I first listened to American composer John Adams's Shaker Loops while cleaning up my room in July. I was immediately struck by the beauty of the minimalism that Adams writes with, while also being so compelled by the energy of the first movement to listen to the rest. I don't seek out strings-only music (as I am more interested in Romantic era music for full orchestra), but this is truly captivating music.
The work was originally written for string septet and had an unspecified number of repeats for each of the "modules," giving this music somewhat of a chance (as in "chance music") or aleatoric component to it. It was later recast for string orchestra and the number of repeats specified, though Adams himself has expressed that he prefers the original version for string septet.
Rather than plagiarizing an entire history of the work, I'll link to Earbox where the composer has written his own program notes and provided context for the inception and development of the work. Since the composer has said he prefers the modular version, I've linked to a recording of that version below. The movements are performed without pauses, so there is a little bit of spillover.
Shaker Loops
I. Shaking and Trembling
II. Hymning Slews
III. Loops and Verses
IV. A Final Shaking
One thing that always strikes me about minimalism is how so much music can come from very limited musical ideas (melody, harmony, texture, etc., or any combination of the above can be stripped from the music). You could realistically argue that not a single movement of Shaker Loops has a recognizable or distinguishable melody, and yet overarching musical gestures create a sense of musical direction that is really difficult to achieve if the music is dragging on a single melody.
I'm also amazed at the variety of textures that Adams conjures up from just a string septet. From listening to Finzi's Clarinet Concerto, Op.31, I realized the power and the range of expression that a string orchestra can have. However, Adams' use of artificial harmonics, tremolo (both repeating and alternating), and other textures adds a whole new dimension to the textural capacity of both a chamber group of strings and to a string orchestra.
My personal favorite is the first movement, but the fourth movement is a very close second, especially with the modular version I linked above. The long rhythmic compression by accelerando that takes place from 23:22 to 24:07 in the third movement is hair-raising (especially when the rhythmic subdivision in the low strings drops out suddenly). One particular note I have in the fourth movement is the ridiculous harmonic shift from B major to C major at 30:36 (start at 30:30), which gives me chills, too.
Let me know what you think of these pieces in the comments below and share this post if you enjoyed it!
The work was originally written for string septet and had an unspecified number of repeats for each of the "modules," giving this music somewhat of a chance (as in "chance music") or aleatoric component to it. It was later recast for string orchestra and the number of repeats specified, though Adams himself has expressed that he prefers the original version for string septet.
Rather than plagiarizing an entire history of the work, I'll link to Earbox where the composer has written his own program notes and provided context for the inception and development of the work. Since the composer has said he prefers the modular version, I've linked to a recording of that version below. The movements are performed without pauses, so there is a little bit of spillover.
Shaker Loops
I. Shaking and Trembling
II. Hymning Slews
III. Loops and Verses
IV. A Final Shaking
One thing that always strikes me about minimalism is how so much music can come from very limited musical ideas (melody, harmony, texture, etc., or any combination of the above can be stripped from the music). You could realistically argue that not a single movement of Shaker Loops has a recognizable or distinguishable melody, and yet overarching musical gestures create a sense of musical direction that is really difficult to achieve if the music is dragging on a single melody.
I'm also amazed at the variety of textures that Adams conjures up from just a string septet. From listening to Finzi's Clarinet Concerto, Op.31, I realized the power and the range of expression that a string orchestra can have. However, Adams' use of artificial harmonics, tremolo (both repeating and alternating), and other textures adds a whole new dimension to the textural capacity of both a chamber group of strings and to a string orchestra.
My personal favorite is the first movement, but the fourth movement is a very close second, especially with the modular version I linked above. The long rhythmic compression by accelerando that takes place from 23:22 to 24:07 in the third movement is hair-raising (especially when the rhythmic subdivision in the low strings drops out suddenly). One particular note I have in the fourth movement is the ridiculous harmonic shift from B major to C major at 30:36 (start at 30:30), which gives me chills, too.
Let me know what you think of these pieces in the comments below and share this post if you enjoyed it!
No comments:
Post a Comment