John Adams - The Dharma at Big Sur & My Father Knew Charles Ives (2006)

A child of America's east coast, who now makes his home on its west, the prolific John Adams reflects that journey in these two autobiographical works. My Father Knew Charles Ives looks back to the New England of Adams's youth. His father did not, of course, know Ives, but that composer's influence is evident in Adams's evocation of his New England youth. Written for the opening of Frank Gehry's Disney Hall in LA, The Dharma at Big Sur thrillingly fuses sitar and jazz with Appalachian fiddle riffs, brilliantly played by Tracy Silverman, with the BBC Symphony conducted by the composer. Nevertheless, the ambience of each piece is so different that it made sense for Nonesuch to package this as a two-disc set―even though the program would fit comfortably on one―for any more direct collision between East Coast and West would have been truly disorienting.

Disc 1: The Dharma At Big Sur
1 A New Day
2 Sri Moonshine

Tracy Silverman, Electric Violin

Disc 2: My Father Knew Charles Ives
1 Concord
2 The Lake
3 The Mountain

William Houghton, Trumpet

BBC Symphony Orchestra
John Adams, conductor

Nonesuch 79857-2