Skip to main content

John Adams - Listening Report

 

John Luther Adams is an American composer whose music is highly influenced by nature. His orchestral composition “Become Ocean” is inspired by the oceans of Alaska.

The play shows a lot of variation in style, speed and sounds. Furthermore, a great number of different instruments are involved. For example, I was able to recognize clarinets, harps, flutes, horns, trumpets, pianos, bass drums, violins, and cellos.

“Become Ocean” has a storytelling character due to its huge variation. It creates this picture of being involved with nature, for example by spending time near the ocean. Even though the play does not have specific ocean sounds, it still creates this ocean-like atmosphere.

In my opinion, nature sounds are one of the most beautiful and fascinating sounds because they are created naturally and reflect true nature. It is almost impossible to

 

completely recreate nature sounds with instruments because no instrument is able to imitate true nature.

Even though this might be impossible, some plays are able to still create this atmosphere and feeling of nature sounds. The human mind is able to recognize these imitations and connect them to already known natural sounds. Thus, plays like this feel like a depiction of a situation that involves nature and the sounds of nature because the human mind is able to associate and connect them to already known sounds of nature.

Probably the only two things I did not like about the play are the long breaks in between the different segments and the general length of the play. In my opinion, the breaks should be shortened to maintain the harmony of the play because the breaks, that are filled with complete silence, create a cut in the harmony and unity of “Become Ocean”.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Listening Report on John Oswald: Plexure

 Sarah Kumar Dr. Bernd Herzogenrath The Future of (American) Music 06 Mar. 2023 Listening Report on John Oswald: Plexure According to John Oswald, “[a] plunderphone is a recognizable sonic quote, using the actual sound of something familiar which has already been recorded” (Lecture Slides 18). However, only if the source stays recognizable can it be called plunderphonics. In his album Plexure , several songs are played back and mixed together, thus creating a new sound. This is interesting because while the excerpts of songs that are used are recognizable or at least sound familiar to some degree, played backwards and mashed up as they are in Plexure , they create a new sound. Like on the cover of the album, on which a collage making up a man can be seen, the mixing of different songs played backwards gives a new feeling to something known. The way the songs are mixed makes them unintelligible. The meaning of the words of the original recordings are not able to be compr...
Post a Comment
Read more

John Cage – Inlets

  This does not sound like music to me. Depending on the interpretation of different players or performers, this piece will always sound different. In this case, it sounds to me like someone is walking through a cave with water at the bottom, dragging their feet through it. Sometimes it sounds like water in a toilet bowl, especially when we hear the water in a bigger shell being swished around. These sounds are relaxing in the background, it is like a gentle stream of water. I just wonder what went through the head of the composer while writing this piece. But I guess he had some experimental ideas that are interesting to try out. Those shells are quite pretty, I have never seen such big ones that are not broken. I was surprised when something else happened towards the end of the piece. That tone which came out of the one shell was so clear, it sounded like a trumpet. I didn’t know that shells can sound like that. It was quite beautiful. It was a nice way to end the piece. I di...
Post a Comment
Read more

William Basinski – The Disintegration Loops III

  The Disintegration Loops is a quartet of albums published in 2002 and 2003 by American avant-garde composer William Basinski. The pieces are made up of tape loop recordings that were played over time, with noise and crackles rising as the tape deteriorated. Basinski noticed this effect when attempting to convert his older recordings to digital format. The completion of the recordings coincided with the September 11, 2001 events, which Basinski witnessed and adds a deeper meaning to the composition. The composition is fascinating in many ways and makes the listener lose track of time. The tape loop recording had a very calming effect on me and put me in a trance-like state when I listened to it in its entirety. The tape loop is really soothing, so much so that I didn't even notice the loss of quality when I first listened to it. It makes you forget about time and allows you to really get into the piece capturing the calmness it exudes. You forget or don't really notice how i...
Post a Comment
Read more