Track Listing
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- Monday, November 17, 2008
Boston Globe: John Adams "Hallelujah Junction" Offers Guide to Artistic Success with Integrity
The Met premiere production of John Adams's opera Doctor Atomic concluded last Thursday; this weekend, the Atlanta Symphony will give a staged production of the piece. Tonight, the composer is at Harvard to lead a performance of The Wound-Dresser, followed by a discussion. The Boston Globe talks with the composer about this "particularly rich time" in his life, as "one of America's busiest and most original composers" and features a review of Adams's memoir, Hallelujah Junction, that concludes: "[T]his is a book that any aspiring artist, in any medium, should read as a kind of how-to guide to achieving artistic success without losing integrity, something that seems to many young artists today nearly impossible. In fact, it is a book for anyone who wants to create something—including a self."
- Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Independent (UK): John Adams's "Engaging" Memoir Shows Composer's "Rare Precision"
John Adams's memoir, Hallelujah Junction, is now available in the UK. The Independent calls it "engaging" and says that like Adams's musical work of the same name, the book "radiates a calm, Californian confidence, letting its ideas unfold at a gentle pace." The parallels continue: "Adams's unique touch finds its literary analogue in a style of rare precision." The composer "here emerges as a storyteller."
About this Album
This new, two-disc compilation is both companion to Adams's memoir of the same name and an exploration of his Nonesuch catalog. The composer, declares The New Yorker, "has addressed life as it is lived now, and he has found a language that makes sense to a wide audience."
Credits
MUSICIANS
Disc One
1: San Francisco Symphony, Edo de Waart, conductor
2: Orchestra of St. Luke’s, John Adams, conductor
3: San Francisco Symphony, John Adams, conductor; San Francisco Symphony Chorus, Vance George, director
4-6: Sanford Sylvan (Chou En-lai), James Maddalena (Richard Nixon), Thomas Hammons (Henry Kissinger), Carolann Page (Pat Nixon), Chorus; Orchestra of St. Luke’s, Edo de Waart, conductor
7: London Sinfonietta, John Adams, conductor
8: Michael Collins, clarinet; London Sinfonietta, John Adams, conductor
9: Performed by John Adams
Disc Two
1, 2: Orchestra of the Opéra de Lyon, Kent Nagano, conductor; The London Opera Chorus, Richard Cooke, director
3: Audra McDonald (Consuelo), Michael McElroy (Dewain); Seppo Kantonen, Marja Mutru, Markku Tabell, keyboards; Janne Murto, saxophone; Kari Tenkanen, clarinet, bass clarinet; Hannu Rantanen, electric bass, double bass; Jari Nieminen, guitar; Jari-Pekka Karvonen, drums; John Adams, conductor
4: Gidon Kremer, violin; London Symphony Orchestra, Kent Nagano, conductor
5: Los Angeles Philharmonic, Esa-Pekka Salonen, conductor
6, 7: Dawn Upshaw, soprano; Theatre of Voices, Paul Hillier, artistic director; London Voices, Terry Edwards, choir director; Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Kent Nagano, conductor
8: Jessica Rivera, soprano; London Symphony Orchestra; Schola Cantorum de Venezuela; John Adams, conductor
9: Tracy Silverman, electric violin; BBC Symphony Orchestra, John Adams, conductor
PRODUCTION CREDITS
Disc One
Produced by Wilhelm Hellweg (1-6, 8), John McClure (7), John Adams (9)
1: Recorded March 1985 at Davies Symphony Hall, San Francisco; Engineered by John Newton
2: Recorded November 1988 at Manhattan Center Studios, New York City; Engineered by Paul Zinman; Assistant Engineer: Nelson Wong; Originally mastered by Paul Zinman at SoundByte Productions, New York City
3: Recorded March 1997 at Davies Symphony Hall, San Francisco; Engineered by John Newton; Assistant Engineer: David Bowles; Mixed and edited at Sound/Mirror, Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts
4-6: Recorded December 1987 at RCA Studio A, New York City; Balance Engineer: John Newton; Assistant Recording Engineer/Tape Editor: Henk Kooistra; Mixed January 1988 at Sound/Mirror, Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts; Production Assistant: Jennifer Keats
7: Recorded February 1993 at CTS Studios, London; Engineered by Dick Lewzey; Mixed at Skywalker Sound, Nicasio, California
8: Recorded July 1997 at Air Studios (Lyndhurst), London; Engineered by Geoff Foster; Edited and mixed by Kees de Visser at Galaxy Classics, Mol, Belgium
9: Recorded January 1992 to May 1993 in Berkeley, California; Engineered by Mark Grey; Consultant for mixing and production: Paul Dresher; Originally mastered by Robert C. Ludwig at Gateway Mastering Studios, Portland, Maine
Disc Two
Produced by John McClure (1, 2), Tommy Krasker (2), Martin Sauer (4, 5, 8, 9), Wilhelm Hellweg (6, 7)
1, 2: Recorded April and July 1991 at Auditorium Maurice Ravel, Lyon, France; Balance engineer: John Newton; Recording engineer: Henk Jensen; Recording and editing engineer: Everett Porter; Stage sound design: Jonathan Deans; Stage production sound engineer: Graham Carmichael; Audio assistant: Susan Presson; Production coordinator: Kathryn King; Kent Nagano appears courtesy of Virgin Records
3: Recorded December 1996 at Arabian Studiot, Helsinki; Engineered by Antti Murto; Additional recording May 1997 at Avatar Studios, New York City; Engineered and mixed by Tom Lazarus; Assistant engineer: Rory Romano; Edited by Paul Zinman, SoundByte Productions, New York City; Mixed at Skywalker Sound, Nicasio, California, and Sound on Sound Recording, New York City; Mastered by Ric Wilson at Digisonics, Northridge, California
4: Recorded June 1994 at Abbey Road Studios, London; Engineered by Ulrich Ruscher; Mixed by Martin Sauer and John Adams at Radio France, Paris; Originally mastered by Paul Zinman at SoundByte Productions Inc., New York City
5: Recorded October 26-26, 1999 at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Los Angeles; Engineered by Richard King; Assistant Engineers: Mark Betts and Todd Whitelock; Edited, mixed, and mastered at Sony Music Studios, New York City; Edited by Todd Whitelock; Mixed by Martin Sauer and Richard King
6, 7: Recorded December 2000 at Le Théâtre du Châtelet, Paris; Engineered by Gilles Pezerat, Radio France; Assistant Engineers: Alain Joubert, Gerard Cognet, and Pierre Bouillin; Additional recording January 2001 at The Plant Recording Studios, Sausalito, California; Engineered by Mark Grey; Assistant Engineer: Billy Konkel; Edited by Pierre Bouillin at Radio France; Mixed by Gilles Pezerat at Radio France; Assistant Engineer: Pierre Bouillin; Technical director for Radio France: Francis Robert; Assembled by Jean Marie Glijssen, Polyhymnia International, Baarn, Netherlands; Mastered by Robert C. Ludwig at Gateway Mastering Studios, Portland, Maine
8: Edited by Martin Sauer; Sound engineer and mixing: Tobias Lehmann; Assistant engineer recording: Ansgar Wempe; Assistant engineer editing and mixing, mastering engineer: René Möller; Recording facilities: Teldex Studio Berlin; Recorded at the Barbican Centre, London, August 7-12, 2007; Original sound design by Mark Grey;
9: Recorded August 23, 2004 at Abbey Road Studios, London, and April 8, 2006, at Skywalker Ranch, San Francisco; Engineers: Tobias Lehmann (London) and Mark Willsher (San Francisco); Edited and mixed by Rene Moller at Teldex Studio, Berlin, and Marie Ebbing and Mark Willsher at Skywalker Ranch; Mastered by Robert C. Ludwig at Gateway Mastering Studios, Portland, Maine
John Adams’s music published by Boosey & Hawkes
Cover photo by Margaretta Mitchell
Design by Brian Chojnowski
Executive Producer: Robert Hurwitz
