Composer John Adams wins Pulitzer Prize for 9-11 commission

[Other Steve]

Press release received this afternoon from the New York Philharmonic:

JOHN ADAMS'S ON THE TRANSMIGRATION OF SOULS, A NEW YORK PHILHARMONIC COMMISSION, WINS 2003 PULITZER PRIZE FOR MUSIC

Work Commemorating Those Who Died on September 11, 2001 Received Its World Premiere in September 2002 with the New York Philharmonic Conducted by Music Director Lorin Maazel

John Adams's On the Transmigration of Souls, commissioned by the New York Philharmonic and Lincoln Center's Great Performers, has won the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for music. The work received its world premiere performances September 19-21 and 24, 2002, by the New York Philharmonic, conducted by Music Director Lorin Maazel, with the Brooklyn Youth Chorus, Dianne Berkun, director, and the New York Choral Artists, Joseph Flummerfelt, director.

Said Mr. Adams, upon receiving word of the prize, "Composing Souls was a serious and very humbling experience for me, and any honor that receiving the Pulitzer Prize may afford should be shared with families of those who were lost on September 11 in New York. I'll always be indebted to those New Yorkers who so generously allowed me to use their words and remembrances to create this piece." The work, with texts that include remembrances by survivors and a partial list of the victims' names, is scored for two choruses (children and adults), large orchestra, and interactive electronic sound, and is reflective in spirit.

Philharmonic Executive Director Zarin Mehta said, "On behalf of Maestro Lorin Maazel, who championed this project from the start, and the musicians of the New York Philharmonic, whose great commitment to this composition made it one of the most memorable performances of the season, we offer our congratulations to John Adams, one of today's truly visionary composers."

John Adams will conduct the New York Philharmonic in May 2004 in performances of works by Charles Ives and his own Harmonium, in its New York Philharmonic premiere.

John Adams has left an indelible mark on the American classical music scene with a repertoire that spans the genres of orchestra, opera, musical theater, chamber, vocal, solo and electro-acoustic works. The two-time Grammy® award-winner is one of the most recorded of all living composers, with numerous awards and honors to his credit. El Niño, Adam's most recent stage work commissioned in part by Lincoln Center, had its New York premiere as part of a Lincoln Center's Great Performers' mini-festival in March 2003. Other works include Harmonium, Shaker Loops, Harmonielehre, Grand Pianola Music, Guide to Strange Places, a Violin Concerto, a piano concerto (Century Rolls, written for Emanuel Ax), Naïve and Sentimental Music, Guide to Strange Places and Chamber Symphony, which received the 1994 Royal Philharmonic Society Award. Known for addressing compelling social issues in both his opera and stage works, Adams began collaborations with poet Alice Goodman and stage director Peter Sellars in 1985. These resulted in the creation of Nixon in China and The Death of Klinghoffer, two of the most performed contemporary operas.

John Adams was born in Massachusetts in 1947, and received both his B.A. and M.A. degrees from Harvard University, where he was active as a conductor, clarinetist, and composer. His principal teachers included Leon Kirchner, David Del Tredici, and Roger Sessions. During a 10-year tenure as teacher and conductor at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, his innovative programming earned him a 1978 appointment as contemporary music advisor to the San Francisco Symphony. In 1982 he became the Symphony's first composer-in-residence, where he wrote some of his most important works. Recent honors include his 2003 appointment to The Richard and Barbara Debs Composer's Chair at Carnegie Hall, and a 1997 "Composer of the Year" Award by Musical America.

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Other Pulitzer winners:

Fiction: Jeffrey Eugenides - Middlesex
General Non-Fiction: Samantha Power - A Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide
Biography: Robert Caro - Master of the Senate
Poetry: Paul Muldoon - Moy Sand and Gravel
Drama: Nilo Cruz - Anna in the Tropics

[Brian Olewnick]

Steve, have you heard the piece? Been years (like 15, maybe more) since I heard a new Adams work. I have fond memories of earlier pieces like 'Shaker Loops' and 'Grand Pianola Music', but lost interest around the time of 'Nixon in China'.

[David Gitin]

"Death of Klinghoffer" as staged by San Fran Opera was remarkable (tremendou libretto, as in 'Nixon', by Alice Goodman). More recent collab with June Jordan was interesting too.

[Other Steve]

Originally posted by Brian Olewnick
Steve, have you heard the piece?

Yup, I caught the world premiere performance last September. Many of Adams's recent pieces have marked a return to the somewhat more simplistic and straightforward style of Harmonielehre and The Chairman Dances after a long digression into somewhat cloudier and thornier music (the Schoenberg-inspired Chamber Symphony and Berg-ian Violin Concerto). Transmigration fell between the two poles: It was neither blithe nor gnarly, but breathed of both essences. It was well suited to Adams's concept of creating a massive sound-space, like a cathedral, in which to ponder one's own emotional response to the tragedy.

Many survivors and families of victims were in the audience; feelings were mixed. Some appreciated the reverence of the piece (and its blessed lack of musical depiction of events... who would have needed the sounds of whining engines and crashing architecture?). Others thought that the use of quotes from victims' families' "missing" posters ("I'm still waiting for him to call...", "He was the apple of his father's eye...") was trite exploitation.

Me, I've seldom been so moved by anything in a concert hall. Adams took an unthinkable topic and turned it into a work that was both heartbreaking and life-affirming. The use of childrens' chorus was especially effective, as was the use of pre-recorded environmental sound (footsteps, traffic et al played in surround sound around the hall, making the boundary between "inside" and "outside" seem to vanish) and the employment of a section of string players and second piano tuned a quarter-tone off the main pitch, which added an Ives-ian sense of disembodied unease to certain passages.

The inexorable build to a crashing climax, followed by a sustained stretch of otherworldliness that seemed to truly illustrate a sense of "transmigration" -- that's something I don't expect to ever forget. It was never cheap, nor maudlin, nor did it coast on cheap, sensational effect, as did certain other 9-11 memorial works that I've had the unpleasant circumstance to hear. And it's another reason why, to reference another recent thread, Philip Glass is an important modern composer, but John Adams is a great composer, period.

I'm not the world's biggest fan of Lorin Maazel (nor do I detest him, as some locals do), but I will say that he took an extremely ambitious score, learned it completely and conducted it masterfully. And I dearly hope that Nonesuch will do the right thing and use the Phil and Maazel when they record the piece, union costs or no.

[frankpop1]

brian o, i have heard the piece. i think u may be in the same circle that i am in on this one. i believe that u - like me - really have lost interest in th 90s with adams and other minimalist. this music is more of the same of the stagnant music of the 90s that i have heard from adams. this loses its edge that his early music had and like other minimalist releases in recent yrs it harkens back to romanticism. the concept was rather interesting, yet the classical style singers really missed for me. similarly, i really disliked 'nixon' as well. it is more in line with that music. i found 'nixon' to be a huge miss. it seemed quite flabby and an attempt to connect with more traditional classical music loving audiences.

oh how i harken for the old days in the 70s when the minimalists & 12 tone classical composers were at each others throats. the crazy minimalists were creaming the 12 tone guys. in the 70s, it was like where is the good, new 12 tone classical music? what happened? did they vanish? now the 12 tone guys are back in force and the minimalists...well, im waiting for resurrection. thank god for gtm.

[Other Steve]

Originally posted by David Gitin
"Death of Klinghoffer" as staged by San Fran Opera was remarkable (tremendou libretto, as in 'Nixon', by Alice Goodman). More recent collab with June Jordan was interesting too.

You might be interested to hear that Adams, Goodman and Peter Sellars are hard at work on a third opera, Doctor Atomic, about J. Robert Oppenheimer and the Manhattan Project. It's due to be premiered at San Francisco Opera in September 2005. Adams has promised to include some "science-fiction music" in the score. (Aniara, anyone?)

[David Gitin]

Good news. By the way, in New York Times, Adams mentions all the great composers overlooked in past decades including Feldman, Cage, Partch, Thelonious Monk!

[graypencil]

Kudos to Adams ..

<< i believe that u - like me - really have lost interest in th 90s with adams and other
minimalist. this music is more of the same of the stagnant music of the 90s that i have
heard from adams. this loses its edge that his early music had and like other
minimalist releases in recent yrs it harkens back to romanticism <<



whaaaaat? wan't Frankipop the dude that was trying to shove Philip Glass down our throat on another thread? ..what is this "stagnant" shit? ..

..and where did this "harkens back to Romanticism " come from? What the shit kind of Romanticism is he referring to?


c'mon man ..define some terms ..or give comparitive examples ..

Shit ..I sound like Damen

[cookie]

I don't know nuthin' from nuthin', but other steve's description of the composition and performance was a pleasure to read and makes me interested in this piece. Thanks for the good writing.

[Tom Storer]

Other Steve, I agree with cookie that you write good reviews! Makes me want to hear the piece.

Even though you did write this: "Transmigration fell between the two poles: It was neither blithe nor gnarly, but breathed of both essences." Block that metaphor! ;-)

[Brian Olewnick]

That Times piece that David mentioned appears today in the daily paper. Very smart and classy for Adams to mention those composers and, at least, to refer to jazz composers as a whole.

[Other Steve]

Cookie, thanks. Hopefully you'll get a chance to hear the piece. Tom, I'll try to rein in some of my more unhinged constructions.

Originally posted by Brian Olewnick
That Times piece that David mentioned appears today in the daily paper. Very smart and classy for Adams to mention those composers and, at least, to refer to jazz composers as a whole.

That's pretty typical for Adams, but the really nice thing is that as the new composer in residence at Carnegie Hall, he gets to actually do something about it. Among other roles, Adams is the advisor for most of what's getting booked in the new, 644-seat Zankel Hall, which is located underneath Isaac Stern Hall. Aside from chamber music (including another season of the series "When Morty Met John" that includes a FLUX Quartet performance of Feldman's six-hour String Quartet No. 2), there are also a number of jazz and world music bookings coming up in the initial season. Don't have the schedule handy, but off the top of my head I remember David Murray with strings, Taraf de Haidouks, a week with Caetano Veloso and his invited guests, Yossou N'Dour and so on. (In fact, my tongue-in-cheek description of the new hall is "Nonesuch in a box.")

[cookie]

I'm curious Other Steve: what children's chorus performed? I occasionally work with children's choirs and am interested to hear how Adams employed young voices. It's amazing what kids can learn to sing.

Also, it sounds like it would be a wonderful piece to hear live, what with the environmental sounds you describe. The "inside/outside" thing you mention fascinates me. I imagine it might not have quite the same effect on CD, but I think it's an interesting use of sound.