Series PORTRAIT. John Adams

String quartet FRESH: EGERT LEINSAAR violin, HELEN VÄSTRIK violin, KARIN SARV viola, VILLU VIHERMÄE cello
KADRI-ANN SUMERA piano, electronics, video excerpts
IGOR GARŠNEK commentary

Programme: “China Gates” for piano, string quartet, excerpts from “Hoodoo Zephyr” for electronics and the opera movie “The Death of Klinghoffer”.

John Adams is the best known and most performed American composer, as his music is attractive, brightly rhythmic and easy to follow for the audiences. His is a primarily clear-sounding tonal language and the composer has a reason for that, since he believes that tonal harmony is not so much a cultural, but a genetic phenomenon. Adams has said: “Something terribly powerful was lost, when composers distanced themselves from tonal harmony. The audience also disappeared, among other things.”