MUSIC OF JOHN ADAMS.
The Music of John Adams.
John
Adams is widely regarded as one of the most exciting and interesting
composers alive today. It is useful for anyone when first listening to his
music to have some kind of elementary guide, a few pointers, to the
features and motifs they might expect to hear and which his music
contains.
Overwhelmingly it is inventive, original and dazzling
in so many respects. It is characterised by pulsating rhythms, often
hypnotic and deeply insistent, sometimes explosive and frenetic in their
intensity. Such features may be found interspliced between or alternating
with slower, quieter, cosmic and more meditative passages quite
reminiscent of Mahler or Debussy. These can be quite sombre passages with
colourful, atonal and chromatic chords reminiscent of Schoenberg and
Messiaen.
Gustav Mahler (1860-1911)
Schoenberg
Claude Debussy
Olivier Messiaen (1935)
One of his early compositions, Shaker Loops, shows that
he discovered at an early stage in his musical journey how insistent
rhythms, building up to a crescendo in speed and volume, or just buzzing
quietly away in the background, can be successfully used to generate
emotional tension and expectation in a piece of music. For some, his work
undoubtedly reflects his native America in all its richness, diversity,
speed and glamour: it is lively, well paced, energetic and bold as well as
engaging.
His works greatly repay closer listening, whereupon
they unveil themselves as dense and complex landscapes or collages of
sound, riddled with many tones and colours, harmonies that seem to range
over and insatiably explore every human feeling and aspiration. They seem
resonant with hidden meanings and to touch and elicit unknown emotions.
Yet, even with repeated listening and enjoyment, the exact meaning,
inspiration, themes or symbolism nested in his music can remain stubbornly
elusive. This does not matter for me as I like his music very much, but
for some it might detract from their enjoyment. It might be viewed as way
too eclectic and a meaningless mish-mash of musical styles. In this he
resembles Charles Ives. Some of his work does seem material randomly
chucked together into a musical patchwork; musical landscapes lacking any
discernible binding theme. To me, these landscapes are exciting and
exhilarating, so this problem does not arise, but I can see why it might
seem that way to others.
Charles Ives.
The fast rhythmical sections of his works frequently
reach frenetic, frenzied climaxes of explosive emotional force. Tension
climbs, fades, returns, and then builds again before convulsing in a
massive outpouring of percussion, brass and woodwind; he seems especially
fond of horn, flute and trumpets. Such fast passages frequently alternate
with oceanic whirlpools of celestial calm, swirling Debussyesque passages
that lead into another fast section of tension-building contrapuntal
rhythms accelerating again into another frenzied climax. These are
certainly two of the dominant features of his prolific orchestral output:
pounding rhythms, slow interstellar reflective passages both often
peppered with dainty flourishes for flute and piccolo. These latter are
easy to miss but are a real treat. They appear unexpectedly and resemble
fluttering birdsong-like cadences either for flute and piccolo, or
sometimes both. They delicately decorate the loud pounding of percussion
and brass.
glockenspiel and xylophone
When it comes to instrumentation, certain key points
about Adams’ music do stand out quite clearly, even on first listening. He
uses unusual instruments like glockenspiel and xylophone, as well as harp
and several minor percussion instruments. These all establish unusual
sounds in the background of his music. He also uses soaring trumpets to
splendid effect, vaguely reminiscent of Renaissance music. Much of his
music is dominated not by strings, perhaps surprisingly, but by woodwind
and brass. He especially enjoys employing a most luminous and enticing
blend of percussion, woodwind and brass and especially muted French horn,
piccolo and trumpets, which creates a subtly dampened, but emblazoning
effect in many of his pieces. Such remarkable blends of sound usually make
an appearance somewhere in most of his compositions.
French horn.
Most of his orchestral genius undoubtedly goes to the
woodwind, brass and percussion, which is hardly surprising when you
consider that he originally trained as a clarinettist. The strings make
very minor appearances except in the slow, meditative Debussyesque
sections. Even when the strings do make an appearance they are ever chased
by and gilded with the dancing, fluttering and enchanting highlights of
piccolo and flute, usually as swift, random-sounding arpeggiated cadences.
His compositional modus operandi seems to be to create an attractive and
exciting musical world from the elements described, a musical world filled
with pounding rhythms and calm celestial motifs as well as heavy use of
brass, woodwind and percussion. That just sums him up very accurately.
Finally, the popularity of his music probably stems
from its openness, its excitement, the dynamic way it connects with the
listener in a very direct fashion and the way he somehow uses chromatic
material but yet makes it exciting and very rhythmical. These give it a
fizz and energy that much other minimalist and chromatic music lacks.
Rarely does he dip down into sombre or lugubrious obscure stuff that puts
many listeners off. His music is therefore immediate, fresh and accessible
to all listeners. It is approachable and transparent music.
Nixon in China.
Key Works:
Harmonium 1978
Shaker Loops, 1981
Grand Pianola Music, 1982
Harmonielehre, 1984
Fearful Symmetries, 1985
Nixon in China, 1985
Short Ride in a Fast Machine, 1986
The Wound Dresser, 1988
Death of Klinghoffer, 1991
On the Transmigration of Souls, 2002
[889 words]