Hallelujah Junction

John Adams’ rare, rollicking foray into music for two pianos, Hallelujah Junction summons the sounds of ragtime, minimalism and, briefly, a landmark by Handel. Composed at the request of pianists Grant Gershon and Gloria Cheng, the score was named after a truck stop on Route 49, a highway that crosses the Nevada-California border, not far from where the composer owned a mountain cabin. He described it as “a case of a great title looking for a piece”, with “junction” suggesting an interlocking style of two-piano writing, and motives bouncing back and forth in tight synchronisation between the instruments. The first movement opens with only the “__lle-lu-jah” of the title, at first clangorous but gradually more relaxed and regular before ending with a stream of fragmented chords. This leads to the serene second movement, the “__lle-lu-jah” motif now gently churning. The finale brings the full, four-syllable “Hallelujah” motif as well as the “junction” of the two pianists in a boogie-woogie fashion. Finally, a quote from Handel’s “Hallelujah” Chorus kicks in for an ebullient finish.