John Adams: I Was Looking at the Ceiling and Then I Saw the Sky

John [Composer] Adams (Composer), Recorded Sound (Composer), Klaus Simon (Conductor), Holst-Sinfonietta Band (Performer), Darius de Haas (Performer), Jeannette Friedrich (Performer), Jonas Holst (Performer), Kimako Xavier Trotman (Performer), Lilith Gardell (Performer), Markus Alexander Neisser (Performer), Martina Mühlpointner (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Holst-Sinfonietta Band, Darius de Haas, Jeannette Friedrich, Jonas Holst, Kimako Xavier Trotman, et al.
• Conductor: Klaus Simon
• Composer: John [Composer] Adams, Recorded Sound
• Audio CD (October 18, 2005)
• Number of Discs: 2
• Label: Naxos American
• ASIN: B000B9O9PW
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #271,138 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars I was Looking at the Ceiling - Comment, June 26, 2007

By 

L. Katz "Critic" (Connecticut) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: John Adams: I Was Looking at the Ceiling and Then I Saw the Sky (Audio CD)

Adams shows great versitility in this piece. There are entertaining references to American musicals. The music is, simply, fun to listen too. The voices are excellent, the production is well executed. It has an interesting plot, attractive characters, tunes you can whistle (almost) - what more can you want?

6 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars This is Not Classical Music; It's Also Not Very Good Pop Music, November 10, 2005

By 

J Scott Morrison (Middlebury VT, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: John Adams: I Was Looking at the Ceiling and Then I Saw the Sky (Audio CD)

I admire John Adams immeasurably -- I think his 'Harmonielehre,' for instance, is truly a masterpiece -- although I've had some questions about some of his compositions. Many people think his cantata 'El Niño' is terrific. I think it's claptrap. And this one, I'm sorry to say, is much worse. It is lousy pop music, quasi Broadway, and although it shows that Adams can compose music in several pop styles -- gospel, soul, r&b, blues rock, et al. -- none of it sounds very good. The combo that accompanies the singers sounds like someone's garage band. The pop singers in this recording are primarily European and their accents -- although some are fairly good -- are often jarringly European in what is quintessentially American music.

I freely admit that as an old geezer, I'm not particularly fond of the past twenty-five years of American pop music, and you must take that into account when considering my opinion here. But for those of you who are expecting something along the lines of Adams's better-known works, including his operas, this one is a real shocker. Be warned.

Scott Morrison