John Adams (Creative Commons photo, credit.)
Although the main purpose of this publication will be to celebrate the Russian composers known as the Russian Futurists, I also will want to write about contemporary classical from time to time and maybe even other kinds of music, as the occasion arises. For example, I want to make sure everyone has a chance to know about Tyler Cowen’s recent interview of John Adams, part of the wide-ranging “Conversations With Tyler” podcast.
Adams was the first contemporary composer I ever discovered and his music remains important to me. Tyler calls Adams “arguably America’s greatest living composer” and that seems like a reasonable statement to me. The interview covers a wide range of subjects and Tyler also draws Adams out on some of the composer’s best-known works. Note that the big Collected Works box set of Adams’ music which Tyler mentions is available free on Hoopla Digital, which most Americans with a public library card can access.
There’s a lot of discussion about why contemporary classical music doesn’t get more attention from listeners; surely one problem is that while there are plenty of pretty good living composers, there aren’t that many truly great ones. When I wrote to Tyler about how much I enjoyed the interview, I mentioned that I had tried to think of great composers who are currently alive, and had only come up with three: John Adams, Arvo Pärt and Steve Reich. Tyler replied, “Helmut Lachenmann I also quite like, at least at times. Caroline Shaw I am increasingly fond of, time will tell there but I am hopeful.”