John Adams, I Love You

I’ve been a John Adams fan since high school, so of course I snagged a couple of good seats for his latest opera, Doctor Atomic.

It’ll be my first opera, so I’m a little anxious. I’ve heard it’s slow from veteran opera-goers, but my fingers are crossed for John Adam’s brilliant genius. He’s been repeatedly classified as a minimalist composer, but there is definitely a very strong vein of American Pop in even his densest, most repetitive compositions. I can’t stomach Steven Reich or even Brian Eno (I think I just need time, I swear), but works like Hallelujah Junction and Road Movies are as plainly accessible and irresistible as, say, Daft Punk.

The first I had heard of John Adams was his Shaker Loops, in Taipei of all places. A very soft-spoken DJ was reading poetry over the piece on a local radio station at three in the morning. I frantically found the station’s number online and called in to speak with him about the music. Then, after a long and frustrating series of attempts to search for the mispronounced name of John Adams’ piece, I found it—Shaker Loops, a half-hour long set composed for seven strings: three violins, one viola, two celli, and one contrabass. This work is strikingly beautiful because it sounds exactly as Adams had intended it to—a meticulous replication of moving water.

Anyway, not only does John Adams share the same name as a United States president (how cool is that) but the poster for the opera is also breath-takingly gorgeous. I’ve been caught on many occasions trying to peel one off the wall. If anyone knows of an available single one or set, please contact me immediately.

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