Last night, BBC Radio 3 broadcast I programme I made with John Luther Adams (b.1953) on Hear & Now. The more you hear of his music, the more you become totally convinced that he's one of the cultural giants of our time. Listen to Become Ocean and you'll understand what I mean. He told me that birdsong in the 1970s was part of what transformed him
into the composer he is today, and that forty years after he discovered
birds, they're having a big impact on him yet again - this is seriously
exciting news for anyone who likes their music full of birds.
His most recent bird piece was the brilliant Dream of the Canyon Wren, which I wrote about a few weeks ago, but the first piece where he made use of bird song was songbirdsongs, written between 1974-1980 after he spent time in an isolated cabin in Georgia. He told me that when he was there, he kept on hearing the most incredible music, so he followed the music into the forest, and discovered that the music was a Wood Thrush.
songbirdsongs is in 9 parts:
1) Wood Thrush
2) Morningfieldsong
3) Meadowdance
4) August Voice
5) Mourning Dove
6) Apple Blossom Round
7) Not-quitespringdawn
8) Joyful Noise
9) Evensong
His most recent bird piece was the brilliant Dream of the Canyon Wren, which I wrote about a few weeks ago, but the first piece where he made use of bird song was songbirdsongs, written between 1974-1980 after he spent time in an isolated cabin in Georgia. He told me that when he was there, he kept on hearing the most incredible music, so he followed the music into the forest, and discovered that the music was a Wood Thrush.
songbirdsongs is in 9 parts:
1) Wood Thrush
2) Morningfieldsong
3) Meadowdance
4) August Voice
5) Mourning Dove
6) Apple Blossom Round
7) Not-quitespringdawn
8) Joyful Noise
9) Evensong
Messiaen also had a thing for Wood Thrushes ...
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