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- John Luther Adams
Red Arc/Blue Veil (2002)
- Taiga Press (BMI) (World)
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Programme Note
Red Arc/Blue Veil was the first of my “color field” pieces, exploring the geometry of what Kandinsky called “those inner sounds that are the life of the colors”.
As in much of my music, I imagined the entire ensemble (piano, percussion, and electronic “aura”) as a single instrument, and the entire piece as a single complex sonority. The processed sounds are derived directly from the acoustical instruments.
In Red Arc/Blue Veil, the electronic sounds are layered in tempo relationships of 3, 5 and 7, while the piano and mallet percussion trace a single arc, rising and falling from beginning to end.
Red Arc/Blue Veil was commissioned and premiered by Ensemble Sirius.
John Luther Adams
As in much of my music, I imagined the entire ensemble (piano, percussion, and electronic “aura”) as a single instrument, and the entire piece as a single complex sonority. The processed sounds are derived directly from the acoustical instruments.
In Red Arc/Blue Veil, the electronic sounds are layered in tempo relationships of 3, 5 and 7, while the piano and mallet percussion trace a single arc, rising and falling from beginning to end.
Red Arc/Blue Veil was commissioned and premiered by Ensemble Sirius.
John Luther Adams
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Reviews
“There’s a sense of vast, open space in John Luther Adams’s music that’s without parallel among American composers … Adams, living in Alaska, breathes different air from the rest of his colleagues… the wide vista stretches out in front of you, waiting. ”
“…a distinctive universe where pianos and percussion sonically evoke the majesty of natural phenomena… Adams’ music might be likened to powerful glacial masses whose movements are so slow they’re imperceptible.”
”...the center of this music is just inspiration… simple but vibrant, melodic and intense… it goes deep. ”
Discography
Winter Music: Composing The North
- LabelWesleyan University Press
- Catalogue NumberISBN 978-0-8195-6742-0
- EnsemblePercussion Group Cincinnati
- SoloistSteven Schick, Percussion; Stuart Gerber, Crotales and Vibraphone; Michael Fowler, Piano
- Released10th November 2014
Red Arc / Blue Veil
- LabelCold Blue Music
- Catalogue NumberCB0026
- SoloistStephen Drury, Piano; Yukiko Takagi, Piano; Scott Deal, Bass Drum/Crotales/Vibraphone; Stuart Gerber, Bass Drum
- Released13th November 2007