That lyrical voice carries over into the second movement, titled “The Song is for You,” which features lengthy solos for saxophone and trombone. There are huge stylistic differences between the pieces, to be sure, but they share a similar lyrical sensibility. Robertson digs into the songful quality of the writing in this score: on more than one occasion, I was struck by the similarities between the opening movement of City Noir and that of Adams’ great, 30-year-old Harmonielehre. Adams’ dense, swirling writing throughout the first movement is as lucid as you’ll ever hear it, but it’s also charged with electricity. Robertson draws an impressive degree of textural clarity from the orchestra. And, as a result, all of the music’s strange characters are more vividly etched. Philharmonic’s, but this one can (and does) relax. The performance is no less athletic than the L.A. Louis Symphony Orchestra (SLSO), has all those qualities, too, but minus the opening night jitters. ![]() This new recording, with David Robertson at the helm of the St. City Noir’s premiere, broadcast on PBS and released by Deutsche Grammophon, is a thrilling document, bristling with energy, edgy, and, unsurprising considering the momentous nature of the event, a bit nervous. Drawing on the influence of Kevin Starr’s California-themed “dream” books and the heritage of film noir scores, it’s the third in a series of California-specific works Adams has written since 1991 (the underrated El Dorado and mesmeric The Dharma at Big Sur are the other ones). Heady days these are, indeed.Īdams wrote City Noir for the Los Angeles Philharmonic and its then-brand new music director, Gustavo Dudamel, in 2009. Sometime later this year, the San Francisco Symphony is scheduled to unveil the debut recording of 2012’s Absolute Jest.
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