Become Ocean

A heaving, swirling orchestral canvas, appropriate for its immense subject, Become Ocean is the most celebrated work by American composer John Luther Adams. Winner of the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for Music, the 42-minute score is rooted in an ecological premise: that life on Earth first emerged from the oceans, and as the polar ice melts and sea levels rise, humans find themselves facing the prospect of returning to the seas once again (the title itself comes from a poem by John Cage). Working as a full-time environmental activist in Alaska from 1978 to 2014, Adams witnessed the effects of climate change up close. When the Seattle Symphony Orchestra and its then music director, Ludovic Morlot, commissioned him to write a large symphonic work, the subject of rising sea levels felt especially appropriate given the ensemble’s Pacific Northwest location. Become Ocean unfolds in three enormous swells that take place at evenly spaced points in its single-movement span. Within these massive crescendos, countless inner details are busy at work: undulating arpeggios, rippling figures, shimmering fragments and foghorn-like brass effects. The third climax is bolstered by clangorous piano sounds and dramatic cymbal rolls, adding to the apocalyptic—yet somehow gorgeous—atmosphere. Become Ocean drew widespread interest from critics and even from Taylor Swift, who donated $50,000 to the Seattle Symphony after hearing the orchestra’s Grammy-winning recording of the piece.