munkus's Full Review: John Adams: Shaker Loops, etc / Alsop, Gunn, et al
John Adams, probably America's most prolific living composer, is often referred to alternately as a post-modernist or post-minimalist. The former is irritatingly vague, whereas the latter carries a hangover from the two bars repeated over seven hours a la Terry Riley. Adams is a minimalist, but with ADHD. His compositional language regularly draws on repetitive patterns (and the other trademark of minimalists- chord arpeggios) but infuses them with a funky rhythmic drive and rarely sticks to the same pattern for more than half a minute at the time.
Short Ride in a Fast Machine, a thoroughly thrilling adrenalin-filled fanfare for a massive orchestra opens the disc in a suitably apt supersonic style. The orchestra lurches and lunges ever forward, egged on by a persistent woodblock (Adams is probably the most convincing composer for woodblock in the history of orchestral music). Interestingly for people familiar with Adams' 1987 Nixon in China, this short piece is eerily stylistically similiar (it predates the opera by a year). There are the whistling piccolos, whirling clarinets and pounding bass brass chords that accompany the arrival of the Nixons' jet in Beijing and of course that woodblock also features in the rousing conclusion to Act I of the opera. Being a fanfare, brass is the real star and there are few places where the strings can be heard- despite outnumbering the former by almost twice as much.
The Wound Dresser, an unsettled orchestral song for baritone to depressing Walt Whitman words is an early (1988) glimpse of the current phase of Adams' output. This is much more refined and understated that what could be called the crude bombast of his mid-80s output (Short Ride and Nixon being the two most famous). It's a good reminder that, yes, Adams can also write beautifully slow and lyrical works. The work opens with a violin solo over softly undulating chords in flutes and clarinets and soloist Nathan Gunn's (a barihunk if ever there was one, but also blessed with a delicious voice) limpid voice in its lower registers. Over almost twenty minutes, it drifts through a sparse orchestral texture, though also quite harmonically dense. Yet at the same time, I can't shake the impression that I'm listening to Adams' operatic Nixon singing. Adams' vocal tunes aren't the type that stick in the ear but meander delicately, as if being improvised, yet always managed to fall elegantly into place.
The Ravellian Berceuse elegiaque of 1991 could amost be by an entirely different composer. It's quite pretty in its own, lilting, way but it is an interesting commentary than it is also completely absent from the sleeve notes that accompany the CD.
Shaker Loops, which is, academically, one of Adams' most famous works was originally written in 1978 but revised five years later, and it is this version which is recorded here. It is for strings alone and is by far the most minimalist of all the pieces on disc, using a very economical selection of ideas throughout the four movements that comprise the 25 minutes of the work. Adams is particularly fond of racing through the different registers of the various stringed instruments (this is easiest to do with the same colour on strings because they have a homogenous sound), particularly in building up to climaxes. This is very evident in the first movement, the fluttering Shaking and Trembling which builds to its climax starting with growling double basses then up to the first violins almost shrieking.
The second movement, Hymning Slews exploits another unique string characteristic (with the exception of the trombone)- pure glissandi- where the player slides between notes by sliding their finger along the string (and thus playing all tones between the origin note and the destination note in one smooth sweep). Adams also explores the vast range of the strings choir, with the violins up high and the low strings sounding out mellow bass pedals with occasional flutters from the violas in the middle. Loops and Verses makes reference to the first two movements, with a rich cello melody beginning a figure which will eventually flutter up to a bright burst of minimalist glory in all registers of the string orchestra. The closing movement, A Final Shaking refers to the opening movement but in a much more restrained style before eventually winding down and fading out.
Marin Alsop is usually described as one of the world's best female conductors. This is patronising. She is one of the best conductors, especially of twentieth century American music. Throughout her tenure at the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, who play this recording, she built up their reputation for this repertoire (along with a startling library of wonderful recordings) and secured her own place amongst the best of the quiet achievers who may not attract the front page media and complicated Swiss banking arrangements but without whom, orchestral music would be a sad place indeed.
So it is no surprise then that the performances from Alsop, Gunn and the B'mouth Symph. are uniformly excellent for the entire duration of the recording. In the spatial Shaker Loops, Alsop manages to extract a discreet palate of colours from her string sections whilst, conversely, she proves an apt hand in keeping a leash on the brass in Short Ride which having a strident, brassy feel which is also an awful lot of fun.
Released on Naxos (may they prosper forever) as part of an ongoing American series generously underwritten by the Milken Family Foundation, this is a superb purpose for any orchestral CD collection.
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