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Editorial Reviews
This recording represents the latest chapter in the long time collaboration between composer John Adams and Michael Tilson Thomas. Here, MTT and the San Francisco Symphony perform Adams' orchestral masterpiece Harmonielehre, a milestone of American minimalism first premiered by the orchestra in 1985. Paired with the joyful Short Ride in a Fast Machine, this new release from the GRAMMY-® award winning San Francisco Symphony is a must-have for any collection.
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
11 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
Harmonielehre, which premiered in 1985 with the San Francisco Symphony under Edo de Waart, is John Adams' break-out opus that made the classical world take notice. No longer lumped as a minimalist, long past his tape experiments, Adams wrote a majestic, powerful, complex composition. He had labored long in frustration searching for a novel work, but a dream (of a powerful tanker in San Francisco Bay suddenly taking off into the air) awakened a chordal idea that brought everything rapidly in order. I have heard performances of this work three times by the SF Symphony, once under the baton of Adams himself, and it never fails to plunge into my marrow. The old first issue of the work can hardly approach the new engineering standards of this high technological, surround sound SACD/CD. The live recording sparkles by its clariity, dynamic range, symphonic separation, and presence, from the hushed pianissimo to brass blasts, from the deep bass of the string basses to stratospheric piccolo, celesta, triangle, and bells. The performance in this album is outstanding, as good or better than I have experienced years before. The elegant, beautiful gravitas of Harmonielehre is shed for the encore fanfare, Short Ride in A Fast Machine, which was released in 1987 on The Chairman Dances album. Tilson Thomas takes it a minute longer, and on this recording it is a sonic adventure. This excellent album is a perfect match for Adam's excellent, exciting, ever fresh symphonic showpieces.
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
For me, a classical music nut, musician, and audiophile, music comes in two "rough" flavors...
One: Stuff I can go around whistling and other people will recognize the music.
Two: Stuff that bypasses this route and goes directly to the soul.
Adams: Harmonielehre is a type two composition. I had never before heard anything from this composer and I was skeptical.
I put the SACD/CD disk on and settled down to reading my Kindle.
I have a large, powerful audio system.
The music was absolutely stunning!
I soon gave up on Kindle and just listened.
When the disk was finished, I repeated listening to it three more times.
This is a great example of primal direct mind stimulus, you will NOT go around whistling the "melody", but you might shed a tear.
I cannot recommend this more!
One: Stuff I can go around whistling and other people will recognize the music.
Two: Stuff that bypasses this route and goes directly to the soul.
Adams: Harmonielehre is a type two composition. I had never before heard anything from this composer and I was skeptical.
I put the SACD/CD disk on and settled down to reading my Kindle.
I have a large, powerful audio system.
The music was absolutely stunning!
I soon gave up on Kindle and just listened.
When the disk was finished, I repeated listening to it three more times.
This is a great example of primal direct mind stimulus, you will NOT go around whistling the "melody", but you might shed a tear.
I cannot recommend this more!
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:MP3 Music
The selected title of this brief review is in no way negative: quite the opposite! How gratifying to see that in a composer's lifetime he can gain such complete acceptance and recognition that the public knows most of his works so well. And of course everyone realizes that he doesn't stop there. Every year his new works are premiered by orchestras across the country - but mostly in California where the San Francisco Symphony and the Los Angeles Philharmonic honor every work he writes.
This recording is form a live taping during a concert in which Michael Tilson Thomas revisits his approach to the HARMONIELEHRE (`Harmony Lesson') and after a few listenings it seems this may be the finest recoding of the work available. The sound is bright and the harmonics are well delineated and masterfully played by the San Francisco Symphony. Although many regard this as their favorite Adams' composition, this listener continues to favor the HARMONIUM, perhaps because of the use of Emily Dickinson poetry as intoned by the chorus. But that is simply a personal passion.
Adding the SHORT RIDE IN A FAST MACHINE is a coups for this recording. It is distant in time form the big work but glows and pulsates in a manner that in a way pays homage to the lyricism of HARMONIELEHRE. This is a very special recording and one that belongs in the Adams section of the home music library. Grady Harp, April 12
This recording is form a live taping during a concert in which Michael Tilson Thomas revisits his approach to the HARMONIELEHRE (`Harmony Lesson') and after a few listenings it seems this may be the finest recoding of the work available. The sound is bright and the harmonics are well delineated and masterfully played by the San Francisco Symphony. Although many regard this as their favorite Adams' composition, this listener continues to favor the HARMONIUM, perhaps because of the use of Emily Dickinson poetry as intoned by the chorus. But that is simply a personal passion.
Adding the SHORT RIDE IN A FAST MACHINE is a coups for this recording. It is distant in time form the big work but glows and pulsates in a manner that in a way pays homage to the lyricism of HARMONIELEHRE. This is a very special recording and one that belongs in the Adams section of the home music library. Grady Harp, April 12
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
I AM (in) LOVE with this recording!
I first heard HARMONIELEHRE in the excellent trailer and film, I AM LOVE. I purchased that soundtrack (due to the other great John Adams pieces on it as well), but never actually... Read more
Published 3 months ago by Walker Pike
5.0 out of 5 stars
Stellar music.
The San Francisco Symphony, especially under Thomas it absolutely world-class.
The recording and soundscape are realistic -- all I could ask for. Read more
The recording and soundscape are realistic -- all I could ask for. Read more
Published 5 months ago by Van L. Sauve
5.0 out of 5 stars
Buy it!
This is just fantastic. MTT and SFS really changed this work for me; the details he brings out of the score are incredible. Harmonielehre is simply outstanding. Read more
Published 13 months ago by bangbiscuit
5.0 out of 5 stars
This is what MTT/SFSO do so well.
Here you have it: the epitome of what Michael Tilson-Thomas and the S.F. Symphony Orchestra excel at. Read more
Published 14 months ago by B. Guerrero
Listmania!
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