Thomas Adès (b. 1971)

[Novi]

The violin concerto was recently released on itunes for about £3.50 - I think its the premiere performance from the Proms. Anyway an extremely beautiful and engaging work as we've come to expect from this composer. It doesn't have the dramatic gestures of Asyla or Tevot, but is just as subtle.

Guido, do you know if this will be released on CD?

I heard it last year (Ades with Marwood and the COE) and agree that it is very beautiful, although I found the first movement challenging to listen to. I'd love to hear it again.

[Guido]

Have been listening to Tevot again recently - it really is a superb work, and maybe his finest thus far. My other favourite work is the string quartet Arcadiana - fantastically subtle and arresting music and just infinitely original and innovative. O Albion, the penultimate movement is a tribute to Elgar's Nimrod from the Enigma Variations and is every bit as moving. He was meant to be writing a cello concerto for Steven Isserlis to be premiered at Aldeburgh this year, but this got downsized to a cello and piano work and then failed to materialise in the event.  If Tevot is anything to go by, then a cello concerto might be the most significant since Carter's or maybe even Lutoslawski's and Dutilleux's.

[Guido]

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=kdLvYFeVBfA

Great video. Those singers are just fantastic.

[Dundonnell]

Guido suggested that I listen to 'Tevot' and facilitated that for me

Now I am not the most adventurous of listeners when it comes to contemporary composers or-especially-those under about 60-70 years old I kind of assume that the music of young composers of today is simply not for me.

But...yes, I definitely see what people are on about when they express their admiration for this piece!! As it goes on it simply gets better and better with those ominous sounds just over a third of the way in followed by the most beautiful string passage. Good heavens.....REALLY  beautiful!!! I am speechless...I didn't know that people still wrote this sort of stuff

Amazing!! Is all of his music like this???

[greg]

Amazing!! Is all of his music like this???

i wish 

[Guido]

His music is all of the same highly imaginative and consummately realised mould... I have everything of his that is on CD which is all his opus numbers bar one and there are really very few 'weak' pieces. Not all are as easy to listen to as Tevot though, but his music is consistently of extremely high quality. The String Quartet Arcadia is in a similar bracket in terms of imagniation and beauty as Tevot. But all his stuff is worth hearing. Few of his pieces are as emotionally direct as this one though. Hopefully Tevot is a sign of even greater things to come!

One of the reasons that I think his music continues to sound fresh and original is that he manages to use a complete spectrum between consonance and atonality totally naturally and fluently so that one almost does not notice the difference. The result is that his music sounds timeless - like Charles Ives or Dutilleux he doesn't feel the need to choose either tonality or atonality - they are just different colous in his toolbox of sounds. Aside from this he has a brilliant ear (or imagination) for sonority, tone colour, orchestration and timbre which make his scores a joy to hear just for this aspect.

[Dundonnell]

His music is all of the same highly imaginative and consummately realised mould... I have everything of his that is on CD which is all his opus numbers bar one and there are really very few 'weak' pieces. Not all are as easy to listen to as Tevot though, but his music is consistently of extremely high quality. The String Quartet Arcadia is in a similar bracket in terms of imagniation and beauty as Tevot. But all his stuff is worth hearing. Few of his pieces are as emotionally direct as this one though. Hopefully Tevot is a sign of even greater things to come!

One of the reasons that I think his music continues to sound fresh and original is that he manages to use a complete spectrum between consonance and atonality totally naturally and fluently so that one almost does not notice the difference. The result is that his music sounds timeless - like Charles Ives or Dutilleux he doesn't feel the need to choose either tonality or atonality - they are just different colous in his toolbox of sounds. Aside from this he has a brilliant ear (or imagination) for sonority, tone colour, orchestration and timbre which make his scores a joy to hear just for this aspect.

That second paragraph is a superb description of my own reactions to hearing 'Tevot'

[UB]

Guido - Do you really like Powder Her Face? I have never been able to get all the way through it. It came out on cd in the late 90's and it took me a couple of years before I would listen to Ades again. I also am not a fan of America a Prophecy.

However The Tempest, In Seven Days, the violin concerto and a number of other pieces - including Tevot - keeps me listening for his latest work.

[Guido]

Powder Her Face is not my favourite - it's a bit light a frivolous for me, and I'm not sure it hangs together completely. Lots of nice moments, and I'm not doubting it's quality, but it's not quite my cup of tea.

Really want to hear In Seven Days and The Tempest - how did you hear these? Can't wait to get recordings of them.

[UB]

I record a lot of music off web radio. It allows me to listen to music that has not and may never be commecially available. If I really like a piece, I will buy the cd for the higher quality.

[Josquin des Prez]

I never seen Powder Her Face, but according to wikipedia this opera was well received and won good reviews for, and i shit you not, its ''musical depiction of fellatio''. I cannot even begin to imagine how stupid that must look, though i suppose it may ''sound'' very well. I think this composer has some potential, but he adapted a bit too well to his artistic surroundings, which are rotten to the core. What a shame.

[Guido]

Reviews were good, but the opera became notorious for its musical depiction of fellatio: British radio station Classic FM considered it unsuitable for transmission.

This is the actual Wikipedia quote - and great that you are using such unimpeachable sources for your information. As you can see it did not recieve good reviews for its depiction of fellatio - this was merely a reason that it caused controversy in the broadcasting media. When I saw it live it did not seem out of place (though it was amusing and a little shocking!) within the story - the whole opera is about intrigue, sexuality, society's obsession with celebrity and the provate lives of the famous, lonelyness and scandal. Given that these are the themes, it's easy to see why he might include such a scene within the opera.

[CRCulver]

I've always found Ades much flash and little substance, in spite of some genuinely impressive moments in his work. But my opinion of him suffered greatly when I learned that he now hires orchestrators for his works. Evidentally a lot of The Tempest is someone else's doing.

[Josquin des Prez]

the whole opera is about intrigue, sexuality, society's obsession with celebrity and the provate lives of the famous, lonelyness and scandal.

A reflection of the society we live in that people would find gratification in those themes. But i guess you have to compete with Hollywood to be accepted by a modern audience in this day and age.

[Guido]

Actually it's critical of that aspect of society, as you would expect. It might be advisable to stop making such strident comments on subjects which you are very clearly ignorant of.

Interesting to hear about him using orchestrators for the Tempest - where did you get this tidbit from? Who knows what the circumstances behind this were - might have been due to a very pressing deadline (a few of his other works have been finished late) or something similar. Also, one rather imagines that he would have given very extensive instructions on how to orchstrate his pieces - in the film music world there were/are some composers who essentially write everything into their 3 stave scores before sending them off to the orchestrators (Williams and Rozsa spring to mind). It would be interesting to hear more about this though.

[Dundonnell]

All that I can add, from my very recent and very limited exposure to a piece of music by Ades('Tevot'), is that the orchestration of that particular work demonstrates extraordinary skill and a high level of musical sensibility

[Josquin des Prez]

Actually it's critical of that aspect of society, as you would expect.

Gosh, really? Would have never guessed. Just recently saw the film called ''Blow''. That too was being critical of that aspect of society. Didn't stop it from being a degenerate piece of trash.

[snyprrr]

Thomas Ades/ Living Toys (EMI):

Well, I finally took the plunge (it was cheap!). I'll say up front that I was hoping this cd would suck eggs (so that I could do my rooster dance all over it), but it doesn't!

Of course, I only got it for the SQ Arcadiana. I have been slowly filling in my Modern British SQs (Barry, Mason, Ferneyhough, Birtwistle, etc...) and this was definitely going to be the end of the line for me. My very first reaction as the SQ began was, "ok, starts off nice...". As the 20min piece continued, I found it to be quite "nice", reminding me of late Britten (SQ No.3) and some of the Modern Italians (Donatoni, Castiglioni). Perhaps Ades does have affinity with Castiglioni, seeing as Ades played the Italian's piano music on another cd.

Ultimately, after two listens, I thought Arcadiana was a good modern SQ, not unlike some of the better, thoughtful SQs I've heard from people like the Ardittis. Most of Ades' SQ is quiet and mysterious, with two obligatory sections of louder, discordant music (that I found a bit typical). As I said, I was hoping to poo-poo this (probably so that I could let the younger generation just fade away), and the music surprised me, being nothing really like I had imagined it (much more propulsive in my mind). Still, I wasn't by any means overwhelmed by a crushingly dense talent; there is nothing here that is innovative to my ears, just nice things put together nicely. I certainly wouldn't call it required listening, except for me (gotta keep up with the Joneses!). Yes, I am having a grudging time trying to say good things here... my desire to see Ades fail has totally come back on me, haha! I will certainly have to come back to this piece for further study. (NOTE: third time through, this SQ really sounds like an alternative late-Britten)

The Origen of the Harp, for 3 clarinets, 3 violas, 3 cellos, and percussion (!), solidified for me the "Italian Connection." This piece, too, is very subdued and mysterioso, reminding me very much of Donatoni and Castiglioni.

The main piece, Living Toys, left more to be desired. I just found most of it to be clanky. There are soooooome interesting sounds here, but not enough to convince me, or keep my attention. Only the last two tracks of this piece (slow, funereal dirge-like) caught my attention, but the whip-cracks kind of took away from that feeling a bit. In all, I found this pretty weak.

Sonata da Caccia, for oboe, horn, and harpsicord, sounds almost typically Mid-Century (Carter, Petrassi, etc...). It opens langourously, with a sweet melancoly that pleased me. The rest of the piece pretty much follows suite. Though I liked this piece, I definitely feel like I've heard this before, that sort of baroque-serialism that was popular in the '50s-'60s. Still, the "sounds" of the three instruments can't help but to put one in a fairly chummy mood. I wonder why no one has really completed Debussy's third sonata, which was to be for violin, horn, and harpsicord: this would have been a great realization (though what we have is nice enough). I really do like the lazy intimacy of this piece.

The tiny choral piece, Gefriolsae Me, ends the recital, a nice little 3min vocalise-sounding piece of organ and "oohs" and "ahhs" (though it takes text from Psalm51).

So, in all, I was quite surprised by Ades. I thought he was going to be a lot more strident and shrill and "Modern" sounding, but, as it is, this cd reveals a fairly conservative voice. From what every else is saying here, I wonder if other Ades is more raucous (maybe I thought he was going to sound like Daugherty? or Torke)? Either way, I got what I wanted (the SQ), so I don't feel the real pressing need to continue (plus, I can probably hear some on u-tube).

Judging by this cd, I'll give Ades a solid "B".

[Mirror Image]

Ades has been a composer I've been meaning to explore several years ago but, for whatever reasons, never got around to it. I think he definitely has a unique compositional voice. Watching Asyla conducted by Rattle a couple of years ago left a strong impression on me. The work had such a wonderful energy and I love that percussion! Ades certainly has his share of detractors which several claim that Britain simply overhyped his music. Some have even called his music trash, which is good because many consider one of my favorites, Tippett, trash too. Anyway, whatever the case may be, I've been impressed with what I've heard so far. His Violin Concerto was quite beautiful. I bought three recordings tonight and hope to come back here and share my impressions of the music.

[lescamil]

Thomas Adès's music is too well-crafted to be considered trash in any sense of the word. The thing that gets to some people is that his influences include popular music. If you ask me, that's no different from what Bartók did with his heavy inclusion of Gypsy influences in his music, and we all know how well crafted his music was, too. Adès might not be at the same level of Bartók, but he still deserves to be called a significant composer today.