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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
essential john adams,
By
This review is from: The Chairman Dances (Audio CD)
This is my favourite John Adams c.d (actually it's in my top ten classical c.d's). The stand out tracks are the 'chairman dances' which is fast tempo and modern - evoking the 'Nixon in China' opera in one piece of music. The other stand out track is the mellow, 'Christian Zeal and Activity' which has a fundamentalist preacher repeating line from the Gospel about the man with the withered arm picking up his mat and being healed. It just has this peaceful feeling waving over one's body, like seeing Mark Rothko's installation at the Tate Modern. If you like John Adams your like this c.d.
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Perfect Starting Place,
By Mr. A. R. Boyes "Alan Boyes" (Newcastle, England) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)
This review is from: The Chairman Dances (Audio CD)
This was my first John Adams purchase and it still compares well with the best. It's a similar compilation to that on EMI by Simon Rattle and the CBSO. The great selling point of that recording was the minimalism meets late Romanticism of Harmonielehre. This Edo de Waart recording also includes the self same "The Chairman Dances" and two fanfares but its other pieces are the real attraction.
"Christian Zeal and Activity" sounds nostalgic and reassuring with an archaic tonality but the introduction of the preacher recording on a repeating loop is very unsettling. He sounds hectoring and alien to English ears but there remains a suspicion, with the static and contemplative music, that this is not the way it is perceived in the US. Nostalgia and national pride lurk in the music but the hectoring tone from the preacher is clearly meant to grate. This sounds like a work calculated to unsettle. It is essentially a fine piece of theatrical writing. Written early in Adams career it gives a clue to his future development as an operatic composer. For me, "Common Tones In Simple Time" is already something of a neglected masterpiece of minimalism. The title tells you what the work's ground rules are but does nothing to prepare for this constantly changing, pulsing and varied landscape. No melody is allowed to take hold but the music can be seen as a constant movement over a changing and radiant landscape or the pulsing essence of life itself - the blood pumping through your veins. At about twenty minutes you could view it as a short symphony. You could further argue that "Harmonielehre" and "Naive and Sentimental music" are his second and third symphonies carrying a great deal of post modern baggage. The effect of "Common Tones" is a cleansing, relaxing and highly stimulating at the same time. I can't think of another work quite like it. Again, the making of a constantly changing landscape with such liimted materials gives clues to his abilities as a dramatic composer. "The Chairman Dances" is a well known piece adapted from his opera, "Nixon in China". the part of the opera it comes from is quite downbeat but this adaptation transforms the music into a big orchestral showpiece with plenty of glitz and schmaltz. Ravel's dance works are never far away but this fox trot never sounds anything other than a big boned American work. The two fanfares offer the constrast of contemplation and frenetic activity. the "Short ride in A Fast Machine" thumps an obsessive beat as the music hurtles along at great speed but often with bumps and sways along the way. This fanfare sounds like a preparation for his more substantial work "Fearful Symmetries", which sounds like a rickety old Lada being pushed along at the highest speed it can manage with the some startling gear changes. "Trombona Lontana" provides a more distant contemplative mood with repeted distant trumpet fnafares. there si a hint of menace too int his music. As it was for me, this would be a great introduction for anyone to John Adam's music. The playing and recording is excellent too. If you have most of these pieces already it is worth grabbing for the classic rarity that is "Common Tones..". Highly recommended.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta) Amazon.com:
4.5 out of 5 stars (13 customer reviews) 8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Maximum Minimalism,
By Erik North - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: The Chairman Dances (Audio CD)
Along with Phillip Glass and Steve Reich, John Adams is one of the foremost composers of what is often called "minimalist music." To classical fans who have been weaned on everything from Handel and Bach through Beethoven, Wagner, Mahler, and Aaron Copland, the very notion of minimalist music, with its repetitious rhythms, might seem a turn-off.
When, however, you get a world-class orchestra like the San Francisco Symphony and a solid conductor in Edo De Waart (who was the orchestra's music director from 1974 to 1985), who premiered many of Adams' pieces and who know them perhaps better than any orchestra around, the results are fascinating, as can be gauged in this Nonesuch recording. It consists of "The Chairman Dances" (from the composer's 1985 opera "Nixon In China"); "Christian Zeal And Activity" (with an admittedly somewhat ponderous evangelical sidebar stuck in there); "Tromba Lontana"; "Short Ride In A Fast Machine" (almost certainly this composer's most popular single piece, and for good reason too); and "Common Tones In Simple Time." As is typical for Adams in particular, and minimalist music in general, the orchestration is varied and vibrant, occasionally using glockenspiel and synthesizers. If one has heard John Williams' eerie scores to Spielberg's films ALWAYS and A.I.: ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE, one can tell how influential the minimalist movement has been on other composers of our time. For those who are just getting introduced to minimalism and who may be a bit uneasy with the form, this great recording is a perfect introduction to the form. For those who are already very much into it, this is essential. 7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Must Own,
By "accroya" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: The Chairman Dances (Audio CD)
If you have heard of John Adams but didn't know which CD to buy, this is definitely the one to get. From the exuberant opening title track to the mesmerizing "Common Tones in Simple Time" there is not a second you will glance at your watch. Don't be fooled by the misleading "minimalist" label. This is solid orchestral music at its finest.
9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Promises kept,
By Grady Harp - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: The Chairman Dances (Audio CD)
Asked by a friend to recommend an intoduction to the music of John Adams, I recommended this rather short disc. Not only because it has such accessible works by this major talent, but also because it allows the listener unfamiliar with the minimalist terrain enough samples to stimulate further investigation. Recorded in 1987 the San Francisco Symphony under Edo de Waart sounds a bit thin, but that too is a reason to start here. Much of Adams' music is played by this orchestra and since Michael Tilson Thomas' rise to the helm there has been an extraordinary sea change. After hearing this recording, play the 1997 recording by the same orchestra (led by Adams) performing the "Harmonium" and "The Klinghoffer Choruses" and I think you'll note the difference, sonically and stylistically.. And while you're comparing you will have grown into the more major later works of Adams!
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