John Adams, the holy
spirit of the trinity of minimalist
composers that includes Philip Glass
and Steve Reich is a truly American
phenomenon. He grew up in high society
New England, received an Ivy League
education, and then, at the tail-end
of the hippie generation, headed west
for San Francisco to escape his upbringing
and find his own voice. Find it he did,
for his is one of the most original
voices in modern music, and his form
of minimalism has gone well beyond the
clichéd style of his two famous
colleagues to evolve into something
fresh and intelligent not often heard
in contemporary music.
In this collection
of orchestral works Marin Alsop proves
once again that she is one of the leading
conductors in the world. She is the
first to get beyond the regrettably
novel moniker of "woman conductor"
to take a rightful place in the pantheon
of simply "fine musicians."
She leads the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra
here with clarity and precision, gaining
from them a taut sense of rhythm and
ensemble, and ravishing string colors.
Opening with Short
Ride in a Fast Machine, we are off
to the races with the type of energetic,
forward-moving music that is the signature
trait of Mr. Adams. Set over a wood
block ostinato, this piece is compelling
in its thrust and appreciable for its
well-calculated brevity. Unlike some
of his colleagues (ahem, Mr. Glass)
Adams knows when to shut up, and does
so to blindingly good effect.
Up next is the splendid
Wound Dresser, set for baritone
solo and orchestra, to texts adapted
from Walt Whitman. Whitman was a nurse
during the Civil War, and some of his
poetry that relates his wartime experiences
can be excruciating. Here, Adams adapts
passages from Whitman to make for an
achingly melancholy portrait of the
horrors of war, and in particular a
war before modern medicine. The texts
are graphic, and sometimes disturbing,
and the unrelenting sadness of the vocal
line and the calm accompaniment from
the orchestra can at times be quite
emotionally taxing. I dare say that
this is one of the best war pieces,
and definitely one of the best settings
of Whitman since Ned Rorem’s War
Scenes of 1969. Nathan Gunn is superb
both as a singer, whose tone is gorgeous
and rich, but also as a communicator,
whose enunciation is impeccable and
his sincerity of delivery is spellbinding.
The Berceuse élégiaque
is a lovely and haunting work. It
is proof again that Adams is capable
of reaching beyond the box of "minimalism"
to deliver a convincing, original work
while never really abandoning his trademark
compositional devices.
[see footnote]
The major piece in
this program is the twenty-six minute
Shaker Loops, which is very much
a symphony and a tone poem rolled into
one. Adams intertwines several concepts,
namely, a literal gesture of shaking,
a looping or repeating of a musical
event in homage to electronic composition,
and the habits and ceremonies of the
Shaker religious sect. In sum, it makes
for very convincing listening. Adams
has created a sound portrait that spans
epochs and lifestyles, modernity and
age-old tradition, and the classical
and avant-garde to create a very successful
work of art.
The Bournemouth play
to perfection, and as evidenced by this
recording, we have a great deal to which
to look forward from this superb American
conductor. Sound quality is outstanding,
notes by Daniel Felsenfeld are concise
and well constructed, texts are included;
my goodness for what more could you
ask? Highly recommended on all fronts.
Kevin Sutton
see also review
by John Quinn OCTOBER RECORDING
OF THE MONTH
Footnote
As John Quinn points out in his review,
Berceuse élégiaque
is an arrangement of the Busoni orchestral
work which is not noted in the Naxos
documentation. LM
Nathan Gunn, baritone 
