t/s: John Adams vs. Phillip Glass vs. Steve Reich

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You'll probably like Nixon in China, Kate.

There's loads more which I'm either not so keen on, or haven't heard!

Since I have just got paid, I have some record shopping to do, clearly. Must write these down.

In the Minimalist Heirarchy of Needs I would say Glass is king, as I can't imagine life without Einstein, Akhnaten and Satyagraha. Einstein takes my head off every time; I can't imagine what seeing the original production was like. (Are there DVDs of Glass performances? I never thought to look.) Glass' solo piano stuff, the film scores - it's all great. Haven't been too wild about the latest records, but much respect. The Glassbreaks mashups are really nice, too (not the Glasscuts remix record).

Reich is fantastic as well, and I think why I'm not quite as enamored is that he lacks the Doom that late seventies Glass holds for me. But I love everything he's done. Tehillim is so beautiful, especially.

Adams I haven't spent a lot of time with. I liked Nixon in China quite a bit. I remember liking his synthesizer-pop record, the name of which escapes me. I'll drop by the library today to see what they have.

Terry Riley should definitely rank with these guys, and it's a shame he's not better known. Shri Camel and the Poppy Nogood stuff is great, You're Nogood is great ... I saw him do a solo piano show and I was completely engrossed.

I think of LaMonte Young and Morton Feldman operating in the same space as the minimalists, even though their music is very different.

So, Reich then Glass then Adams, taking their entire careers into account.

well, i liked this movie to begin with, but PATENTLY UNTRUE.

and umm... how about:

Arvo Part > Gavin Bryars > Glass > Reich > Adams (haven't heard much from Adams though)

http://www.notam02.no/9/

It's Beethoven's 9th stretched to take 24 hours to play back with no pitch adjustmant using new cutting-edge time-stretching software. It's truly astonishing. Table of the Elements is planning on releasing it on DVD at some point.

Thanks! It sounds good...

Dan, I think I was sitting in that class with you — I have vivid memories of performers (Glass included) dressed in black and sitting at keyboards nodding their heads dramatically with the pulse of the music. Whose class was it again?

wish I could go!

Adams' music suddenly bugged me a lot less after his Pulitzer acceptance speech

Yeah, that's what elevates Reich over Glass for me, too, even though I probably like more of Glass's stuff overall. As for Adams, I've only really heard Nixon in China; I'd like to hear more.

Hell, yeah, that looks soooooo cool! Wonder if Glass and Reich will talk to each other?

'You Are' and 'Cello Counterpoint' are released on 26 September in the UK.

Adams' Son of Chamber Symphony -- so awesome

i don't listen to a ton of modern composed music but for some reason john adams really speaks to me. not sure why he's my dude in particular.

Anyone seen Klinghoffer/planning to see it? Curious in re the "anti-Semitism" angle. From what I have read it doesn't exactly sound anti-Semitic but maybe a little morally mushy.

Tomassini's exemplary description of complex, apparently imperfect, riveting The Death of Klinghoffer at the Met: http://nyti.ms/1pwPdry

the libretto sounds corny to me. I'm sure the music is great though.

http://www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2014/10/21/adam-shatz/whos-afraid-of-klinghoffer/

Shoot wish they were doing Met Live in HD for this

Reich > Glass, easy. Adams I can't speak intelligently about, though I would think the question would be Adams vs. Luther Adams (and the answer fairly clear?).

A friend who is a Met subscriber was at opening night, and was revolted by Rudy Giuliani / Fox News etc milking the "anti-Semitic" angle in the plaza. He finds the accusations ludicrous, and as his mate is Israeli I tend to believe him.

Furore made me check out Klinghoffer, which I'd blown off when it came out. Man I am loving this. The 2001 film version is great so far, though I'm glad I listened to the recording first before watching it (there are a lot of diegetic sound cues in the film, especially at the beginning, which distract from the opening choruses)