John Adams - Collected Works

 
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JOHN ADAMS
John Adams - Collected Works
San Francisco Symphony, Orchestra Of St. Luke's, London Sinfonietta, Sanford Sylvan (baritone), Leila Josefowicz (violin), etc

[ Nonesuch Records / 40 CD Box Set ]

Release Date: Friday 17 May 2024

Nonesuch Records releases the forty-disc John Adams Collected Works, a box set featuring recordings spanning more than four decades of the composer's career with the label.

The release includes two extensive booklets containing new essays and notes by Timo Andres, Julia Bullock, Robert Hurwitz, Nico Muhly, and Jake Wilder-Smith.  

Nonesuch made its first record with John Adams in 1985. He was signed exclusively to the label that year, and since then the company has released forty-two first recordings and thirty-one all-Adams albums, of which six are full-length operas, oratorios, or staged theatrical presentations. Four of Adams' Nonesuch records have won Grammy Awards, among other honors.

"John Adams coming to the label was one of the central events in our company's history," says Robert Hurwitz, Nonesuch's longtime President and current Chairman Emeritus. "The idea of a label recording all of the works of its most cherished composers had been long established in the classical record business, most notably the efforts of Columbia with Stravinsky, Decca with Britten, and Deutsche Grammophon with Stockhausen." With this box, Nonesuch and Adams are now added to that list.

"Every recording was either conducted by John, or made under close supervision of the composer, who was in the control booth for every album-when he wasn't on the podium."

Incudes two extensive booklets containing new essays.

"Son of Chamber Symphony was an exuberant nod to its 1992 predecessor, all cartoon energy and virtuosic colour." Independent on Sunday

"Such challenging music demands both poise and precision from the performers - which it receives in abundance on this recording...[the String Quartet] is Adams at his most unforgiving and uncompromising. The St. Lawrence String Quartet, for whom the work was written, provide a masterful performance" Gramophone Magazine, September 2011

"The 2018 Josefowicz vintage certainly brings with it a depth and maturation that can only be achieved through 20 years of living and breathing a work now performed by the violinist more than 100 times. Throw into the mix David Robertson's bold interpretation with the excellent St Louis Symphony Orchestra and this recording sets a new benchmark...Faultless." Gramophone Awards 2019 Finalist - Concerto

"Finley 'owns' the characterisation of J Robert Oppenheimer…and Julia Bullock's Kitty [is] the most ardent possible. All else is compelling on every level, with superb British support from Brindley Sherratt as doubtful fellow physicist Edward Teller…Superbly recorded." BBC Award Finalist - Opera 2019 [Doctor Atomic]

"John's Book of Alleged Dances (the equivocation in the title refers to dance steps that have yet to be invented) is prime-cut Adams - fidgety, tuneful, teeming with invention and all but tactile in its aural variety; its use of the prepared piano is fascinating. The recordings are first-rate." Gramophone

"John Adams's nativity oratorio is a winner, a very palpable hit - an intelligent, emotional and sometimes magical re-telling of the old, old story from a new perspective...you can tell the cast has the music in their bones...El Niño emerges with a new radiance and beauty on record." BBC Music

"Josefowicz, who has been a champion of the composer's music for decades, gives a performance here that explains why Adams has such faith in her: suave and sensual, yet assertive and full of longing. The St Louis Symphony play with authority under David Robertson and the recording is beautifully balanced." Gramophone [Scheherazade.2]

"Naïve and SentimentalMusic is dedicated to Esa-Pekka Salonen and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, who premièred it in February 1999...the overall interpretation is very persuasive indeed." Gramophone

Tracks:

A Flowering Tree
American Berserk (2001)
Berceuse élégiaque
Century Rolls
Chamber Symphony
China Gates
Choruses from The Death of Klinghoffer
Christian Zeal and Activity
City Noir
Common Tones in Simple Time
Doctor Atomic
Doctor Atomic Symphony
El Dorado
El Niño
Eros Piano
Fearful Symmetries
Gnarly Buttons for clarinet & ensemble
Grand Pianola Music
Guide to Strange Places
Hallelujah Junction
Harmonielehre
Harmonium
Hoodoo Zephyr
I Still Play
I was looking at the ceiling and then I saw the sky
John's Book of Alleged Dances
Lollapalooza
My Father Knew Charles Ives
Naive and Sentimental Music
Nixon in China
On The Transmigration of Souls
Phrygian Gates for solo piano
Road Movies for violin & piano
Roll Over Beethoven
Saxophone Concerto
Scheherazade.2
Shaker Loops
Short Ride in a Fast Machine
Slonimsky's Earbox
Son of Chamber Symphony
String Quartet
The Chairman Dances
The Death of Klinghoffer
The Dharma at Big Sur
The Gospel According To The Other Mary
The Wound-Dresser
Adams, J: Tromba Lontana
Violin Concerto

Diamond: Elegy in memory of Maurice Ravel
Feldman, M: Mme Press died last week at 90
Ives, C: At the river
Ives, C: Down East
Ives, C: Serenity
Ives, C: The Unanswered Question
Ives, C: Thoreau
Liszt: La Lugubre Gondola for cello & piano, S134
Marshall, I: Fog Tropes