Lossless John Adams – Doctor Atomic

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Pulitzer Prize-winning composer John Adams’ Dr. Atomic Symphony, performed here by the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra under the direction of David Robertson, is a thrilling distillation of musical themes from Adams’ 2005 opera Dr. Atomic. This 2007 work is a 25-minute white-knuckle ride that manages to convey all the drama, dread, tension and uncertainty that distinguished Adam’s impressionistic examination of the life of scientist J. Robert Oppenheimer. It’s a tale blending history, politics, science and ethics, centered around ‘an anti-hero, laced with deep moral dilemmas,’ as Atomic Symphony liner-notes writer Jeremy Denk puts It. It is a real-life saga in which the fate of humanity truly hangs in the balance. And it still does: as the New York Times noted, Dr. Atomic remains ‘all too timely.’

The version recorded here lasts about 25 minutes. The original version was in four movements and lasted 42 minutes. It may someday be revealed why Adams scrapped the original second movement, the equivalent of an adagio, which was based on the music of J. Robert and Kitty Oppenheimer’s languorous bedroom scene. In any case, the symphony in its present form feels too short. The first movement, at two and a half minutes, is over before it gets going, and the last movement feels truncated. In the opera, Adams masterfully built to an ending of almost unbearable tension. It’s a shame he didn’t trust the concert audience enough to give it the time to experience some of that excitement by allowing the finale the time to unfold at the pace it requires, rather than simply cutting it off.
The CD is filled out by Adams’ marvelously titled Guide to Strange Places, written in 2001, which in one movement is nearly as long as the symphony. It’s a kind of moto perpetuo, but with considerably more rhythmic complexity than is usually associated with the genre, and its ending fades into wisps of sound rather than building to a tremendous climax. The music has a whimsical quality that nicely contrasts with the symphony; Adams has written about the duality of his creative nature, the serious artist and the Trickster, and the pairing of these two pieces is certainly a not unconscious illustration of that polarity.
David Robertson leads the Saint Louis Symphony in wonderfully spirited and precise performances of these difficult works. Nonesuch’s sound is clean and present, allowing the details of orchestration to clearly be heard.

1. The Laboratory
2:32

2. Panic
14:31

3. Trinity
7:18

4.Guide to Strange Places, for orchestra
22:40

David Robertson
feat: Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra

https://mega.co.nz/#F!h9wCSTTD!ioyfUyh23dINt-cUd62N9Q

🙂