Search - John Luther Adams With Conductors Joann Falletta & Kevin Culver :: The Far Country

Evocative sparse textures and motifs, satisfying.

11/01/1999

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The words "Far Country" were carefully chosen for this music. As I listen to these works I feel effortlessly transported to a realm where everything makes sense in the way that ancient stories strike something archetypal and evocative in us. The "stories" are very sparsely arranged tone poems that are like watching a winter dawn slowly progress. There is a very limited palette of thematic and textural variation, but, unlike some minimalist "trance music", there always seems to be a logic and intelligence behind the flow that invites continued awake listening.I rate this a welcome addition to my music library, a vision that is unique and does not pale on repeated listening."

Soundscape, texture, melody, and bliss.

microminimalist | st. louis, mo. USA | 06/27/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"john luther adams, a resident of alaska, consistently blows me away with his ability to transplant even the most urban of us to another land, another place, another time. the first piece featured on "the far country", "dream in white on white", is referential to landscape both in title and sound texture. long, drawn string tones with slow arpeggiations in the the harp make the listener believe that s/he has been beamed down into the most perfect of all tranquil landscapes... without feeling like s/he is stuck in a new age album. no, there is nothing new age-y about the music of john luther adams, just transcendent otherworldliness."