David Robertson

“It was a conceit that could only be attempted once.”
– John Adams about Harmonielehre

A defining statement, parody without ridicule, a composition full of “omnipresent shadows” of the musical giants of the past… The name Harmonielehre comes from a technical treatise with the same title by Arnold Schoenberg, and through music, Adams wanted to come to terms with Schoenberg as a father figure.

“For me, the aesthetic was a kind of overripe 19th-century individualism, in which the composer was a godlike figure to whom the listener came as if to an altar. With Schoenberg began the ‘agony of modern music,’ and it is no secret that audiences in the 20th century began to dwindle, largely because of the sheer ugliness of much of the new music”, said Adams, describing his ambivalence towards Schoenberg’s twelve-tone music. He says it took considerable effort to reject the “high priest” who had declared that true art is not for everyone. This is much like the experience of a listener trying to map out how Adams’ Harmonielehre was created.

“In [a] dream I'd watched a gigantic supertanker take off from the surface of San Francisco Bay and thrust itself into the sky like a Saturn rocket”, wrote Adams, describing what inspired the composition’s grandiose beginning. “At the time (1984-85) I was still deeply involved in the study of C. G. Jung's writings, particularly his examination of medieval mythology. I was deeply affected by Jung's discussion of the character of Anfortas, the king whose wounds could never be healed.” The second movement is named The Anfortas Wound after the story of a ruler of Arthurian legend. The final section brings relief. Adams says Meister Eckhardt and Quackie “refers to a dream I'd had shortly after the birth of our daughter, Emily, who was briefly dubbed ‘Quackie’ during her infancy. In the dream, she rides perched on the shoulder of the Medieval mystic, Meister Eckhardt, as they hover among the heavenly bodies like figures painted on the high ceilings of old cathedrals.”

The concert’s first half with the conductor David Robertson is also full of mythology. Kirill Gerstein will play In Seven Days, a work about the creation of the world; the pianist is a long-time collaborator with its composer Thomas Adèse.

Programme

Thomas Adès
In Seven Days for piano and orchestra

John Adams
Harmonielehre

Performers

Kirill Gerstein piano

David Robertson conductor
Czech Philharmonic