Search - John Adams, De Waart, Sfso :: Harmonium

A subtle, textured music that accends into the sky

Colin R. Glassey | Bay Area, CA USA | 11/30/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Personal note: I was at the public performance that was held the day before the recording and two of my co-workers sang in the S.F. Choir.That said this is one of my favorite pieces of music. It moves from a quiet that can barely be heard to a thundering full chorus in a steady progression. It builds, gradually and carefully. It becomes more and more intense until finally a climax is reached and then it tails off into a sequence of voice and melody that is so lovely its hard to listen to it without breaking down in tears.This is profound, deeply moving music. Yes, its 'modern classical' or 'minimalist' but unlike the really ugly soundscapes which other composers have created (Phillip Glass comes to mind), this is music that is pleasing to the ear as well as the mind.To my mind, this is the best music I've heard from John Adams. I keep hoping to find new music from him that matches this, but no luck so far."

And now Ladies and Gentlemen, John Adams

Grady Harp | Los Angeles, CA United States | 06/19/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"HARMONIUM has long been this listener's favorite large scale work by John Adams. As with others who encounter Adams' compositions for the first time the language was at first a bit confusing - until of course more exposure results in a near addiction for the serenity of mind his pulsating works create.



Now there are several recordings of HARMONIUM from which to choose, yet this initial live performance with the San Francisco Symphony and Chorus under the baton of Edo de Waart remains the most pungent. Perhaps it is the then freshness of the score that suffuses both the orchestra and chorus with the enthusiasm this recording captures. But the beauty and mystery of Adams' setting of the John Donne and Emily Dickinson poetry is here magnificently rendered and is amazingly well enunciated. For example: in the opening of the second movement the words of Dickinson 'Because I could not stop for Death he kindly stopped for me' is utterly haunting, capturing all the mystical quality of Dickinson's poem with a choral sound that is difficult to duplicate.



Some would complain that the one work (32 minutes) hardly suffices to fill a CD, for this listener not having other works completing with the perfection of HARMONIUM is the perfect situation. Highly Recommended. Grady Harp, June 06"

An amazing piece of music

Grady Harp | 05/08/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I fully agree. Adams' Harmonium is an amazingly beautiful and haunting piece of music, and it here receives a definitive performance.Amazing!"