John Luther Adams

John Luther Adams ( born January 23, 1953 in Meridian, Mississippi) is an American composer.

Life

Adams visited in the early 1970s, the Cal Arts College in California and studied with James Teanney and Leonard Stein. He was there attention to composers such as Lois V. Vierk and Peter Garland. After graduating, Adams worked in environmental organizations. Thus he came to Alaska in 1975, where he has his center of life since 1978.

Music

His music is considered to be influenced by the landscapes of Alaska. Like many composers of his generation, he took a roundabout route to classical music. His musical career began as a drummer in a rock band. He then got to know the music of Frank Zappa. Through his music he discovered Edgar Varèse and John Cage. To his vocation as a composer he was when he heard Morton Feldman for the first time.

The CD Clouds of Forgetting, Clouds of Unknowing (1997) was nominated for a Grammy in 1999 in the category " Best Classical Contemporary Composition and Best Orchestral Performance".

Compositions (selection )

  • Green Corn Dance ( 1974) for percussion ensemble
  • Night Peace (1976 ) for antiphonal choirs, solo soprano, harp, and percussion
  • Songbird songs ( 1974-80 ) for 2 piccolos and 3 percussion
  • Strange Birds Passing ( 1983) for flute choir
  • The Far Country of Sleep (1988 ) for orchestra
  • Dream in White on White ( 1992) for orchestra
  • Earth and the Great Weather ( 1990-93 ) for theater
  • Five Yup'ik Dances ( 1991-94 ) for harp
  • Crow and Weasel ( 1993-94 ) (story by Barry Lopez ) for theater
  • Sauyatugvik: The Time of Drumming (1995 ) for orchestra
  • Clouds of Forgetting, Clouds of Unknowing ( 1991-95 ) for orchestra
  • Five Athabascan Dances (1992/ 96) for harp and percussion
  • Strange and Sacred Noise ( 1991-97 ) for percussion quartet
  • Make Prayers to the Raven (1996/ 98) flute, violin, harp, cello and percussion
  • In the White Silence ( 1998) for orchestra
  • Qilyaun (1998) for four bass drum
  • Time Undisturbed (1999 ) for 3 Shakuhachi, Koto 3, and Shō
  • In a Treeless Place, Only Snow ( 1999) for celesta, harp, 2 vibraphones, and string quartet
  • The Light That Fills the World (1999-2000) for orchestra
  • Among Red Mountains (2001 ) for piano
  • The Farthest Place (2001) for violin, vibraphone, marimba, piano and 5 -string bass
  • After the Light ( 2001) for alto flute, vibraphone and harp
  • Dark Wind (2001) for bass clarinet, vibraphone, marimba and piano
  • Red Arc / Blue Veil (2002 ) for piano, percussion and "processed sounds"
  • The Mathematics of Resonant Bodies (2002) for percussion and "processed sounds"
  • Poem of the Forgotten ( 2004) ( poem by John Haines ) for Voice and Piano
  • For Lou Harrison (2004, premiere 2005) for string quartet, string orchestra and 2 pianos
  • The place where you go to listen

Discography

  • Songbird songs ( 1981)
  • A Northern Suite / Night Peace (1983 )
  • Without forest Leaves (1987)
  • The Far Country (1993 )
  • Dream in White on White
  • Night Peace
  • The Far Country of Sleep
  • Earth and the Great Weather ( 1995)
  • Dark Wind (2002)
  • The Light That Fills the World ( 2002)
  • The Farthest Place
  • The Light That Fills the World
  • The Immeasurable Space of Tones
  • In the White Silence ( 2003)
  • Strange and Sacred Noise ( 2005)
  • The Mathematics of Resonant Bodies (2006)
  • For Lou Harrison ( 2007)
  • Red arc / blue veil (2007)
Meridian (Mississippi) Grammy Award Integrated Authority File
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