Accessible Narratives: Continuity in the Music of John Adams

Abstract

Hearing the powerfully communicative music of John Adams often seems to encourage an active engagement with the listening experience itself: focus shifts from the composer to the audience. Taking two works—Shaker Loops (1982) and Harmonielehre (1985)—as case studies, this article seeks to explore the inclination of Adams' music towards immediate comprehension in terms of a perceptual narrative: a stretch of continuous time preserved (in, nonetheless, endlessly variable forms) and delineated through an audible geography. Through an examination of issues including timescale, tonality, space, motion, gesture, convergence and divergence, it is hoped that further light can be shed upon the compelling art of a remarkable composer.

Keywords:

• Adams
• Narrative
• Continuity
• Perception
• Motion
• Minimalism