Grand Pianola Music

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John Adams
John Adams

John Adams


Contents

General Info

Year: 1982 (Score published 1994)
Duration: c. 30:00
Movements: Three
Difficulty: VII (see Ratings for explanation)
Cost: Score and Parts (Rental from G. Schirmer )    |   Score Only (AMP-7995) - $60.00


Instrumentation

Full Score
Flute I-II (both doubling Piccolo)
Oboe I-II
Bassoon I-II
Bb Soprano Clarinet I-II (2nd doubling Bass Clarinet)
Trumpet (in Bb) I-II
Horn in F I-II
Trombone I-II
Tuba
Piano I
Piano II
Women's Voices (amplified)
Percussion (3 players), including:

  • Bass Drum (small, with pedal)
  • Bass Drum (large)
  • Crotales (bowed)
  • Cymbals (crash, 2 suspended)
  • Glockenspiel
  • Maracas
  • Marimba
  • Tambourine
  • Tenor Drums (5)
  • Triangle (2)
  • Vibraphone
  • Wood Block (high)
  • Xylophone


Errata

None discovered thus far.


Program Notes

Grand Pianola Music was commissioned by the General Atlantic Corporation and David M. Ramsey. The work was premiered on February 26, 1982 by the San Francisco Symphony. John Adams was the conductor and Robin Sutherland and Julie Steinberg were the pianists. Later that year it was performed in New York City with Jacob Druckman conducting on a concert along with serial works by composers influenced by Columbia and Princeton Universities.

Inspiration for the work came from the composer's dream of two limousines following him on Interstate 5 which evolved into thirty foot long pianos as they passed by him at over ninety miles per hour. Musically the work contains elements of minimalism but with the scoring and the use of I-V-I cadences it has a mostly post-modern aesthetic. Adams writes "The piece could only have been conceived by someone who had grown up surrounded by the detritus of mid-twentieth century recorded music. Beethoven and Rachmaninoff soak in the same warm bath with Liberace, Wagner, the Supremes, Charles Ives, and John Philip Sousa." The pianos are used with equal virtuosity.


Program Note by Jason Ladd


Commercial Discography


State Ratings

None discovered thus far.


Recent Performances

(To add performances, please join the WRP by contacting the webmaster)

  • Northwestern University Wind Ensemble (Mallory Thompson, conductor - 25 February 2005
  • Pasadena Symphony - 20 January 2007
  • Los Angeles Philharmonic (Esa Pekka Salonen, conductor) - 23 January 2007


Additional Works for Winds by this Composer


Additional Resources



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