... opening up opportunities for him, including a stint as Director of the orchestra's highly-regarded New and Unusual Music Series, which Adams founded.

In any case, this piece of music still strikes me as luminous, intense, and haunting. John Donne and Emily Dickinson's words are used effectively (though the image of Emily letting her hair down in "Wild Nights" gives me giggles sometimes). And how great is it to see that massive battery of musicians assembled together under such able direction? I never regret the half hour I spend listening to this work.






Edited to add: if you're an Adams fan and you haven't seen it yet, I recommend the film, I Am Love. It uses Adams' music throughout, including snippets from Harmonium. The finale, however, uses Harmonielehre's close... really effectively, at that. Though... spoiler alert, of course.


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## Skilmarilion

Live performance of his latest piece, a piano concerto. Víkingur Ólafsson as soloist.


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## violadude

Lately I've been listening to my composer playlists in alphabetical order (by last name). Next on the list is the American minimalist composer John C. Adams (not to be confused with John L. Adams). What I've listened so far:

*Shaker Loops for String Septet (1978)* John Adams is often grouped in with Philip Glass and Steve Reich, but it's clear already from this early work that Adams was intent on taking some of their ideas and forging his own path with them. Glass creates emotional expression from the momentum of mantra-like repetition of his musical figures but the actual surface usually remains fairly even-tempered/cool headed, and Reich's musical expression tends more towards an impersonal, almost spiritual, ticking of a sort of grand universal clock. But right away in this early piece by Adams you can hear the passionate, hot-blooded surface of his musical voice that distinguishes him from the other early minimalists and leads some to categorize him as "Neo-romantic" rather than minimalist. However, at least in his early music, he shares their idea of small rhythmic and melodic cells repeated over long stretches of incredibly slow harmonic progression. Nevertheless, this piece is incredibly powerful on and emotional and expressive level. The piece is inspired by the Shakers, a minority Christian sect primarily in the "Midwest" United States (I put Midwest in quotation marks because for those that don't know, the region of the USA called the "Midwest" was named as such before the US government finished their expansion into the West, so the "midwest" is no longer accurately the "midwest" anyway, back to the music). The Shaker's religious services involved lots of dancing an erratic, ecstatic movement and this is what inspired the present work. The first movement, entitled "Shaking and Trembling" is just that, 8 minutes of shaking, quivering, quaking, and stuttering figures from every member of the ensemble. Although these figures start off mild and lightly scored at first, the shaking sixteenth note motif is battered around until it builds to earth shattering levels of momentum and energy. The excitement and passion in the scoring is incredible. Then the second movement, called "Hymning Slews" is one of the most peaceful pieces of music I've heard from Adams. Very little harmonic motion, a few signposts changes here and there, but mostly music of stasis. The music is primarily made of notes that slide serenely into place from moment to moment. It's a welcome contrast to the previous movement. But then the 3rd movement "Loops and Verses" is my favorite. It starts with a gorgeous drawn out melody on the cello accompanied by soft complimentary figures from the other instruments but about 2 minutes in the accompaniment figures take central stage and become the main attraction as the cellos fade into the depths of the ensemble. Soon, canonical figures, based on the cello melody break out and this builds into one of the most shattering, passionate, and sustained climaxes you could hope for, with reapeating motifs that accelerate into motion as if a train is starting up. It really captures the feeling of spiritual fervor. Adam's sense of momentum and building up a moment is incredible even at this early stage. Finally, the last movement, "A Final Shaking", recalls some of the feeling of the first movement, but more ethereal in sound, as if after the intense climax of the last movement we've "crossed to the other side" of religious ecstasy. It's a nice subtle wrap up for this beautiful piece of music.






*Common Tones in Simple Time for Orchestra (1979)* This piece, as I hear it, is essentially a study in delightful, shimmering orchestral tones. Very little is going on in this piece besides the shifting of surface level orchestral color, and Adam's himself states that this was his focus (that is the surface change of the music) in writing this piece. It's not the deepest piece of music but it's an incredibly attractive piece that retains a sparkling, magical quality throughout. David Bruce (composer who makes youtube videos) said it reminded him of flying on a place across the United States and looking out the window at the sight, and I think this is an apt description. It certainly has a flighty quality about it. I don't have too much more to say but definitely worth a listen





.

*Harmonium for Chorus and Orchestra (1980)* This is a humongous work for a giant orchestra and chorus. One could easily label it as the "magnum opus" of Adams' early work. The words the choir sings are taken from three poems, one for each of the three movements. The first is "Negative Love" by John Donne. The other two are by Emily Dickinson, "Because I Could Not Stop for Death.." for the second movement and "Wild Nights!" for the third movement. The architecture of the first movement is very satisfying, coming in waves of build up and climax that seem perfectly timed. But I was especially impressed with the second movement, which is one of the most heart-wrenchingly beautiful pieces of music I've heard from Adams so far. The poem is about someone at the end of their life, "on their way to death", I presume, which is represented by a carriage ride. As their riding on the carriage they look out and see sights that remind them of their youth and their life. The music is contemplative and nostalgic with a shadow of darkness hovering overhead. It's exquisitely scored and the words are set at a beautifully drawn out but not over-wrought pace. This movement transitions into the last movement, Wild Nights, whose music captures a spirit that is just furiously rapturous and euphoric. The timpani beats thunderously, the bells are chiming, the horns are blaring, the strings are soaring as if taking flight and the choir shouts and bellows ecstatically. It's a fantastic movement to top this fantastic piece, by favorite of this group of pieces.

Negative Love: 



Because I could not stop for death: 



Wild Nights: 




*Grand Pianola Music for two pianos and orchestra (1982)* This is a really fun piece. The two pianos in the piece are nearly always playing the same material but slightly out of sync. This creates what Adams' describes as a "unique shimmering effect", which was inspired by the delay effect in electronic composition that composers had been experimenting with. Besides the orchestra, there are three amplified vocal parts, which to my ears bring to mind the vocal parts in something like Reich's "Music for 18 Musicians". Sometimes the voices glide across the orchestra, and sometimes they are yelping staccato notes along with the woodwinds. The voices provide a sense of warmth to me, despite being somewhat spacey and inhuman sounding. The first two movements are nice but the real star of the show is the last, which features a rollicking V-I tune repeated unashamedly with a gaudy, excessive sense of exuberance. Apparently this caused quite a controversy at its New York premiere, set in the context of the modernist atmosphere of that music scene, but it's definitely a super fun one if you can get into it.






*Light Over Water for Synthesizer and brass ensemble (1983) *This is a piece for electronics and a brass ensemble and to me it's the least Adams-y Adams piece of the bunch. The spacey tone and electronic oriented figurations that permeate the piece bring to mind something closer to a Terry Riley piece than an Adams piece. It's a fine listen, but to me for sure the least inspired of this particular group of pieces. And while it has great, ethereally beautiful and interesting moments, it's a little long for the material used. I also can't help but think, in light of everything listened so far, that this is just "A Rainbow on Curved Air part 2 with some brass added".

Funny story as a side note, I fell asleep one night listening to the first movement of this piece. The stabbing sounds that open the second movement (at the beginning of the second link below) woke me up and in my sleep induced stupor, the harsh,stabbing electronic nature of the sounds made me think that there was something seriously malfunctioning with my phone. I freaked out but then remembered what I had been listening to when I fell asleep. :lol:














To be continued...


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## Bwv 1080

John Adams was on the Conversations with Tyler podcast this week









John Adams on Composing and Creative Freedom (Ep. 166)


Constructing cathedrals in musical space.




conversationswithtyler.com


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