John Luther Adams (1953-)
Four Thousand Holes (2010)
…and bells remembered… (2005)

Stephen Drury, Scott Deal, Callithumpian Consort

John Luther Adams writes music that draws much of its inspiration from earth’s primal forms and forces. These large, elemental concepts are never far below the surface of the music on Four Thousand Holes. The title piece, a bold, wonderfully quirky work, amasses and mixes multiple-tempo streams of simple triads with electro-acoustic “auras” to create a sense of beautifully suspended time. And the percussion quintet, …and bells remembered…, spins forth a quiet, gently clangorous world of ringing tones. Adams writes about Four Thousand Holes: “In Four Thousand Holes, strong musical currents fall and rise, again and again, as points and lines are juxtaposed with heavy, hammered chords. The mix of the ‘live’ and electronic sounds blurs the distinction between musical figure and ground. As in much of my recent music, I conceive of the entire piece as a single complex sonority that evolves slowly. As we settle into the sound, we begin to hear long lines, counterpoint, and maybe even the occasional trace of a tune.” [CD and folder in jewel case]