John Adams Collected Works—Nonesuch

This is the recently released box set of John Adams Collected Works, a 40-disc set of recordings spanning more than 40 years of John Adams’ career with Nonesuch Records.

Adams has been the leader of the US minimalist composers along with Steve Reich and Philip Glass since the early ‘80s. After playing a few minimalist pieces at college, I admit to not being a fan of the genre. To quote my wife, “minimalist music doesn’t seem to go anywhere”. An often-used descriptor even from very fine musicians.

But after college, I slowly began to appreciate the form, especially the works of Steve Reich, including Sextet, Vermont Counterpoint and the mesmerizingly beautiful Variations for Winds, Strings and Keyboards.

Then, one day in my office listening to a 2006 live BBC Prom concert on pretty crappy computer speakers, I heard this gorgeous, elegiac piece that built to the most incredible Eb major climax with Bruckner horns and Mahler trumpets over tumultuous strings and pounding rhythmic percussion. The short movement blew my mind. After the explosive applause, I waited patiently for the announcer to name the work and musicians. Harmonielehere (1985) by John Adams, BBC Symphony conducted by the composer. Specifically, movement 3, “Meister Eckhardt and Quackie”.

Wow! Where have you been all my life? I was truly gobsmacked. This led to getting the score, practicing the very complex conducting patterns, and I listened to every recording I could lay my hands on. 16 years later, I’m even more deeply in love with the piece.

Since my John Adams journey began, I have listened to many of his works as impactful as the BBC Harmonielehere, including Harmonium, Short Ride in Fast Machine and others.

Many of these seminal works were included in a previous Nonesuch box set, The John Adams Earbox (1999). It’s primarily these Nonesuch recordings with Adams and his favourite collaborators where I discovered many other gems including the Violin Concerto (1993), Shaker Loops (1978) Eros Piano (1989), Chamber Symphony (1992), and the brilliant clarinet concerto, Gnarly Buttons (1996). You’ll notice all the great names Adams gives his works. All of the Earbox recordings are included in this new set, adding recordings from a couple of different labels (DG among them), now with two commercial recordings of the Violin Concerto and Harmonielehre—a complete set.

All the operas are included, especially his big three, all considered masterpieces and here in full: Nixon in China (1987), The Death of Klinghoffer (1991) and Doctor Atomic (2005). All the operas and oratorios receive wonderful performances.

Adams and Nonesuch chose their collaborators well. They are uniformly good, feeding off the excitement of a world premiere recording, or knowing you are working with a master storyteller, or simply laying down professional takes in a well-curated recording session. Any way, you’ll be getting quality performances. And sometimes in duplicate. Both Gidon Kremer and Leila Josefowicz play the hell out of Adams’ wonderful Violin Concerto—take your choice. I prefer Kremer (not usually a fan). Adams prefers Josefowicz (I’m usually a big fan). The reason we know who the composer prefers is because of the brutally honest notes and essays included. So refreshing. And riveting reading.

The composer conducting Leila Josefowicz.

Collaborators include home base San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, Berliner Philharmoniker, London Symphony, St. Louis Symphony, London Sinfonietta, Cleveland Orchestra, Hallé Orchestra and Los Angeles Philharmonic, with conductors such as Esa Pekka Salonen, Gustavo Dudamel, Kent Nagano and many conducted by the composer.

I think the trick beginning with this box set is to play your favourites and then take your time to pull out unknown winner after unknown winner. So, after about 20 discs, I got quickly into unknown territory and discovered gems such as Naïve and Sentimental Music (1999), Hallelujah Junction (1996), Hoodoo Zephyr (1993), Shaker Loops (1978), Scheherazade.2 (2015)—another knockout performance by Leila Josefowicz—and many others.

I’ll end with Harmonielehere.

Included are two seminal performances, the first (Disc 1) with Edo de Waart and the San Francisco Symphony. Recorded in one four-hour session before the first performance—noting the newness, the difficulty of the work, and the enormous achievement by musicians, composer and producer.

Adams and the live Berlin Phil on Berlin Phil Records (Disc 40) have digital recording techniques, thirty years of acclimation with the piece and Adams in front of the world’s best orchestra. It’s certainly the best-played version I know.

You’ll be happy with either and for different reasons.

The beginning.

My God, the repertoire in this box set is both dizzying and mind-boggling. The invention is magnificent—operas, oratorios, large-scale orchestral and choral works, string quartets, solo piano music, piano, violin, clarinet and saxophone, music for children, arrangements, and on and on. Truly something for everyone.

Not the cheapest CD box set out there at $172, but worth every dollar. Very highly recommended.

The forty-disc John Adams Collected Works, a box set of recordings spanning more than four decades of the composer’s career with the label, is out now on Nonesuch. It includes two extensive booklets with new essays and notes by Timo Andres, Julia Bullock, Robert Hurwitz, Nico Muhly, and Jake Wilder-Smith. Since 1985, when Adams signed exclusively to Nonesuch, the label has released forty-two first recordings and thirty-one all-Adams albums. Collected Works includes thirty-five discs of Nonesuch recordings and five from other labels.