Thomas Adès (b. 1971)

[bhodges]

Wednesday night I heard Adès's new piece, Tevot, played by Simon Rattle and the Berlin Philharmonic.  After just one hearing, I thought it was a fascinating work, and NPR has now archived it for listening, here.  I've heard some of his chamber music but not much else.  Other fans, favorite works?

And next Monday night, he's making his New York recital debut in the following program.  I hear he is quite an excellent pianist, so I'm looking forward to the concert. 

Zankel Hall
Monday, November 19
Thomas Adès, Piano
New York Recital Debut

JANÁČEK  Reminiscence 
JANÁČEK  "Malostransky Palace"  
JANÁČEK  Christ the Lord is Born  
JANÁČEK  "I Am Waiting for You" 
JANÁČEK  In the Mists 
THOMAS ADÈS  Traced Overhead  
THOMAS ADÈS  Darknesse Visible 
CASTIGLIONI  How I Passed the Summer 
STRAVINSKY  Souvenir d'une marche boche 
STRAVINSKY  Valse pour les enfants  
STRAVINSKY  Piano-Rag-Music 
NANCARROW  Three Canons for Ursula 

--Bruce

[uffeviking]

Teasing me, Bruce! I went to the link listed and got a message about 'not found'! Silence is all I got. Grrrr. I know, not your fault, some day it'll be on a CD.

I love everything Adès wrote, starting with his Screaming Popes to The Tempest and everything in between. Rattle is not one of my most beloved conductors, but I do admire and respect him for him bringing Adès to the attention of classical music listeners.  0:)

[bhodges]

Lis, that's weird: I just clicked on the link and it popped right up!  Here is the link without my formatting (but that shouldn't make any difference--very odd):

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=16227797

Let me know if it works.  The link to the piece is in the upper left corner, and doesn't require anything; NPR has its own media player.

--Bruce

[lukeottevanger]

I love everything Adès wrote, starting with his Screaming Popes to The Tempest and everything in between.

[Screaming Popes is Turnage...]

That concert looks fun - Ades has a solo piano disc with similar works which I've always meant to get. Nice to see these tiny little Janacek obscurities (the three central works) getting an outing - 'Waiting for you' (Cekam Te) is the very last thing he wrote, a miniscule unfinished fragment which is very poignant.

Ades is wonderful, of course, but I still feel that, as with George Benjamin, the fairly-early-but-not-earliest works retain the most magic for me - Arcadiana, the Sonata da Caccia and so on. He is a master at finding completely new means of expression without iconoclasm, and at finding the most subtle variations of expression.

[bhodges]

That concert looks fun - Ades has a solo piano disc with similar works which I've always meant to get. Nice to see these tiny little Janacek obscurities (the three central works) getting an outing - 'Waiting for you' (Cekam Te) is the very last thing he wrote, a miniscule unfinished fragment which is very poignant.

Thanks for the Janacek info.  I'm not familiar with most of the program, except for In the Mists, the Stravinsky Piano Rag and the Nancarrow Canons for Ursula, so I'll be glad to get to know the rest.

--Bruce

[not edward]

That concert looks fun - Ades has a solo piano disc with similar works which I've always meant to get. Nice to see these tiny little Janacek obscurities (the three central works) getting an outing - 'Waiting for you' (Cekam Te) is the very last thing he wrote, a miniscule unfinished fragment which is very poignant.

It's a good disc, and though I could quibble with the Kurtag selections on it, it's particularly nice to have Stanchinsky getting good performances (pity he didn't play any of the Stanchinsky pieces in this recital). In fact, I'm going to put it on now.

I still feel that, as with George Benjamin, the fairly-early-but-not-earliest works retain the most magic for me - Arcadiana, the Sonata da Caccia and so on.

You're writing my posts for me again, Luke!

[Guido]

Anyone know how to download the piece off that player? I am already enamoured with it after one listen.

[Greta]

I finally got around to watching the Asyla from the Mahler 5 DVD recently. The middle around 9-11 min. is just canny, and the jazzy section following, I hear some links to Turnage in the piece.

I adore the idea of the Berlin Phil as new music ensemble - kudos to Rattle for that! Will be checking out Tevot this weekend.

the fairly-early-but-not-earliest works retain the most magic for me - Arcadiana, the Sonata da Caccia and so on.

The Living Toys CD is the only disc I have of Ades' works so far, quite intriguing. And I have somewhere a recording of his violin concerto Concentric Paths from Proms, which I really liked. Very "thoughtful" music. Creative and sensitively composed.

His Wikipedia article is actually pretty interesting, I see much there I'd like to hear:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Ad%C3%A8s

He and Turnage are becoming popular here in the States, they show up a lot at the new music group concerts in Chicago and LA.

Can I talk about Turnage here, or should he have a separate thread? They kind of go together.

I'm a lot more familiar with his work, which I am very much a fan of, that disc with Three Screaming Popes is just great, it gets a lot of play here lately. (Momentum is a big fave.) From the Wreckage (trumpet concerto) and From All Sides (percussion concerto? LOL) are pretty darn cool too (though I only have poor quality recordings of each from their premieres). I really want to hear his Blood on the Floor and his saxophone concerto.

What are his two operas like?

(And to get back on topic....how is Ades' The Tempest?)

[Symphonien]

I've only heard one disc so far, but from what I've heard, Adès is awesome!

Asyla is my favourite work, that third movement in particular was a brilliant idea! And after repeated listens, it still holds up - I discover little hints of other movements in each movement, and like the whole concept of "mental asylum" and "asylum found", as I see it.

Love the Concerto Conciso too, very interesting little ensemble he chose for that one. Nice touch snapping the lid closed at the end too!

Anyway, a great composer with imaginative, colourful orchestration and plenty of humour in there as well.

[Thom]

I uploaded Tevot to rapishare:

http://rapidshare.com/files/70327541/Ades_Tevot_live_concert.mp3

[bhodges]

I finally got around to watching the Asyla from the Mahler 5 DVD recently. The middle around 9-11 min. is just canny, and the jazzy section following, I hear some links to Turnage in the piece.

I adore the idea of the Berlin Phil as new music ensemble - kudos to Rattle for that! Will be checking out Tevot this weekend.

On that DVD, I actually like Asyla even more than their Mahler 5 (good as it is).  Last year, Rattle and Berlin brought the piece to Carnegie, an incredibly fun evening.  I wrote up the concert, and just for grins, check out the percussion requirements in the piece, here.

And you are absolutely right: Rattle is 100% committed to new pieces, and is programming a lot of them with Berlin.  And the orchestra clearly loves the repertoire.

--Bruce

[uffeviking]

check out the percussion requirements in the piece,
--Bruce

Young contemporary composers!  Whattsa matter with the kid? No lion's roar? That's one of my favorite members of the percussion family! 

[bhodges]

Young contemporary composers!  Whattsa matter with the kid? No lion's roar? That's one of my favorite members of the percussion family! 

     

You should write him a letter immediately, asking him for a revision. 

--Bruce

[uffeviking]

Psst, quiet! I just now switched my computer broadcast of the work to my stereo system and now I can really enjoy it. I only heard the first minute or so - thanks to you, Luv  and am already impressed.

[bhodges]

Psst, quiet! I just now switched my computer broadcast of the work to my stereo system and now I can really enjoy it. I only heard the first minute or so - thanks to you, Luv  and am already impressed.

I just listened to it again myself.  The beginning, with all those high strings, is just gorgeous.  A lot of it sounds almost like Copland, for some reason.

--Bruce

[greg]

i listened to the first 12' of Tevot. Of course, as you all could guess, i loved it  0:)

the first time i tried, it stopped at 5'. The second time, at 12'.  I tried downloading it from rapidshare and it wouldn't download. So i'll try again either in 25' or tomorrow.....

[Greta]

I just listened to Tevot, excellent! I really got into it around 10' on, the growing ominous swells to the middle climax, and eerie string harmonic section recalling a rusty swinging door...and the
extended hypnotic descending string passages...magical. And the orchestra sounds amazing, of course, even on radio stream. Love the ending!

I was curious what the piece was about, and found out "tevot" means "ark" from this great article:

"...I was thinking about the ark, the vessel, in the piece as the earth. The earth would be a spaceship, a ship that carries us - and several other species! - through the chaos of space in safety. It sounds a bit colossal, but it's the idea of the ship of the world." 

BTW, how is Ades' conducting? I see he regularly conducts standard repertoire in addition to his own pieces in concert, more than I realized, and was curious how he fared in that respect.

[greg]

got it downloaded, listened to it 2x



I LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I DIVORCE LUKE'S PAGE OF SHEET MUSIC. I PROPOSE MARRIAGE TO TEVOT

[bhodges]

Zankel Hall
Monday, November 19
Thomas Adès, Piano
New York Recital Debut

JANÁČEK  Reminiscence 
JANÁČEK  "Malostransky Palace"  
JANÁČEK  Christ the Lord is Born  
JANÁČEK  "I Am Waiting for You" 
JANÁČEK  In the Mists 
THOMAS ADÈS  Traced Overhead  
THOMAS ADÈS  Darknesse Visible 
CASTIGLIONI  How I Passed the Summer 
STRAVINSKY  Souvenir d'une marche boche 
STRAVINSKY  Valse pour les enfants  
STRAVINSKY  Piano-Rag-Music 
NANCARROW  Three Canons for Ursula 

This concert by Thomas Adès was very good.  If he's not Martha Argerich (and apparently he's very self-effacing about his abilities), he's still a strong performer.  Anyone who can even try to pull off those Nancarrow Three Canons in public has to be commended.  I probably enjoyed the Janáček pieces the most, and he did another one as the last of his three encores: something called "The Golden Ring," which is apparently the shortest piece the composer wrote: 12 seconds.   

--Bruce

[Guido]

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.