John Adams

Paavo Järvi, music director of Zurich’s Tonhalle Orchestra, makes a point of keeping up with the important composers of our day. Such is his zeal for championing the work of his fellow Estonians, however, that he rarely programmes other composers. So, he tells Apple Music, after focusing in his first seasons in Switzerland on Arvo Pärt and Erkki-Sven Tüür, he decided on something different for his audiences. “Not that John Adams needs our help! He’s something of a legend and his music is played all over the world. But his music is totally new to my repertoire.” As part of a special residency, John Adams spent time in Zurich, working with the orchestra. “It was incredibly useful and helpful that John himself was conducting a concert of his own music—it meant that his personality was immediately felt and accepted by the orchestra. His music needs a little bit of introduction here, and nobody could have done it better than John himself. He would give these disarming little replies when one of the players would ask a very technical question, as European musicians often do. ‘Well, it’s like when you’re driving a car and a mosquito hits your windshield—that’s how it should sound,’ was one. It immediately showed the orchestra, ‘OK, this is a different world! You need to visualize things differently.’” Järvi’s new album for Alpha Classics gathers four pieces by Adams to which he feels a particular connection. Each piece came into existence thanks to various conductors (Kent Nagano, Michael Tilson Thomas, Sergiu Comissiona, and Simon Rattle), whether commissions by them or even birthday presents to them from Adams himself. Their involvement in these works is something that Järvi, modest to a fault, likes to see as a small acknowledgment of the role of the conductor. “It reminds us, in a very quiet way, that there is a layer that is important in commissioning new works and in creating the flow of new music. And that is a conductor. I really look at myself mostly as an ally to a composer. But there is no question in anybody’s mind who the main heroes are: the composers.” Here, Järvi takes us through each of the works on his new album. Slonimsky’s Earbox “The conductor, composer, and writer Nicolas Slonimsky was very close to my father [the conductor Neeme Järvi], and I met him too. We had all of his books at home, and in one, he wrote a dedication to my father: ‘To a musician who knows even more music than I do.’ The guy had an encyclopedic knowledge, and often really offbeat stuff. I think this is actually one of the best pieces on the album. It’s inventive and a little quirky, and it has a certain rhythmical ostinato on which he builds a rather surprising set of variations, which end up being just genius. John got to know Slonimsky well and really captures his personality and wit.” My Father Knew Charles Ives “I’ve known this work since I was music director in Cincinnati—I’d often thought about doing it but didn’t dare to. It’s the first Adams piece that I really connected with. Somehow, there is everything here: you have the incredible colours, you have a connection with history, you have a kind of an homage paid to the old America but also to the old Ives himself and to his orchestral piece The Unanswered Question. When John himself came to Zurich, we had a conversation about it. And though he never said it, I had this feeling like he was kind of doubtful how good the piece is. And I said, ‘Are you crazy? This is a wonderful piece, my favourite!’ He then wrote me a letter after the performance, when he’d heard the final edit. It was one of the most touching letters, where he acknowledges that he had found this piece again. Or started to like this piece again, I guess.” Tromba lontana “I think Copland’s Quiet City and Ives’ The Unanswered Question are somehow in the background here. I actually asked John about it, and he said, ‘No! All my music is original music!’ But he had a little twinkle in his eye—clearly, he’d been asked that question before. It’s super atmospheric and a really beautiful piece. Both of the solo trumpet players were outside, behind the orchestra. There are two doors on both sides, which lead to the foyer, and they were open. They could see me, but I couldn’t see them. It really felt like they were far away, exactly like the composer asks.” Lollapalooza “This was written for Simon Rattle’s 40th, and though it’s closer to ‘pure’ minimalism, it’s still very ingenious. He takes the word ‘lollapalooza’ and plays with it rhythmically [da-da-da-DAA-da] and also as a melodic pattern [C-C-C-E flat-C]. Since it’s my first excursion stepping into Adams’ world, I just picked out pieces that worked for me, that I liked. And this is one. It’s just brilliant.”