Winter Music: Composing the North [With CD]

Eminent composer discusses music, culture, and the environment.

Composer John Luther Adams makes his home in the boreal forest near Fairbanks, Alaska, where he has created a unique musical world grounded in the elemental landscapes and indigenous cultures of the North. Winter Music, a collection of Adams's essays, journal entries, and other writings is poetic and inspirational and delves into the environmental and cultural awareness that creates his reflective, almost spiritual, approach to music. The accompanying audio CD includes two previously unrecorded works by Adams.

Adams's music explores natural phenomena from the songs of birds, to the complex nature of chaos, fractal geometry, and elemental noise. Similarly, his writings explore that region between place and culture, between environment and imagination, reflecting a philosophy of deep awareness that makes him one of the most original composers working today.

Author: John Luther Adams
Publisher: Wesleyan University Press
Published: 11/10/2004
Pages: 204
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.07lbs
Size: 9.32h x 6.06w x 0.81d
ISBN: 9780819567420

Review Citation(s):
Univ PR Books for Public Libry 01/01/2005 pg. 61 - Recommended/Special Interest
Choice 03/01/2005 pg. 1325

About the Author
JOHN LUTHER ADAMS has released 11 recordings and worked with many prominent performers. He has taught at the University of Alaska, Bennington College, and the Oberlin Conservatory of Music. His writings have appeared in numerous periodicals and anthologies, including The Best Spiritual Writing (2002) and The Book of Music and Nature (Wesleyan, 2000). KYLE GANN is a composer, new music critic for The Village Voice, and author of American Music in the 20th Century (1997).