malik@helos.DEC (Karl Malik ZK01-1/F22 1-1440) (01/14/85)
Subj; who is John Adams? I turned on the radio today and (already playing) was this piece for orchestra (and a few voices) that sounded JUST LIKE Philip Glass. I hadn't heard it before and assumed it was a new piece. I mean it sounded EXACTLY like Glass. When it was done, the announcer said it was by John Adams. I've forgotten the title, but it was recently released on Angel records (along with an older piece by Reich (4 lines)). Who is this guy? And how can he face himself in the morning? - Karl
parker@psuvax1.UUCP (Bruce Parker) (01/18/85)
> Who is this guy? And how can he face himself in the morning?
Gee, I always thought Adams sounded more like Reich than Glass.
His other works like "Common Tones in Simple Time", "Shaker Loops",
and "Phrygian Gates" are a bit more impressionistic than Reich but
definitely bear the indelible stamp of Reich. He also conducted
Reich's "Octet" at SF's first New and Unusual Music series when it was
at the Galleria (a truly strange place to play music).
The Angel record (DS-37345) has Adams's "Grand Pianola" and Reich's
"Eight Lines" with Ransom Wilson leading the Solisti New York.
"Grand Pianola" appeared as part of the the NYPO's Horizons 83 program
and was roundly booed, though I heard a modest amount of applause also
(it was broadcast as part of last year's NYPO radio series).
My first impression was that it was a pompous piece made all the more
ludicrous by the use of minimalism. I saw the record in a local record
store and Adams writes in the liner notes that the piece was supposed
to be a parody. Now he tells us. If it makes you feel any better,
after he getting all the bad press and being booed on both sides
of the Atlantic, he considered withdrawing the work. (He changed
his mind though.)
BTW, a composer friend of mine in Indiana tells me that lesser composers
have been ripping off Anderson-Glass-Reich-Riley for years. Not that
this is any surprise, though. For all the talk about the sanctity
and originality of art, composers need to eat and if something works,
(i.e. is popular) principles have a disturbing habit of getting dumped.
--
Bruce Parker
Computer Science Department (814) 863-1545
334 Whitmore Lab {allegra|ihnp4}!psuvax1!parker
The Pennsylvania State University parker@penn-state (csnet)
University Park, Pennsylvania 16802 parker@psuvax1 (bitnet)