I only heard part of the Violin Concerto; without having heard the whole piece it is probably unfair of me to judge, but I found the first part deeply uninteresting note-spinning. Then my ears pricked up for the second part: some lovely string chords which I would have enjoyed longer contact with, then some rather fine orchestral sonorities. However, they, and much of the music that they clothed seemed to me incredibly close to the last movement of the Britten Violin Concerto. I have always thought that is one of Britten's finest pieces (and I am extremely suspicious of his output as a whole) and I felt Adams was apeing and diluting it.

For what it's worth, I still think the best Adams score I've heard is Harmonium.

By the way, Martle, the crate is chilling!!!

Yes - a piece like The Transmigration of Souls should, theoretically, in my book, be a "selling out" piece - pushing all the emotive buttons, "cashing in" on an horrific event - and yet, it manages to be better than that. Having said that, I can't say it's a piece I want to return to very often, which perhaps indicates that the balance between music and (for want of a better word) dramatic content is not quite right.

Adams is a decent conductor too - not just of his own or even just new music. (And, by the way, one of the best performances of The Hebrides Ov I ever heard was conducted by PMD!)

I was surprised by Adams music and I liked it a lot. I used to think it was primitive.
I even liked his violin concerto.
I can not say I liked his opera about hijacking, but even with this I may change my mind. It is strange to hear opera about problems of our times. May be I am used to listen to operas with historical subjects.

On the other note does any one knows if there is a spelling check here. I need it badly. 

[What's synonym for; 'pleased'? use any of them]...to see John Adams being discussed here. I mostly post on the jazz board and feel somewhat more 'secure' there and don't have the fortitude to go through all the changes John Adams' music seems to inspire.

I would make a personal recommendation to the discussion: If you ever have the opportunity to view his El Nino, make the effort.

In the performance here in Los Angeles, the singing was always accompanied by a large-screen depicting the libretto. On the screen, it was a charge to see the Annunciation (Elizabeth to Mary) being held in a laundry room! And to have Mary give birth late at night in the parking lot of a K-Mart store...with the K-Mart security guards standing in for the shepherds!

I don't have any print here at the moment about the opening of this opera which was in Europe, I believe. But my recollection is that the critics just didn't get the significance of the on-screen story.

Just been watching/listening to the Documentary 'extras' on the "El Niñ6" DVD.  I think SS! would have no difficulty agreeing with much, if not most, of what Adams has to say about music. Think is, when Adams has a go at Boulez, Stockhausen, Cage, etc., it's a bit like a son denouncing the ideas of the father he loves.

By the way, reasonably decent "In Our Time" on Radio 4 this week, on Popper (Karl that is, not the fluter). An mp3 of it can be downloaded from the Radio 4 pages.

I had been watching the documentary 'extras' (well worth checking out, by the way) on the DVD of Adams's "El Niño", (Arthaus Musik 100 220). I have no remunerated work to do today, so stayed up late.

The Sept 11 piece is the one called The Transmigration of Souls - see message 4 above.