More on the Alaskan John Adams

In an earlier posting, I mentioned John Luther Adams, the "Alaskan" Adams, to differentiate him from John Coolidge Adams, the "California" Adams, and the more well known John Adams. John Luther Adams had been written up in an article by Alex Ross in The New Yorker. Impatiently I had downloaded some of his music from Amazon, all done by the Cincinnati Percussion Ensemble. I wasn't overly impressed by it, but I decided to wait it out and see what the mail might bring. I had also ordered Earth and Great Weather, a piece commented on by Alex Ross in his New Yorker article. Today it arrived and I'm listening to it as I write this. "Earth and Great Weather" or, as the composer calls it "Nunavlusilaqpauvlu Nan Kak Nats'aa Gweedhaa", is more of the same and, unfortunately, I'm not much impressed. In both Ross's article and in the liner notes there are references to Morton Feldman. I have but one piece by Feldman, his Piano and String Quartet with Aki Takahashi and the Kronos Quartet. Apparently like a lot of Feldman's works, it goes on and on and on -- for an hour and 20 minutes. I like it. While I wouldn't quite rate up in my top 10, I do enjoy listening to Feldman. Unfortunately, I was somewhat disappointed with the "Alaskan" John Adams.

I don't expect to hear any performances of either Feldman or Luther Adams locally, even in a town like Boulder where somewhat adventuresome music is often performed. Percussionists may know Russell Peck's "The Glory and the Grandeur" a concerto for 3 percussionists. I heard it for the first time about 10 years ago at the Colorado Music Festival, under Giora Bernstein. It was fun to listen to, and, equally important, fun to watch. Now, the Boulder Philharmonic is planning on performing it this fall. Unlike the Luther Adam's pieces I've heard, it's percussion AND orchestra, not just percussion. Perhaps that's why I like it more.

Is it performed on the radio? Not on the stations I monitor. It is available on CD since I have a copy, but do they play it. No, but perhaps that's best since you only really appreciate it in a live performance.