Eminent composer discusses music, culture, and the environment.
Composer John Luther Adams makes his home in the boreal forest near Fairbanks, Alaska, where he has created a unique musical world grounded in the elemental landscapes and indigenous cultures of the North. Winter Music, a collection of Adams’s essays, journal entries, and other writings is poetic and inspirational and delves into the environmental and cultural awareness that creates his reflective, almost spiritual, approach to music. The accompanying audio CD includes two previously unrecorded works by Adams.
Adams’s music explores natural phenomena from the songs of birds, to the complex nature of chaos, fractal geometry, and elemental noise. Similarly, his writings explore “that region between place and culture, between environment and imagination," reflecting a philosophy of deep awareness that makes him one of the most original composers working today.
“It would be my hope that John Luther Adams’s book might inspire other musicians and composers to explore ways that music can celebrate and serve the greater community of life on Earth.” —Paul Winter, musician
“John Adam's reflections on his music—where it comes from conceptually and geographically, and on the history and nature of his commitment to musical composition—show an unusual awareness of the contemporary world. His thinking is as instructive as it is informative, and his seasoned voice rings here with the sort of integrity and devotion to vision most young artists set their sights on. He sees art as invigorating, resonant, relevant, and—a welcome surprise—civic.”—Barry Lopez, author of Arctic Dreams
Click here for TABLE OF CONTENTS
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JOHN LUTHER ADAMS has released 11 recordings and worked with many prominent performers. He has taught at the University of Alaska, Bennington College, and the Oberlin Conservatory of Music. His writings have appeared in numerous periodicals and anthologies, including The Best Spiritual Writing (2002) and The Book of Music and Nature (Wesleyan, 2000). KYLE GANN is a composer, new music critic for The Village Voice, and author of American Music in the 20th Century (1997).
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To find out about John Luther Adams's newest recording, "The Light
That Fills the World,"
click here. For John Luther Adams's home page
click here.
