Customer Reviews

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

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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?

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