John Adams and the London Symphony Orchestra gave the UK premiere of his Doctor Atomic Symphony at Barbican Hall Sunday; they perform the European premiere of his City Noir Thursday. The Times (UK) gives Sunday's "extraordinarily compelling" performance four stars, exclaiming that, with Doctor Atomic Symphony, Adams "has created a truly explosive 25-minute piece in which the listener is rocked by a sense of the compacted moral and physical turbulence of the original opera." The Evening Standard gives it four stars as well, calling it "Adams at his heart-on-sleeve best."
John Adams's Doctor Atomic Symphony received its UK premiere on Sunday with the composer conducting the London Symphony Orchestra at London's Barbican Hall. Not long before the performance, Adams had introduced a special Barbican screening of Wonders Are Many, the film documenting the making of his opera Doctor Atomic, from which he distilled the Symphony. It's part of the Barbican's John Adams Focus series, which continues with Adams leading the orchestra in the European premiere of his latest work, City Noir, at Barbican Hall on Thursday.
In advance of the City Noir premiere, Adams appeared on BBC Radio 4's Start the Week yesterday to discuss films, soundtracks, and the idea of Los Angeles, the inspiration behind the new work. You can listen online at bbc.oc.uk.
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On Sunday's program, the Doctor Atomic Symphony premiere was preceded by Britten’s Four Sea Interludes from Peter Grimes and followed by Sibelius’s Sixth Symphony. The Times of London gives it four stars, with reviewer Hilary Finch exclaiming that, with Doctor Atomic Symphony, Adams "has created a truly explosive 25-minute piece in which the listener is rocked by a sense of the compacted moral and physical turbulence of the original opera."
Finch calls Sunday's performance by Adams and the London Symphony Orchestra "extraordinarily compelling."
Read the concert review at entertainment.timesonline.co.uk.
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The Evening Standard gives the concert four stars as well. Reviewer Nick Kimberley says that while there may be some Straussian elements to Doctor Atomic Symphony, "it delights in a completely un-European approach to rhythm, colour and structure. Here and there were traces of the rhythmic repetition that we think of as minimalist; but there was also a saturated lushness, a willingness to go for broke."
Kimberley describes the Symphony's orchestral version of the opera's most famous aria, "Batter My Heart," as "bluesy, upfront and entirely American: Adams at his heart-on-sleeve best."
Read the concert review at thisislondon.co.uk.
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For more information on Thursday's City Noir premiere and other upcoming John Adams Focus events, visit barbican.org. For more on these and other upcoming Adams events, visit nonesuch.com/on-tour.
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