The John Adams Reader: Essential Writings on an American Composer

The John Adams Reader: Essential Writings on an American Composer gathers a colorful and wide-ranging selection of pieces from leading musical commentators and critics. Included are revealing interviews with the composer as well as eloquent essays by Ingram Marshall, Michael Steinberg, Alex Ross, Sarah Cahill, Alan Rich, and many others. Editor Thomas May has grouped this collection into four sections: profiles of the artist (including a fascinating memory piece from Ingram Marshall on Adams's early San Francisco years), detailed essays on the major works, interviews with some leading collaborators and interpreters, and critical reception. This reader should be of use both as an introduction for the general reader to a preeminently significant American artist and as a reference for the more serious student or scholar.

CONTENIDO

Acknowledgments
Introduction, Thomas May

Part one: Portraits of the artist
- John Adams Reflects on His Career, Thomas May
- The Harmonist, Alex Ross
- On Top, but Ever the Risk-Taker, Mark Swed
- Composer Captures Essence of Today, Pierre Ruhe
- Voice of America: Composer John Adams Speaks for the Nation, Joshua Kosman
- Life as music: John Adams Goes Public, Alan Rich
- Ingram Marshall on the Early Years in San Francisco, Thomas May

Part Two: The musical works
- Shaker Loops (1978; revised 1983), Ingram Marshall
- Harmonium for Large Orchestra and Chorus (1980-81), Michael Steinberg
- Grand Pianola Music (1982), Sarah Cahill
- Light Over Water. The Genesis of a Music (1983), Ingram Marshall
- Harmonielehre (1084-85), Michael Steinberg
- The Chairman Dances (1985), Michael Steinberg
- Short Ride in a Fast Machine (1986), Michael Steinberg
- Nixon in China (1985-87), Michael Steinberg
- Fearful Symetries and The Wound-Dresser (1988), Sarah Cahill
- The Death of Klinghoffer (1990-91), Michael Steinberg
- El Dorado (1991), Michael Steinberg
- Chamber Symphony (1992), Sarah Cahill
- Violin Concerto (1993), Michael Steinberg
- Gnarly Buttons (1996), Sarah Cahill
- Century Rolls (1996), Sarah Cahill
- Naive and Sentimental Music: A Sentimental Journey (1997-98), Ingram Marshall
- El niño: A Nativity Oratorio (1999-2000), Michael Steinberg
- John Adams on El niño and Vernacular Elements, Ken Ueno
- Memory Spaces (On the Transmigration of Souls) (2002), David Schiff
- John Adams Discusses On the Transmigration of Souls, Daniel Colvard
- My father Knew Charles Ives (2003), Michael Steinberg
- The Dharma at Big Sur (2003), Daniel Colvard
- John Adams on Doctor Atomic (2004-05), Thomas May

Part Three: Collaborators and interpreters
- Creating Contexts: Peter Sellars on Working with Adams, Thomas May
- Breaking Taboos (Portrait of Alice Goodman), Rupert Christiansen
- Robert Spano on Conducting the Music of Adams, Thomas May
- John Adams on Conducting Ives, Ingram Marshall
- Emanuel Ax on Performing Adam's Piano Concerto, Yhomas May
- Dawn Upshaw on Singing in El Niño, Thomas May

Part Four: Critical reception
- Early Works, Edward Rothsein
- Mischief (Grand Pianola Music), Alan Rich
- Nixon in China, Edward Rothstein
- Nixon in China, Tim Page

The Klinghoffer Controversy
- The Klinghoffer Debate, Bernd Feuchtner
- From an Episode of Terrorism, Adams's Death of Klinghoffer, John Rockwell
- Seeking Symmetry Between Palestinians and Jews, Edward Rothstein
- Seeking Answers in an Opera, Mark Swed
- Dept. of Raw Nerves: Hijack Opera Scuttled, Alex Ross
- Music's Dangers and the case for Control, Richard Taruskin
- Born Again (Film of The Death of Klinghoffer), Alan Rich
- Something to say (Violin Concerto), Alan Rich
- I was Looking at the Ceiling and then I saw the sky, Sarah Cahill
- Adams, Sellars Think Smaller in New Opera (I was looking at ceiling and then I saw the sky), Richard Dyer
- Adams's Twentieth Century Rolls - and Rocks (Century Rolls), Mark Swed
- Bigger Proves Better in Adams's Grandiose World (Naive and Sentimental Music), Mark Swed
- Rebirth of a Savior in El Niño, Mark Swed
- Washed in the Sound of Souls in Transit (On the Transmigration of Souls), Anthony Tommasini
- The Art of 9/11, Arthur C. Danto
- Symphony Premieres Adams's Splendid Ives, Joshua Kosman
- History's Unholy Trinity (Doctor Atomic), Justin Davidson
- Learning To Love the Bomb (Doctor Atomic), Alan Rich
- Aspects of John Adams's Music: Floating Elegies and Music Boxes, Renaud Machart

Appendix A: "Rumor Scene" from The Death of Klinghoffer, Alice Goodman
Appendix B: Synopsis: I was looking at the Ceiling and then I saw the Sky, John Adams
Appendix C: Synopsis: Doctor Atomic, John Adams
Appendix D: The Complete Works of John Adams
Contribuitors
Index of John Adams Compositions
Index of Names
Sources and Permissions