John Adams Absolute Jest FLAC

John Adams Absolute Jest
and Grand Pianola music.

As a few members enjoyed Adams City Noir. I thought I would share some more of his work with you. This is a vibrant, fun work, some have accused of being irreverent, but I love.

[CENTER]

https://youtu.be/h5bETcC1lFk – John Adams interview about Absolute Jest.

https://www.amazon.com/Adams-Absolute-Grand-Pianola-Music/dp/B00YFJQBRS

San Francisco Symphony, Michael Tilson Thomas (Conductor),
John Adams (Conductor)

String quartet and orchestra” is admittedly a repertoire black hole—is there a single work in that medium that is regularly heard? And there are good reasons for why this is. The first is a simple issue of furniture: the problem of placing four solo players in the “soloist” position but still in front of the podium (so that they can follow the conductor) is daunting. The inner players, the second violin and viola, are frequently lost to the audience both visually and aurally.

But placement on the stage aside, the real challenge is in marrying the highly charged manner and sound of a string quartet to the mass and less precise texture of the large orchestra. Unless very skillfully handled by both composer and performers, the combining of these two ensembles can result in a feeling of sensory and expressive overload.

The rolling 6/8 patterns recall Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony scherzo but also summon up other references—of the Hammerklavier Sonata, of the Eighth Symphony and other archetypal Beethoven motives that come and go like cameo appearances on a stage.

The high-spirited triple-time scherzo to the F major Opus 135 (Beethoven’s final work in that medium) enters about a third of the way through Absolute Jest and becomes the dominant motivic material for the remainder of the piece, interrupted only by a brief slow section that interweaves fragments of the Gro�e Fuge with the opening fugue theme of the C# minor quartet. A final furious coda features the solo string quartet charging ahead at full speed over an extended orchestral pedal based on the famous Waldstein Sonata harmonic progressions.

Absolute Jest had elicited mixed responses from listeners on its first outing. Quite a few reviewers assumed, perhaps because of its title, that the piece was little more than a backslapping joke. (One Chicago journalist was offended and could only express disgust at the abuse of Beethoven.

https://www.mediafire.com/folder/k732k9hczlbyp/Absolute+Jest

New link!

I’m sorry for no image. I’m using my tablet to post and having issues with the image upload!

I hope you enjoy. Please leave a comment or rep if you download. Happy listening 🙂

Already have this one, but it’s awesome! Thanks for posting it.

Thank you!!

After the magnificent "City Noir" I was looking forward to listen to this share. But the link is already down 🙁
Please re-upload, dmoth!

After the magnificent "City Noir" I was looking forward to listen to this share. But the link is already down 🙁
Please re-upload, dmoth!

I’m sorry for the disappointment. I don’t know what the hell is going on with Mega, all my links are down. I am trying MediaFire now. New link in post. Let me know if you have any issues with this.

———- Post added at 07:03 PM ———- Previous post was at 06:05 PM ———-

New MediaFire link added 21/08/17

Thanks!

Thank you for this release! Unfortunately tracks 04 (Meno mosso) and 05 (Vivacissimo) are missing. Would you mind re-upping, please? Thank you!

Thank you for this release! Unfortunately tracks 04 (Meno mosso) and 05 (Vivacissimo) are missing. Would you mind re-upping, please? Thank you!

I am so sorry. I have a terrible internet connection at the moment and it’s caused so many issues with my shares. I have just re-uploaded the missing tracks. I hope there will be no more problems, let me know. Thanks.

Wow, that was fast. Thank you so much!

And please do NOT excuse yourself! You are providing something generously for free – there is no need to excuse yourself. On the contrary, we are obligated to be grateful.

Thank you very much, dmoth!

Thank you so much, Dmoth!

thank you

Thank you! What a treat! 😀