“Become” Becomes a Trilogy

John Luther Adams on the back cover of his Become Trilogy album (courtesy of Naxos of America)

John Luther Adams is probably best known for creating musical compositions that reflect on natural surroundings in different environments, pursuing a technique that he has called “sonic geography.” That technique can be traced back to the Songbirdsongs collection, composed between 1974 and 1980. Most readers known that Olivier Messiaen was similarly inspired, eventually transcribing birdsongs into the mammoth ten-movement “Catalogue d’oiseaux” (catalog of birds) for solo piano. Adams chose to realize the transcriptions of Songbirdsongs by scoring them for piccolos and percussion.

Since that time his interest in natural sources has expanded as much as his diverse approaches to instrumentation. His pursuits would lead, in June of 2013, to the premiere performances of “Become Ocean” by the Seattle Symphony conducted by Ludovic Morlot. The score was awarded the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for Music, and the recording based on those performances won the 2015 Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Classical Composition. Furthermore, it was reported in December of 2015 that Taylor Swift was so impressed by the music that she made a $50,000 donation to the Seattle Symphony.

What is less known is that, while he was working on “Become Ocean,” Adams found himself in conversation with composer Steven Schick. He tells the story as follows:

… I went on at length about the music I’d begun to imagine [for “Become Ocean”]. “So you’re already composing a symphonic ocean,” Steve said. “Maybe for a smaller orchestra you could go ahead and compose that river in delta.” He had me, and I knew it. Within a week I’d begun work on Become River.

As a result, a little less than a year after “Become Ocean” had been premiered, Schick conducted the premiere performance of “Become River” with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra on April 3, 2014. Adams would then compose a “sequel” to “Become Ocean,” entitled “Become Desert,” which he scored for five ensembles. This was again premiered by the Seattle Symphony, this time on March 29, 2018, again conducted by Morlot.

All three of these compositions have now be packaged as a trilogy by Cantaloupe Music, including the first recording of “Become River” with Morlot again conducting members of the Seattle Symphony. Furthermore, the previous recordings of “Become Ocean” and “Become Desert” were remastered for the new release by Nathaniel Reichman. That new release will be available one week from today; and, as expected, Amazon.com has created a Web page for pre-orders.

Sadly, none of these pieces have been given a concert performance here in San Francisco. On the other hand, in July of 2017 we all had an opportunity to experience an outdoor performance of “Inuksuit,” produced through a partnership between SFJAZZ and the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy. The fact is that spatial factors often play a significant role in the performance of Adams’ music, particularly where large ensembles are concerned. In “Become Ocean” one can appreciate those spatial qualities through the video account of its performance by the Detroit Symphony Orchestra conducted by Leonard Slatkin in February of 2019. While the video had some serious shortcomings, one could still acknowledge Slatkin’s efforts to direct listener attention to the significant role of those spatial qualities.

As a result, for all of the ingenuity that Reichman brings to remastering his sources, I doubt that even the best acoustic gear can do justice to any of the three compositions in this trilogy. To be fair, this is not to dismiss the recording experience entirely. Given an opportunity to attend a concert performance of any one of these works, the serious listener would do well to become acquainted with the thematic molecules of the score and the overall architecture of the entire composition. The fact is that, at the level of the details, there is more to an Adams score than mind can grasp during a single listening opportunity. The least one can do is prepare for the thematic context before experiencing the spatial realization of that context.