Jean-Féry Rebel – Thomas Adès – John Adams

John Adams’ Sonic Rush

The 1981 premiere of »Harmonium« for chorus and orchestra propelled John Adams into the major force in American music he is today. In the first of its three movements, »Negative Love,« he sets John Donne’s poem of the same name. Beginning with a single pulsating note, a musical structure gradually unfolds before the audience’s eyes and ears, growing ever more complex until it erupts in a frenetic climax. The two remaining movements, based on poems by Emily Dickinson, follow a similar trajectory: the intensely sombre »Because I Could Not Stop for Death« flows seamlessly into »Wild Nights,« where the title says it all.

From Chaos to Creation

Completing the programme is Jean-Féry Rebel’s »Les Élémens«, which dazzles with dissonances utterly foreign to the Baroque ear as it depicts the transformation of the elements from their original chaotic state into perfect order. Also featured is Thomas Adès’s »In Seven Days«, a concerto for piano and moving image retelling the biblical creation of the world, performed by Kirill Gerstein.