TOUGH ASSIGNMENT, EH? :

The Sept. 11 Symphony : Why New York asked composer John Adams to commemorate 9/11 (Adam Baer, August 8, 2002, Slate)

By Sept. 19, 2002, many Americans will know John Adams. On that day, the San Francisco-based composer--who's known for tackling American political themes in his controversial operas Nixon in China and The Death of Klinghoffer--will hear the premiere of his 9/11 eulogy, On the Transmigration of Souls, at the opening-night gala of the New York Philharmonic, the orchestra that commissioned him to write a piece commemorating last year's attacks. America at large will have already seen Adams in any number of magazine pieces and perhaps listened to him and some of his work on Peter Jennings' 9/11 special. He will be, despite his luck of sharing a name with a famous ex-president, a recognizable
personality, officially linked to the Zeitgeist of our nation. And throughout it all, he'll remain a composer of so-called serious music.

Not since the days of Aaron Copland and Leonard Bernstein has a classical-music composer been so primed to ascend to the highly visible position of America's musician laureate. In fact, to many American fans of concert music, Copland's folksy and brilliant populist works (Appalachian Spring, Rodeo, Fanfare for the Common Man) still signify what America sounds like--even though Copland died in 1990 and hadn't written a note of that brand of Americana for decades before that.

Now, though, new American music is about to get a jump-start. Adams represents a chance for Americans to hear serious but accessible work--nodisrespect to strong composers like the lauded John Corigliano of Red Violin fame and celebrity minimalist Philip Glass--and say: That's American Music. That's my culture. (Translation: I have a culture, and it's not just about slutty teen pop stars and rappers formerly known as Puffy.)

Have to admit that I'm not much of a fan of most modernist classical composers (yes, I know, that's a contradiction in terms). The one John Adams piece with which I'm somewhat familiar is Nixon in China, which is accessible, but which is most appealing because it's hilarious, not the effect one would think Adams was aiming for when he wrote it.
Posted by Orrin Judd at August 12, 2002 11:27 AM