Even with all the critical acclaim and analysis John Adams and his work have received over the years, writes LA Weekly in recommending the composer's new memoir, "if you know Adams’ music—really know it—it may not surprise you to discover that everything written up to now is puny, indeed, besides the guy, and what he has to say about himself." In the book, Adams shows "what it takes to compose great music, serious music that can reach out and touch people importantly" while transcending other memoirs with "this intense, immensely charming and revealing work."
Even with all the critical acclaim and analysis John Adams and his work have received over the years, writes LA Weekly's Alan Rich, "if you know Adams’ music—really know it—it may not surprise you to discover that everything written up to now is puny, indeed, besides the guy, and what he has to say about himself.
"You want to know what it takes to compose great music, serious music that can reach out and touch people importantly," Rich goes on. "Read Adams in his wonderful new memoir, Hallelujah Junction: Composing an American Life ..."
It's not a suggestion that comes lightly, with the genre in which Adams is writing filled with less-than-stellar examples. "Something about this intense, immensely charming and revealing work of Adams, however," the reviewer asserts, "transcends the bunch."
Rich also has kind words for Adams's latest opera, recently released on Nonesuch, A Flowering Tree, calling it "sublime" and "impossible to disparage."
Read the article at laweekly.com.
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