Score and Parts Mixed
Ensemble (Score & Parts)
SKU: HL.233289
For Violin,
Vibraphone, Piano,
Sustaining Keyboard and
Contrabass. Composed
by John Luther Adams.
Music Sales America.
Classical. Set. Duration
1800 seconds. Chester
Music #CH85987. Published
by Chester Music
(HL.233289).
12.0x9.25x0.43
inches.
Score and
separate parts with
spiral-bound
keyboard/organ part.
Number 5, 1950 was Mark
Rothko's last painting
before the breakthrough
into his mature format.
In it the luminous color
fields of a classic
Rothko are inscribed
across the middle with
three delicate lines.
Describing this painting
and its pivotal position
in Rothko's work, Brian
O'Doherty observes:
'After this, the lines
disappear completely.' In
recent years gesture and
figuration have
disappeared from my
music. What used to be
background has emerged to
become a musical world
composed entirely of
floating color fields. In
this new world I've
changed media, moving
from the orchestra to
smaller combinations of
acoustical instruments
and
electronically-processed
sounds. I still think in
orchestral terms, but
this hybrid medium allows
me to create orchestral
textures for more
practical and readily
available ensembles.
Initially I imagined this
as a kind of monolithic
music -an entire piece as
one rich and complex
sound. Then I came to
hear it as homophonic or
heterophonic. And now -
in this musical world
that I thought was
completely free of lines
- I've come to hear a
polyphony of harmonic
clouds. Maybe the lines
never disappear
completely. Maybe
Christian Wolff was right
when he quipped: 'No
matter what we do, sooner
or later it all sounds
melodic.' - John Luther
Adams.
