Customer Reviews

John Adams: Fearful Symmetries; Wound Dresser

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As John Adams becomes an ever-increasing important presence in contemporary classical music it is a true pleasure to wander back through some of his early compositions at the moment when his genius was molding. This superb CD may have been recorded in 1988 but remains one of particular beauty in the growing pantheon of Adams recordings.

The CD opens with THE WOUND-DRESSER, Adams intensely poignant setting of Walt Whitman's poetry from the Civil War, a war during which the pacifist directed his participation to caring for the wounded soldiers both in the field and in the elementary, sadly inept field hospitals. Intoning the gorgeous poetry is baritone Sanford Sylvan who premiered the piece. Sylvan's beauty of voice is matched by his intelligence of phrasing and his completely understandable diction. Adams admits that this composition for baritone and orchestra was influenced by the death of his father from Alzheimer's Disease and the patient love and caring of that 'wound' by his mother. It is also from the time when AIDS was so very much in the public eye, another factor that makes Whitman's poetry very contemporary in dramatic poignancy. Yet whatever the influencing factors the piece is one of deeply felt compassion and is some of the most beautiful vocal music Adams has written to date.

FEARFUL SYMMETRIES is paired with WOUND-DRESSER for a good reason: Adams has always felt that his works 'alternate between two opposing polarities: along with every dark, introspective, 'serious' piece there must come the Trickster, the garish, ironic wild card...'. FEARFUL SYMMETRIES is all about jazz and puns and generous good humor. The already large orchestra is supplemented with saxophones, synthesizer and piano and rollicks in boogie-woogie riffs, syncopation, and all manner of dance hall rhythms. It is fun, it is crazy, it is an amazing compositional achievement. Adams conducts the Orchestra of St. Lukes in this fascinating and rewarding CD. Highly Recommended. Grady Harp, April 06

John Adams' setting of Walt Whitman's poem, The Wound-Dresser, which Whitman derrived from his visits to wounded soldiers during the Civil War, is a masterful composition. The poem takes you right into the bleak hospital facilities, which you can almost smell and taste. Adams' setting of it infuses the music with the same emotion that Whitman conveys with the words. While this is somewhat different than Adams' usual fare, it is a significant work, most worthy of consideration.

This was my introduction to John Adams. When I first heard it I pulled over to the side of the road to listen and called the station to find out the title. Fearful Symmetries is sort of a big-band piece, but with a mass of saxaphones that not even the biggest big band would have had. It's composed of a simple pattern that is shaped and reshaped. I find it utterly hypnotic - one of the best 28 minutes of music in my library. It is also perhaps one of the loudest. ;-)

The Wound dresser is one of Adams most brooding pieces. The pace of the music conveys the tension of the ward, the pain of the sufferers. Adams is a mixture of intense Romanticism and ultra modern rhythmic canvasses. This disc is a fantastic starter for any one wishing to explore the many faces of this brilliant composer.

The Wound-Dresser and Fearful Symmetries make a rather strange couple, the former reflective, dark and sombre, the latter an apparently trivial, pop-genre piece. Do look deeper than this. The Wound-Dresser is a song for baritone and orchestra. The soloist, Sanford Sylvan, lives up to his highly appropriate surname. His clarity of delivery and, especially, diction are a joy. His light vibrato endows his voice with a surface like planed wood. This is not music that will grab you by the throat and make you listen. Like any good friend, it's something you will have to get to know on its own terms. The words are by Walt Whitman and describe healing the wounded and sick in the American Civil War. Weighty stuff, and weightily handled. But yet, a friend of mine borrowed the cd some years ago. He knew nothing of John Adams and not much more about late twentieth century music. I had to go and get it back from him. Effectively, he complained to me because he had not been able to stop listening to this piece. He said he had played it almost continuously for the whole fortnight. He admitted he had never got to the second piece. Fearful Symmetries, on the surface, sounds like it comes from a different universe. It doesn't. It took me some time to get beyond the opening section. Like my friend, I was so captivated by the Wound-Dresser, I simply wanted to start it again when the highly contrasting rhythms of the second piece began. But there is much more to this piece. The saxophones immediately state their cool tone. There's also a drum beat, though light. Overall the writing for wind is virtuosic. It shares with its cousin, The Chairman Dances from Nixon in China, an apparently light approach to quite profound experience. If you ever get past the Wound-Dresser, you will find another wholly satisfying musical idea.

The poem "Wound Dresser," part of "Leaves of Grass," comes out of Walt Whitman's work as a nurse in the Civil War. John Adams's setting does justice to this moving work.It's as affecting as Sam Barber's setting of James Agee's Knoxville poem: Both leave you in anguish.

Fearful Symmetries has some very catchy rhythms going for it - but why on earth does it go on so long???
Would be much better if it was considerably abbbreviated.