The Chairman Dances

The “Chairman” in this dazzling, hypnotically seductive stand-alone orchestral work is Chairman Mao—depicted in surreal terms, stepping out of one of his own giant portrait images to dance an old-time foxtrot with his wife. Adams composed the piece in 1985 as a preparatory exercise for his opera Nixon in China, based on the real-life event of Richard Nixon’s peace-seeking mission to Beijing 15 years earlier. And though little of the music in The Chairman Dances turns up in the finished opera score, it shares a common soundworld as insistently repeating figures—the core stuff of so-called ‘minimalist’ writing—are enriched by references to jazz, popular music and, of course, the foxtrot. In essence, what you hear is a super-stylised parody of ’30s Chinese movie music (Madame Mao having been a B-list actress in her youth) as a chugging, woodwind-heavy pulse builds through the outer sections of the piece, framing a more romantic central one. Colourfully energised, it’s 13 minutes of exotic mischief that’s become a concert favourite.