Harmonielehre - John Adams | Mostly Modern Festival

Harmonielehre for Orchestra
Music by John Adams
MOVEMENTS
00:00 Part I.
16:59 Part II. The Anfortas Wound
29:21 Part III. Meister Eckhardt and Quackie
AMERICAN MODERN ORCHESTRA
Ward Stare, Conductor (MMF Faculty)
MOSTLY MODERN FESTIVAL
Skidmore College, Arthur Zankel Music Hall
Saratoga Springs, New York (USA)
6/28/2019
Recorded by Arts Laureate
LINKS
www.mostlymodernfestival.org
mostlymodernfestival.org/fest...
www.wardstare.com
www.earbox.com
www.artslaureate.com

[@MarkAhrens-HeritageFilms]

The opening notes make my eyes swell with emotion, for I have loved the drama of this work most of my life. Then I saw all the empty seats and my tearful appreciation became sorrowful . I know so few that appreciate these grand works. It makes my so sad. And I don’t know how to share it with alacrity.

[@jamesmiller6299]

Very nice performance by a young orchestra. This is difficult piece.

[@tedwilks]

BRAVISSIMO! It's high time we had an HD video of this masterpiece, which I have loved ever since the original CD appeared! Thank you for uploading this! Ted Wilks, Program Annotator, Lancaster (PA) Symphony Orchestra

[@jean-jacquessimon6703]

La première fois que j'ai entendu cette œuvre diffusée en direct sur France Musique en 1997, ce fut une révélation : un réel chef d'œuvre ! Orchestre national de France dirigé par Leonard Slatkin. La prestation qu'on entend ici est digne de tout éloge.

[@charlescourt6797]

Enjoyed the performance. We live in a care home environment, but some residents love music including Adams, Glass, Reich etc. Missing live concerts locally in Reading Berkshire.

[@ab-zg8pt]

This and the LSO's recording are the best I've ever heard, really. What a talented group!

[@MostlyModernProjects]

Thank you so much!!!

[@hakonh.berntsen6500]

Amazing performance!

[@extremeflext]

i come back to this recording over and over - stunning

[@MostlyModernProjects]

Thanks, Chuck! We are very proud of this recording! Please check out our other videos as well, we would be so grateful.

[@alanmishael5013]

Great sound from this ensemble under a very impressive young conductor. This is a very difficult score to perform and they were outstanding.

[@vahrambaghdasaryan4609]

this piece is just wonderfully written, I am shocked how something so emotional and perfect, meanwile so harmonicly chaotic come to the world,,, when I was listening this Masterpiece at a concert, I was just in a real Serenity of the messy sounds of chaos,,, it teached me harmonie and piece in a wild and hectic....

[@edithdzieduszycka5918]

Straordinario, mi ha lasciata senza respiro. Talmente aderente al nostro mondo odierno

[@francisbacon-moneygrabber9996]

Love this recording!!! Especially the nailing percussion. And one of my favourites, the few notes of the cotrabasses at 35:02 ... mjam!

[@musiclover4311]

Absolutely GREAT music!!

[@peterhyde2178]

A brilliant performance and we should acknowledge the modern day composers like John Adams,philip glass and many more who make such a valuable contribution to music -some comments below remind me of the reactions to the Rite of Spring premiere .

[@fredericperrin3279]

Great! Absolutely great! Quite depressing that this got only 4K views, a half empty concert hall, and some amateur applause at the end. This is a HUGE piece of music, on par with the very best of the romantic area. It's so refreshing to see a young orchestra playing fantastic second half 20th century music! Well done guys! James: you may be a fine conoisseur, but I am sure what you are up to. This was great from my perspective. It really doesn't help that one picks on this or that, we don't need music snobs, we need music fans who promote great modern music.

[@yoshisounds]

I agree. I'm just revisiting this now because I was looking up work samples for a grant app, and then was reminded of how difficult this piece of music is. I was playing third flute/third picc in this recording and I still get anxiety/nervous sweats hearing the hardest piccolo solo I've ever performed at 11:24 (high, ppp decrescendo to niente, in unison with string harmonics AND celeste). We had about three to five full rehearsals together before this performance in the span of 1 week. What Maestro Ward did was beyond expectations for having only just met this group and having only worked with us A FEW TIMES. James (below) is out of touch for sure.

[@darkgreenambulance]

@@yoshisounds Just think - Listen to Holst conducting the top orchestra/s of 1926, (the first electrical recordings of "The Planets" incidentally), and - as fine orchestras as they were - you will hear things that are not correct! I`m not going to point them out - but there were probably some features in the composition that, back in `26 were still needing a bit of getting used to. Same with these cross rhythms and time changes etc in J.A`s work! Just a thought !

[@darkgreenambulance]

Agree with all the aspects of your comment! please see my reply to Yoshi Weinberg re. early "Planets" recording with Holst conducting.

[@tommyron]

@@yoshisounds You did an outstanding job in an overall beautifully committed performance. Great energy from everyone.

[@TromboneConductor767]

This isn’t the sort of piece your average baseline music lover would be able to easily digest and appreciate. It’s a dense, very dense piece of music that, while more accessible than other contemporary music of that period, it’s still kind of mammoth. They perform this very very well. Very impressive given the average age

[@victoriamiskolczy6336]

A very fine, triumphant and glorious performance! Tutti bravissimo.

[@lonchaneyfanch9568]

Une performance absolument superbe. Et quelle sonorité !

[@ChollieD]

Saved to my Modern Music playlist. Excellent work all the way around. Thank you!

[@user-gs2rd5vm9b]

i am love 라는 영화를 보고 존 아담스 라는 작곡가를 알게 되었습니다. 빈 필하모니가 연주하면 어떤 소리가 나올지 상상만으로도 기대되는 멋진 연주의 영상 입니다.

[@tintinsnowyful]

I know it doesn't sound like it...but this is a difficult piece. This youthful orchestra did surprisingly good with it. Bravo.

[@JafuetTheSame]

everyone of his pieces sounds incredibly difficult. hard to read, hard to count

[@darkgreenambulance]

@@JafuetTheSame YES!!

[@txikilin]

Third movement, resemblance to the ocean.

[@markfalcon253]

Speechless

[@extremeflext]

ditto- especially that last movement

[@user-ld9pf4ik9r]

He is just.. u understand me

[@mkaali]

38:35 Second cellist turns the page too soon, the first one shakes her head and turns the page back. 38:46 The second cellist hesitantly turns the page again, the first one nods approvingly.

[@darkgreenambulance]

Well, mkaali, I am unclear as to your detailed observations - but I am confident that the cellist/s in question felt your frustration a hundred fold. These young players were working their brains and guts out to perform this with its cross rhythms and all kinds of activities in the arrangement that possibly caused a bit of confusion and distraction. Possibly the player thought a familiar passage WAS over the page - who knows? there is nobody around to ask. The music was a joy to listen to. These incidents can obviously happen, but we do not need to dwell or magnify something that is not done intentionally. I am sure there are those out there who have - and no doubt will in the future find your piece really amusing as they keenly watch and follow your every detail.

[@tfpp1]

I'm a pianist/accompanist. I once had a page turner turn the page so vigorously that the entire folder of music fell down and I caught it with my forearms right there. I kept playing and she quickly put the folder back on the music and we never had to stop or anything. I'm pretty sure I leveled up in my career right then and there. LOL

[@darkgreenambulance]

@@tfpp1 What an historic clip that would have made if captured at the time!

[@tfpp1]

@@darkgreenambulance HA! I wish...crazy stories from the field I tell ya. Sadly, all it makes is just quaint dinner conversation.

[@djcata7474]

Nicely spotted. They could make good use of a methronome, they are out of sync most of the time. That said, I played in a lot of youth orchestras and can totally understand the chaos :). Good, bold performance for them.

[@dianalee3059]

I love this piece and this is an excellent performance. Disappointingly small audience though

[@MostlyModernProjects]

Thanks, Diana; this was our second season, and this summer, we have many more patrons purchasing tickets and season subscriptions. I think the word is spreading fast. If you're ever in/around the area in June or would like to be, we hope we'll see you at MMF!

[@marshahammondphd158]

Eye of God music

[@markfalcon253]

Yup

[@tfpp1]

The string section needs to be twice as big for this piece. Otherwise, a fine performance.

[@darkgreenambulance]

Agreed - this is always a possible situation with youth orchestras - you never know, as time goes by, how many are going to be in each section! One finds many brass players sometimes - too many for an orchestra - but then, of course, you have always got brass bands to use these large numbers in! I suppose, also, in the case of string players, that as choices change as well as perceptions, less boys and girls decide that they would like to play a stringed instrument, for different reasons - the abundance of keyboards with ready made tones and rhythms etc - synthesizers - and so forth. What are your thoughts on that?

[@BlueCornOntheMoon]

4:58

[@barbarasmith6005]

These players sound like professionals--are they?

[@Mikhael_bureau]

Yes, they are young though, so they gonna be experts.

[@royalty8380]

A lot of clarinets tho

[@nopublicbathroom]

the conductor is cute

[@juliogarciadebidegain5440]

IN MY POOR OPINION, THIS MUSIC IS MADE ONLY FOR A FEW PERSONS WHO LIKE SUCH A PERCUSSIVE MUSIC. I AM A GREAT LOVER OF THE CLASSIC MUSIC BUT WITH THIS MUSIC OF HIM BECAME I VERY NERVOUS.

[@jamesanthonywalker2706]

this is NOT a good performance. i really couldn't get past the first 24 bars of the first movement. it is rhythmically demanding. that was not achieved. the rhythms are far from complex in a contemporary sense. that he could win a GRAMMY for his conducting is beyond my understanding.

[@yoshisounds]

We literally had three rehearsals to put this together.

[@darkgreenambulance]

@@yoshisounds Don`t listen - it was superb - the times I`ve heard this plated by other orchestras - nothing to worry about. Comments like the above do not help. Any potential shortcomings, (which I am not aware of anyway!) were amply hidden by the atmosphere of the piece - the harmonies - the complex rhythms which WERE handled well. Well Done , ORCHESTRA.

[@MarkAhrens-HeritageFilms]

Ridiculous review, I readout think you know what you’re talking about.

[@johnmiller8975]

@@yoshisounds Dont listen, some people live for being an edgelord

[@musiclover4311]

Nonsensical comment rooted in ignorance, malice, envy or all three!