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The Place Where You Go to Listen: In Search of an Ecology of Music
A personal journey into the music of the Arctic
Did Alaska create the music of John Luther Adams, or did the music create his Alaska? For the past thirty years, the vastness of Alaska has swept through the distant reaches of the composer's imagination and every corner of his compositions. In this new book Adams proposes an ideal of musical ecology, the philosophical foundation on which his largest, most complex musical work is based. This installation, also called The Place Where You Go to Listen, is a sound and light environment that gives voice to the cycles of sunlight and darkness, the phases of the moon, the seismic rhythms of the earth, and the dance of the aurora borealis. Adams describes this work as "a place for hearing the unheard music of the world around us." The book includes two seminal essays, the composer's journal telling the story of the day-to-day emergence of The Place, as well as musical notations, graphs and illustrations of geophysical phenomena.
Did Alaska create the music of John Luther Adams, or did the music create his Alaska? For the past thirty years, the vastness of Alaska has swept through the distant reaches of the composer's imagination and every corner of his compositions. In this new book Adams proposes an ideal of musical ecology, the philosophical foundation on which his largest, most complex musical work is based. This installation, also called The Place Where You Go to Listen, is a sound and light environment that gives voice to the cycles of sunlight and darkness, the phases of the moon, the seismic rhythms of the earth, and the dance of the aurora borealis. Adams describes this work as "a place for hearing the unheard music of the world around us." The book includes two seminal essays, the composer's journal telling the story of the day-to-day emergence of The Place, as well as musical notations, graphs and illustrations of geophysical phenomena.
- GenresMusicNonfiction
180 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2009
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
July 13, 2018
Never before has a book made me want to take a trip to Alaska, but I would do it to get to see this composition/installation!
In this book, the composer alternately presents his journal as he worked on this piece as well as a thesis about the work itself, detailing both the concrete details and the philosophy governing its function. John Luther Adams is a powerful composer, but also apparently a gifted writer. As he describes the trials and tribulations of creating this work, his thoughts are often punctuated by short profound statements that reveal his thoughtful and level-headed world view. This book was an absolute delight to read and I would gladly give it 6 stars if I could!
In this book, the composer alternately presents his journal as he worked on this piece as well as a thesis about the work itself, detailing both the concrete details and the philosophy governing its function. John Luther Adams is a powerful composer, but also apparently a gifted writer. As he describes the trials and tribulations of creating this work, his thoughts are often punctuated by short profound statements that reveal his thoughtful and level-headed world view. This book was an absolute delight to read and I would gladly give it 6 stars if I could!
January 17, 2019
Luther Adams propone otras aproximaciones al "lugar" y al "hecho" (en este caso el fenómeno de las auroras boreales), siempre tomando lo multidisciplinar y multisensorial como totem, por lo que elimina también la relación de poder permanente entre las disciplinas y los sentidos. Desde que dejó el serialismo en el que fue adoctrinado, como tantos otros, está arrojando su propio asombro y su descubrir de cero la naturaleza como motores autónomos de composición. Como el director que filma las vías del travelling o mete la cámara en los camerinos dentro de su obra de ficción, consigue llevar al oído lo que no podemos escuchar pero haciendo a todos conscientes del proceso, sin engaño, abriendo las puertas de su laboratorio y dando camino al oyente para seguir los pasos de la transposición. El diario que acompaña a este ensayo sobre su famosa instalación, da cuenta de esa preciosa lucha interna del compositor que descubre y se descubre:
""Al igual que el silencio, el ruido es una metáfora rica y un potente elemento de sonido. El ruido es y será la materia prima del lugar. El ruido contiene mundos de posibilidades. En este nuevo trabajo me siento un poco como el creador de canciones de Kaluli que acampa junto a una cascada hasta que escucha su nueva canción dentro del rugido del agua. Mi trabajo es escuchar estas voces internas, los tonos esenciales dentro del ruido del mundo."
""Al igual que el silencio, el ruido es una metáfora rica y un potente elemento de sonido. El ruido es y será la materia prima del lugar. El ruido contiene mundos de posibilidades. En este nuevo trabajo me siento un poco como el creador de canciones de Kaluli que acampa junto a una cascada hasta que escucha su nueva canción dentro del rugido del agua. Mi trabajo es escuchar estas voces internas, los tonos esenciales dentro del ruido del mundo."
October 5, 2011
If music grounded in tone is a means of sending messages to the world, then music grounded in noise is a means of receiving messages from the world. Noise takes us out of ourselves. It invites communion, leading us to embrace the patterns that connect us to everything around us. As we listen carefully to noise, the whole world becomes music. Rather than a vehicle for self-expression, music becomes a mode of awareness.
Though there are certainly very eloquent passages, this is mostly a collection of journal entries, and thus should be read for the theories, events, and epiphanies that occur to, and are implemented by, John Luther Adams throughout the very involved process of creating an extensive multimedia work. As with the above quote, these insights can be revelatory, usually arising from Adams’s incredible perceptiveness in regards to environment and sound. This text, and the work of Adams as a whole, is perhaps the most successful merging of environment and art that I’ve beheld, and it serves as a stark reminder of the crucial importance of being more aware of our place and our role within our own ecologies.
Though there are certainly very eloquent passages, this is mostly a collection of journal entries, and thus should be read for the theories, events, and epiphanies that occur to, and are implemented by, John Luther Adams throughout the very involved process of creating an extensive multimedia work. As with the above quote, these insights can be revelatory, usually arising from Adams’s incredible perceptiveness in regards to environment and sound. This text, and the work of Adams as a whole, is perhaps the most successful merging of environment and art that I’ve beheld, and it serves as a stark reminder of the crucial importance of being more aware of our place and our role within our own ecologies.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews