Adams: In a class by himself

Yesterday, we heard a fascinating presentation about Philip Glass, and his minimalist compositions that sprung him to fame. I personally am not that well acquainted with the life and work of Glass, but I did know enough about him to understand that his style of choice is minimalism.

The early career of Adams bears striking similarity with much of Glass's output. Some obvious differences would be that Adams is not nearly as prolific as Glass (he has not written any symphonies in name, but Harmonielehre is essentially his one and only symphony). However, the paths that these two men took could not be any more different.

While it was Glass's association with Minimalism that has helped distinguish his career, it is Adam's procession from Minimalism to a highly original style of composition that sets his music apart.

As any serious student of music history is well aware of, the 20th and 21st centuries have been dominated by ism's. These ism's have been attached to composers and serve as a means of distinguishing between composers in a cosmopolitan compositional setting. Schoenberg is associated with serialism as much as Cage is associated with Aleatoric composition. Riley is seen as a minimalist composer, while Stravinsky is labeled as a neoclassical composer.

So with all of these different stylistic schools of composition which identify composers, and almost serve as a means of wiping out national boundaries between them, it is Adams progress from an identifiable style to a more diverse, ambiguous style of composition which has caused the entire musical world to take notice.

Since he can't be effectively pigeonholed without misconstruing the content of his compositions, every new composition by Adams needs to be viewed thoroughly upon its own merits without taking into account anything else he has written. Obviously, as with anything and everything else in life, there will be stylistic similarities between each work, but these similarities are not enough to suggest a type of mold which the composer uses to fashion every single work after. Instead, the similarities between each work are more of a genetic type, one that is found in a family. While Brothers and sisters do share certain characteristics that identify them as kin, they are obviously not the same person.

While the experienced listener can identify the connection between Adams works, each work has something highly original and creative to say. Much of his work can only be labeled as belonging to a certain genre, not because it obviously belongs there, but because it give some structure to any observer as to how one should approach Adams work. There is never anything banal or synthetic about Adams' work, and each composition almost needs to be viewed as its own independent entity

What should be pointed out is that the term ambiguity (as used above) is not intended to be used negatively. Instead, it is intended to convey the idea of unpredictability. Instead of everything being clear cut all the time, Adams mixes the elements to somewhat cloud the situation, but only to the point that it causes us to step back and realize the originality of his statements.

In fact, ambiguity remains an important aspect of much music. Instead of making everything simple and easily understood, it forces the listener to carefully examine and take into account all of the different possibilities of interpretation that could be set forth. Look at the opening prelude of Tristan und Isolde. The unresolved chords here intensifies the drama of the opera. Or take the opening of Beethoven's first symphony. The opening cadences in keys other than C major cause the listener to wander what the significance of such a gesture is and if there is some significance.

With all of this in mind, the final aspect that accentuates Adams' importance as a composer is what was pointed out last week: he uses traditional models to achieve this. As a result, his achievements and artistic statements are highlighted. Adams, as an innovator, is in a class by himself.