Patryk Merci
The Future of
American Music
Matriculation number:
7613841
Dr. Herzogenrath
WS 22/23
Listening Report
9
Listening Report of John Luther Adams’ “Become Ocean”
The piece starts with an overwhelming silence, as no sounds
are being played throughout the first fifteen seconds of the recording, which
is confusing at first, but also interesting because it is not a common
practice. The silence is eventually broken down by deep, almost threatening
piano sounds that quickly evolve into more complex rhythm with the addition of
other instruments. The piano plays the foreground role because of its loudness
and deep notes, but the most intriguing part of these initial sounds is the
melody played in the background, which is very hard to spot. It conveys an
entirely separate rhythm of its own which has to be found behind the piano notes.
This process offers an excellent introduction into the piece, because it grabs
the listener’s attention and calls for engagement.
The threatening sound of the piano
eventually transforms into a more welcoming sound, which combined with the
happy background melodies also entirely shifts the atmosphere and aura of the
piece from threat to happiness for a very short moment, before the menacing
notes ultimately come back to haunt the listener yet again. Eventually, the
sounds become quicker as if to imitate a chase where the listener becomes the
prey. Due to its continuously changing nature and sounds, the piece resembles a
spinning wheel of emotions which is constantly in motion, as the atmosphere
shifts are quite frequent, and they often come without any anticipation, as if
to surprise the listener.
There are precisely placed silence
breaks throughout the piece, which are similar to the deep silence at the
beginning, but they might have a very different function. Perhaps the composer
implemented them as an attempt to imitate swimming in the ocean, which is a
very touching experience. Following this logic, the musical part of the piece
represents being on the surface and experiencing all the different sounds that
the ocean has to offer. On the other hand, the silent part of the piece stands
for diving and artificial isolation, because there is not much that humans are
able to hear under the water. Thus, the constant silence breaks represent the
process of diving and reemerging from the ocean, which is an excellent way to
stay true to the title of the piece and to offer the listeners a chance to
experience the ocean in its mysterious presence. That interpretation also goes
on par with the threatening piano sounds that are present from the beginning of
the piece, as swimming in the ocean is dangerous in itself. It is a mostly
unexplored place with various types of wild life that is life-threatening to humans,
thus being in the ocean means being in constant threat, even if the pure
experience of swimming in the ocean is delightful and joyful, and these
antithetical ideas are exactly what the piece tries to connect and convey.
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