- Purchase a product from the Music Store sold by Amazon.co.uk and receive £1 to use on an album download in our MP3 Store. Here's how (terms and conditions apply)
Amazon.co.uk allows you to pay for your items in your local currency. Restrictions apply. Learn More. |
Special Offers and Product Promotions
Frequently Bought Together
Product details
|
Listen to Samples and Buy MP3s
Songs from this album are available to purchase as MP3s. Click on "Buy MP3" or
view the MP3 Album.
|
Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
Century Rolls, like so many of John Adams' works, looks both ways from the musical present: the approach of a new century (it was written in 1997), and the distant recorded past evoked by piano rolls, especially their streamlining effect on great interpreters of the past. "First Movement" takes the process at face value, in the most overtly minimalist stretch of music Adams has written in years, now with a rhythmic and harmonic subtlety that keep you wondering just what's coming next. A long, tranquil coda leads into "Manny's Gym", a Satie-esque play on melody made for Emmanuel Ax, who commissioned the work. "Hail Bop" makes positive use of Adams' mis-hearing the name of the comet, giving zest to the rhythmic intricacies that power the concerto to its exhilarating close. Ax had clearly played the work in prior to recording, his mastery complemented by the Clevelanders' formidable precision. Lollapalooza and Slonimsky's Earbox, previously released in Nonesuch's 10-disc retrospective, The John Adams Earbox, are welcome couplings, the latter sharing with the concerto an engrossing attention to detail that will more than repay repeated listenings. --Richard Whitehouse
Suggested Tags from Similar Products(What's this?)Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product)
|
Customer Reviews
|
There are no customer reviews yet on Amazon U.K.
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
3.9 out of 5 stars (14 customer reviews)
39 of 40 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Adam's Piano Concerto Century Rolls FINALLY on disc, 12 Jan 2001
By Edward Wladas - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Adams: Century Rolls [IMPORT] (Audio CD)
Let me say that any fan of modern piano concertos or of John Adams MUST have this disc. You owe it to yourself to hear the piano concerto entitled Century Rolls. I have ben familiar with this piece for almost two years. I have heard live concerts and have several taped performances. The live performances that I attended remain most vividly in my memory in that you have to be in the space in which the piece is being played in order to hear all the dramatic and subtle effects. I have three taped perfromances all with Ax at the piano and with Adams, Eschenbach, and Tilson Thomas conducting. I have heard it live with David Robertson and Dohnanyi conducting. Though the emphasis is on the extensive workout the pianist has to give, it is also a virtuosic tour-de-force for the conductor to bring off.
The first movement lasts over 14 minutes and the pianist plays for almost all of the time. This movement is the most varied in terms of sound quantity. The movement begins with woodwind chirping and eventually reaches sudden and dramatic outbursts from the orchestra. The second movement can compare with Ravel's second movement of his G major concerto in terms of limpid and loving sound. It casts the same spell and never lets go. The beginning of the movement has the resonance of the ending of the first movement lingering in the air. The third movement is a rollercoaster of a ride from beginning to end and ,again, resembles the third movement of the Ravel concerto.
I have always loved Adams' music from the first time I heard Harmonium almost 20 years ago. I equally enjoy Harmonielehre, Shaker Loops (the orchestral version) and the Violin Concerto.
Dohnanyi and the Cleveland Orchestra are not the ideal pairing I would have hoped for in this piece. I would have preferred Slatkin and St. Louis or Tilson Thomas and San Francisco. The Clevelend Orchestra plays gorgeously and Dohnanyi is the virtuoso conductor necessary for the piece, but there is a lack of abandonment and exhiliration missing.
Only a digital recording on a cd could do this piece justice because of all the subtle effects and sudden dramatic outbursts. Play this piece at the loudest setting you can without breaking your walls or your lease.
I gave this recording five stars because at last we have a recording of Century Rolls, and a superior one at that.
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Thus far my favorite John Adams recording, 28 Feb 2005
By Todd Ebert - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Adams: Century Rolls [IMPORT] (Audio CD)
As much as I love Beethoven, Bach, Brahms, Mozart, etc. I still cannot help but yearn for modern composers who are inspired by modern sounds, human experiences and emotions as the foundations for creating acoustic orchestral music. For me John Adams is one of the few who is successfully doing just this. I don't believe he's doing anything different than composers like Dvorak, Bartok, and Kodaly over one hundred years ago who based much of their works on ethnic popular folk music. Western music has a such a tremendous legacy, I'm glad to see it being advanced by Adams's genius. All three pieces, Century Rolls, Lollapalooza, and Slonimsky's Earbox I find fun and intriguing to listen to. May be they do not take me to the heavens like Mozart's 41st or Beethoven's 5th, but they nonetheless deserve careful attention before being dismissed as reactionary.
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Century Rolls is dazzling!, 30 Jun 2004
A Kid's Review - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Adams: Century Rolls [IMPORT] (Audio CD)
I was making a nearly blind guess when I bought this CD; I had made my decision based solely on the audio exerpts from Amazon.But it was well worth the risk.
The CD contains an engaging 50 or so minutes of John Adams' finest, apart from Short Ride in a Fast Machine, my favourite of his. I am in to contemporary classical and I am glad I have this CD. The fluid and smooth tinkerings of Manny's Gym, the envigorating jazz powering Lollapalooza and the surprising jabs strewn throughout Hail Bop is just some of the great stuff on this CD you'll find. So if you are unsure about buying this recording, you will probably really enjoy it, especially if you are familiar with John Adams or other contemporary music.
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Listmania!
|
|
![Recommends series [2007]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51DPYQCA%2B6L._AA60_.jpg)
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
