John Adams - Violin Concerto

The Guardian 80

Josefowicz/St Louis Symphony/Robertson
(Nonesuch)

Throughout his composing career, John Adams has generally avoided explicit genre titles such as symphony or concerto for his orchestral works. He has now composed a whole series of scores of genuine symphonic proportions and weight, from the epic Harmonielehre in 1985 to City Noir of 2009, while pieces such as Century Rolls, for piano and orchestra, and Gnarly Buttons, with solo clarinet, are concertos in all but name. But it’s never been a hard and fast rule, and as early as 1993, Adams produced a Violin Concerto that was called simply that, without any more fanciful title or explicit extra-musical connotations.

In many ways, the Violin Concerto is the nearest thing to absolute music Adams has ever composed