John Luther Adams: More Quartet Music

Those who have followed this site for some time are probably aware of the close relationship that composer John Luther Adams has with the JACK Quartet, whose members are violinists Christopher Otto and Austin Wulliman, violist John Richards, and Jay Campbell on cello. Indeed, the ensemble performed in Herbst Theatre this past October, presenting a program consisting entirely of Adams’ music. Those that enjoyed that encounter will be happy to know that, this coming Friday, Cold Blue Music will release a new CD of the ensemble playing Adams’ recent efforts.

Cover of the album being discussed (from its Amazon.com Web page)

The title of the album is Waves and Particles, and Adams conceived it as a suite of six movements. He describes the composition as “inspired by quantum physics, fractal geometry, and noise—which function as elemental metaphors in my music.” He further observes that each of the six movements is structured by a “simple fractal form.” In some respects this calls to my own mind the recollection of John Cage’s goal of “making more and more with less and less.” It would be fair to say that fractal geometry is representative of complexity emerging from simplicity.

Given my own credentials in mathematics and applied mathematics, one might expect that I would be happy as a pig in you-know-what with this new release. On the positive side I am still taken in with Adams’ capacity to evoke imaginative sonorities, delivered with compelling clarity by the JACK players. However, I must confess that there were times over the course of the listening experiences that left me wondering if “more and more” had gone over the brink into “too much.”

To some extent I am reminded of “Take a Pew,” Alan Bennett’s solo routine for Beyond the Fringe, which emerges as a hilarious parody of a sermon. Towards the conclusion, Bennett muses, “Life, you know, is rather like opening a tin of sardines. We are all of us looking for the key.” Fractal structures present complexity emerging from a simple key. However, once we have that key, there is little more that we can do other than eat those metaphorical sardines.

Perhaps my misgivings emerge from the fact that, while each of the suite’s six movements has its own “key,” after one or two of them have run their respective courses, I begin to think little more than “I get it.” Taken as a whole, the suite may be too much of a good thing. Thus, while I cannot fault the technique of the JACK Quartet in bringing the score to life, I suspect that, in the future, I shall be more interested in experiencing each of the movements individually.