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Evening Music

Friday, November 16, 2007
  • Composer John Adams
    John Adams

    The Strange Dreams of John Adams

    Artists often turn to dreams for inspiration. Composer John Adams based his 1985 work "Harmonielehre" on a vision of a flying oil tanker — and his daughter riding through space on the shoulders of a 14th century German mystic.

Harmonielehre

In "Harmonielehre," Adams added hints of Arnold Schoenberg's 12-tone process to his own minimalist style (the German title, which means "the study of harmony," comes from a Schoenberg book about music). The first part of the piece was inspired by a dream wherein the composer saw an oil tanker on the San Francisco Bay suddenly take off like a rocket. In the second movement, Adams explores the mystic legend of the "Fisher King." The conclusion of the work comes from yet another Adams dream, involving his young daughter Emily — whom he saw riding through outer space on the shoulders of Johannes Eckhart, a German philosopher/theologian from the 1300s.

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The Mostly Mozart Festival on WNYC

Listen on Demand

This year's annual Mostly Mozart Festival at Lincoln Center is rife with sounds stretching the spectrum of Requiems, Metamorphoses, and Passions — including the American premiere of composer-in-residence Kaija Saariaho's tale of the sufferings of French mystic Simone Weil, who died of starvation in protest to the Nazi occupation of Paris in 1943.

Deerhoof/Metropolis Ensemble Live Webcast

Evening Music

WNYC and NPR Music team up to bring you this live webcast from the Prospect Park Bandshell, which pairs indie rock sensation Deerhoof with the progressive Metropolis Ensemble. Presented by Celebrate Brooklyn! and Wordless Music, and hosted by David Garland, the program features an ambitious re-imagining of Igor Stravinsky's Rite of Spring, The Rite: Remixed.

Related Links:
Video: Deerhoof fans perform leaked track for WNYC
View photos from the concert
Deerhoof on Spinning on Air (March 18, 2007)
NPR Music
Metropolis Ensemble
Deerhoof
Celebrate Brooklyn!
Wordless Music
Listen on Demand to more Wordless Music Concerts

Wordless Music

Concerts on Demand

WNYC presents web-exclusive concerts from the Wordless Music Series, hosted by Radio Lab's Jad Abumrad. Devoted to the desegregation of musical boundaries, Wordless Music pairs rock and electronic musicians with more traditional chamber and new music performers, to create an entirely new concert experience.

2008 American Music Festival

Listen on Demand

Hosts Terrance McKnight and David Garland curate the 68th annual American Music Festival, featuring "America's Classical Music." Guests include LD Brown a.k.a. Grey Reverend; acclaimed jazz pianist Jason Moran; composer and musicologist Gunther Schuller; culture critic John Rockwell; new music guru John Zorn, and Pulitzer prize-winning composer William Bolcom.