Listening Report of John Luther Adams’ “Become Ocean”

 

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.