Tukiliit (The Stone People Who Live in the Wind)
(2012)
for solo piano.
6:30
Commissioned for Emanuele Arciuli.
The Wind in High Places
(2011)
for string quartet.
16:00
Four Thousand Holes
(2010)
for piano, percussion and electronic sounds.
32:30
"It is impressive to imagine anyone actually following such conceptual virtuosity, much less creating the seamless, seemingly organic layers of sound Adams lays out over his structurally precise and infinitely flexible power grids."
-- Laurence Vittes, Gramophone
The Light Within
(2007)
for alto flute, bass clarinet, vibraphone/crotales, piano, violin, 'cello and electronic sounds.
11:45
Commissioned by the Seattle Chamber Players and the California EAR Unit.
"Inspired by James Turrell's ethereal installation art, Adams' thick and undulating wall-of-sound approach suggests a musical corollary to Turrell's sublime manipulations of time, space and color."
-- Josef Woodard, The Los Angeles Times
"... the standout work of the festival ... a shimmering spectrum of massive, merging harmonies ... the textures of noise as our contemporary counterpart to the sublime."
-- Thomas May, Seattle Weekly
Nunataks (Solitary Peaks)
(2007)
for solo piano.
7:00
Commissioned by Music Northwest.
Three High Places (in memory of Gordon Wright)
(2007)
for solo violin.
10:30
Dark Waves
(2007)
version for two pianos and electronic sounds.
12:00
for Jim (rising)
(2006)
for three trumpets and three trombones.
6:30
Red Arc / Blue Veil
(2002)
for piano, mallet percussion and processed sounds.
12:00
Commissioned by Ensemble Sirius.
"...a shimmering, minimalist, impressionistic landscape of sound: rolling waves from the piano, gentle whooshes from the percussion, augmented by an occasional loud groan from the computer."
-- Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Dark Wind
(2001)
for bass clarinet, vibraphone, marimba, piano.
"...an unbroken, slowly shifting, many-hued sound texture... frequently energized by internal ripples and coruscations... the discipline imposed by the work's own internal structures has the effect of disclosing, within the sound mass, particular dimensions of power, range and beauty..."
-- Christopher Ballantine, International Record Review
"...an enormous geography of sound... a wilderness of big sky... the audio analog to a series of floating clouds beside a snowcapped mountain."
- Ben Fleury-Steiner, ei magazine
In a Treeless Place, Only Snow
(1999)
for celesta, harp (or piano), 2 vibraphones, string quartet.
18:00
Commissioned by the Third Angle New Music Ensemble.
"Adams' music made the unseen visible, like
breath exhaled into frosty air, a bodilessness pulsing
with life. His rising and falling themes, traded among
the strings, built a prayerful melodic arc that stretched
out to infinity yet spoke directly to the individual
soul."
-- Grant Menzies, The Oregonian (Portland)
Time Undisturbed (1999)
for piccolo, flute, and alto flute (or three shakuhachis),
three harps (celesta, piano and harp) (or three kotos), 'cello and
sustaining keyboard (or sho).
19:00
Commissioned by the Kanagawa Cultural Council
for the Monophony Consort.
Make Prayers to the Raven (1996/98)
fl, vln, hp (or pno), vlc, percussion.
16:30
Five Athabascan
Dances (1992/96)
for harp and percussion.
Strange Birds
Passing (1983)
for flute choir (2/3/2/1).
6:30
songbirdsongs
(1974-80)
for 2 piccolos and 3 percussion.
ca. 40:00
Recorded on Centaur (CRC 2273) and Opus One (LP#66).
"I'm working as a fire lookout on Aztec Peak in Arizona. Used to work same job on N. Rim of Grand Canyon. Your musical evocation of the hermit thrush, common to both places, moved me to tears."
- Edward Abbey, letter July 1978
"...one of the most sensitive reworkings of
birdsong since Messiaen's."
- Ear Magazine
" ...exquisitely gentle evocations of
wilderness sounds... songbirdsongs transformed the
auditorium into the aural equivalent of some
enchanted forest...The effect was musical
magic."
- News and Courier/Evening Post (Charleston, S.C.)
"...uncanny...songbirdsongs is a
beautiful recording."
-- John Schafer, National Public
Radio
"...charm and a real feeling for the nature
of nature's music."
-- Eric Salzman, Stereo Review
"un monde d'enchantement sonore, vibrant de
mystere et de poesie."
