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watch . . . an expansive example of John Adams’s minimalist style.
increasing amounts of Minimalism, which was then gaining popularity in Cali- fornia. Some of Adams’s early scores of the 1980s are strict Minimalist works, but later ones become more all-embracing; from time to time a vocal chant or a funk bass line, for example, will sound forth within a context of constantly repeating, minimal sonorities. In 2003, Adams received the Pulitzer Prize and three Gram- mys for his On the Transmigration of Souls, which commemorated those killed at the World Trade Center in 2001. Ironically, although Adams is a Minimalist composer, he has been able to extend his ever-repeating blocks of sound into “maximalist” (lengthy) operas, the best known being Nixon in China (1987) and Doctor Atomic (2005). His most recent composition, the oratorio entitled The Gospel According to the Other Mary (2012), runs nearly two and a half hours. As a creature of the Postmodernist age, Adams feels squeezed between the rich classical tradition and the all-powerful world of pop culture:
I have bad days when I really feel that I’m working in an art form [classical music] that’s just not relevant anymore, that had its peak in the years from Vivaldi to Bartók, and now we are just fighting over the crumbs. A really good recording of mine might sell 50,000 copies; that’s very rare in classical music. For a rock group, 50,000 CDs sold would be a disaster. (Harvard Magazine, 24 July 2007)
Short Ride in a Fast Machine (1986)
To experience Postmodern Minimalism quickly, we turn to an early work by Ad- ams, one commissioned in 1986 by the Pittsburgh Symphony. Short Ride in a Fast Machine is scored for full orchestra and two electronic keyboard synthesiz- ers. Example 16.6 shows how the music is composed of short (mostly four-note) motives that continually repeat. This work has five sections (we’ll call them laps). In each lap, the machine seems to accelerate, not because the tempo gets faster but because more and more repeating motives are added. The effect created is that of a powerful, twentieth-century engine firing on all cylinders. Notice how the score—used to generate musical sounds—also creates a visual example of Minimalist art!
Example 16.6 > minimalism musically and visually œœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœ
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1
Flutes
2
1
Piccolos
& 24 ∑ 4 ∑
&24 ∑ &24 ∑
& 24
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&2 œœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœ œœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœ
260 chapter sixteen american modernism and postmodernism
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