Adams: A Portrait and a Concert Of American Music

Ensemble Intercontemporain, Nott, Jonathan

DVD 100322

John Adams is America's most performed living composer. He is able to write accessible music that continues to challenge and surprise the listener. In the words of the New Yorker, he is "the man who takes the 'struggle' out of modern music." This documentary about the composer who took contemporary music out of the blind alley of the avant-garde and breathed new life into modern opera, focuses on a major interview filmed at Adam's home. There are contributions from Peter Sellars, librettist Alice Goodman and conductor Michael Tilson Thomas. The documentary also contains extensive excerpts from Nixon in China, El Niño and Klinghoffer's film adaptation. His orchestral compositions Shaker Loops, The Chamber Symphony and Gnarly Buttons are also discussed. The live recording from the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris features the Ensemble Intercontemporain, conducted by its musical director, Jonathan Nott. The program consists of a musical journey through American music from the second half of the twentieth century: Eight Lines by Steve Reich, Gnarly Buttons (for clarinet and ensemble) by John Adams, Studies for Player Piano No. 1 & No. 7 by Conlon Nancarrow (transcription by Yvar Mikhashoff) and Chamber Symphony by John Adams. CAST Ensemble Intercontemporain Conductor: Jonathan Nott, Clarinet: André Trouttet

DVD

17.10.2002

4006680103228