John Adams - Road Movies (Various Artists)

Information

Composer: John Adams

• (01) Road Movies
• (04) Hallelujah Junction
• (07) China Gates
• (08) American Berserk
• (09) Phrygian Gates

Leila Josefowicz, violin (1-3)
John Novacek, piano (1-3)
Nicolas Hodges, piano (4-8)
Rolf Hind, piano (4-6, 9-11)

Date: 2004
Label: Nonesuch
https://www.nonesuch.com/albums/road-movies

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Review

Rare examples of solo and duo material from Adams superbly played by all

John Adams hasn’t written much for solo instruments or small ensembles, so this collection is especially valuable, even if two of the piano pieces have already been recorded several times over. Certainly, the performances here are superb. Nicolas Hodges plays China Gates (1977) with sublime clarity, registering even the subtlest of harmonic changes, and giving this brief work a welcome sense of breadth and wonder. Rolf Hinds is similarly effective in Phrygian Gates (1977), pacing the long first movement for maximum dramatic effect.

American Berserk (2001), the newest entry, demonstrates how much Adams’s style has changed over the past quarter-century – and particularly here, sandwiched between its older brothers. It’s a manic, unabashedly virtuoso creation, comparable in sheer density to Ligeti’s études, though its layers of rhythmically independent ideas also bring Nancarrow to mind. I can imagine a slightly more unhinged performance than Hodges gives – but not by much. Hodges and Hinds join forces for Hallelujah Junction (1997), a glorious addition to the two-piano repertory. The opening, with the instruments sounding against each other, suggests the joyous pealing of bells, while the central slow movement offers what may be Adams’s most traditionally romantic music yet, with lush chords riding arpeggiated waves.

Road Movies (1995), for violin and piano, is more consistent in mood than the mercurial Hallelujah Junction. Built from motivic fragments that telescope in and out, it features two spiky, highly-caffeinated movements surrounding a spare-textured, folksy meditation that’s as close to Copland’s Big Sky Americana as Adams is likely to get. Leila Josefowicz and John Novacek negotiate the music’s plentiful rhythmic twists and turns with aplomb, and Josefowicz’s slightly raw twang in the slow movement is an imaginative touch. Urgently recommended.

-- Andrew Farach-Colton, Gramophone

More reviews:
https://www.classical-music.com/reviews/chamber/adams-8/

http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2004/Aug04/Adams_Road_Movies.htm

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2004/jun/13/classicalmusicandopera

http://www.classical.net/music/recs/reviews/n/non79699a.php

https://www.amazon.com/Road-Movies-John-Adams/dp/B0001XAO66

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John Adams (born February 15, 1947 in Worcester, Massachusetts) is an American composer of classical music and opera. He studied composition under Leon Kirchner, Roger Sessions, Earl Kim, and David Del Tredici. The music of John Adams is usually categorized as minimalist or post-minimalist, although in interview he has categorized himself as a 'post-style' composer. His works include Harmonielehre (1985), Short Ride in a Fast Machine (1986), On the Transmigration of Souls (2002) and Shaker Loops (1978). His operas include Nixon in China (1987), The Death of Klinghoffer (1991) and Doctor Atomic (2005).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Adams_(composer)

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Leila Josefowicz (born October 20, 1977 in Missisauga, Ontario, Canada) is an American-Canadian classical violinist. She attended Curtis Institute of Music, where she studied with Jaime Laredo, Jascha Brodsky, Felix Galimir and Joseph Gingold. Since her teens, Josefowicz has played with symphony orchestras in Europe, Asia and North America, and made recordings for Philips, Warner Classics, Nonesuch and Deutsche Grammophon labels. She is also acclaimed for championing new compositions, including the works of John Adams, Oliver Knussen and Thomas Adès.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leila_Josefowicz
http://www.leilajosefowicz.com/

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