John Adams - Grand Pianola Music · Steve Reich - Vermont Counterpoint (1985)

Grand Pianola Music (1982) is scored for a small orchestra of winds, percussion, sopranos, and two pianos, and has a light-hearted, humorous, and, at times, sharply parodistic edge. The work is something akin to a musical ex¬orcism: In it John Adams has brought together a variety of elements from his musical past, including the marches and band music he played in his youth, a touch of Gospel, some Beethovenian piano writing-and even a patently diatonic theme that is reworked until it becomes an archetypal minimalist figure. Steve Reich’s Vermont Counterpoint, dedicated to Betty Freeman, is scored for three alto flutes, three flutes, and three piccolos, plus two solo lines in each of which the soloist plays, one at a time, all three instruments. For this recording, Ransom Wilson taped all nine ensemble parts plus one solo line, and then added the "live" solo line as the final touch.

Tracklist

John Adams
Grand Pianola Music
for 3 sopranos, 2 pianos, winds, brass & percussion 32:08

Pamela Wood Ambush, soprano
Jane Bryden, soprano
Kimball Wheeler, soprano
Ursula Oppens, piano
Alan Feinberg, piano
Solisti New York
Ransom Wilson, conductor

1. 1st & 2nd Movement
2. 3rd Movement ("On the Dominany Divide")

Steve Reich
3. Vermont Counterpoint, for piccolo, flutes & tape 8:49

Ransom Wilson, flute

This work is scored for three alto flutes, three flutes, and three piccolos, plus two solo lines in each of which the soloist plays all three instruments. In performance all but one solo line are intended to be heard on tape. On this recording Ransom Wilson plays all eleven parts.

4. Eight Lines (revision of "Octet"), for chamber orchestra 18:12

Solisti New York
Ransom Wilson, conductor

Angel 7 47331-2