"When called back on stage at the Bridgewater Hall for the fourth or fifth time, the US composer John Adams walked only as far as the back of the first violins, raised his hands in thanks and gestured, smiling, that it was bedtime. At 78, Adams is younger than the first wave of American minimalists (Philip Glass, Steve Reich and co), who are now around 90."
"Played by members of the Halle conducted by Euan Shields, the complex textures of the first movement (cross-rhythms galore) held together miraculously, as if by surface tension and I've never heard a contrabassoon sound so funky. In the second movement, mellow brass lines curled beautifully over the walking bass, the sudden poise ruffled only by a synth's arcade-game twiddling. The finale hurtled along, its hyperactivity kept just the right side of dangerous driving by Shields, and underpinned by the astonishingly virtuosic one-man percussion section."
John Adams, aged 78, appeared in a Manchester composer focus that included four concerts and a UK premiere co-commission with the Halle. His orchestral scores and nine operas are intricate and polychrome, exhibiting maximalist energy rather than minimalism. The Halle performed Adams's 1992 Chamber Symphony under Euan Shields, with complex cross-rhythms, a surprisingly funky contrabassoon, mellow brass over a walking bass, arcade-like synth touches, a hurled finale and an astonishing one-man percussion section. The programme moved at a fast, furious pace and was co-curated by Adams. Eliza McCarthy and James McVinnie produced a luminous, tightly counted rendition of Hallelujah Junction.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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