John Adams. Tonhalle Orchester Zürich

AllMusic

James Manheim 

21.10.2022

John Adams served a stint as composer-in-residence at the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, and it is certain that the performances here, though directed by Paavo Järvi, reflect a good deal of his own thinking about how these works should be performed. The album offers an attractive collection of pieces, all important in Adams' compositional development yet not terribly common on concert programs, and it testifies to the growth in Adams' international reputation. The music explores three facets of his notoriously hard-to-pin-down compositional personality. Slonimsky's Earbox (1995), a key step in his evolution from minimalism to a more general orchestral language, shows the influence of Stravinsky and is also a tribute to the great polymath and composer Nicolas Slonimsky. The three-movement My Father Knew Charles Ives (2003) is a direct tribute; it may leave one wondering how one could have missed the impact Ives had on Adams. The rhythmically bumptious Lollapalooza (1995) testifies to Adams' exceptionally subtle assimilation of influences from popular music, and the early Tromba Lontana (1986) is a lovely intermezzo, perhaps evoking Indonesian gamelan music. Physical album buyers will get some great photos of Järvi and Adams collaborating during the making of the album, and it is really a release that belongs in any Adams library. It was rewarded with best-seller status in late summer of 2022.

https://www.allmusic.com/album/john-adams-mw0003760640