The Place Where You Go to Listen : In Search of an Ecology of Music

Did Alaska create the music of John Luther Adams, or did the music create his Alaska? For the past thirty years, the vastness of Alaska has swept through the distant reaches of the composer's imagination and every corner of his compositions. In this new book Adams proposes an ideal of musical ecology, the philosophical foundation on which his largest, most complex musical work is based. This installation, also called The Place Where You Go to Listen, is a sound and light environment that gives voice to the cycles of sunlight and darkness, the phases of the moon, the seismic rhythms of the earth, and the dance of the aurora borealis. Adams describes this work as "a place for hearing the unheard music of the world around us." The book includes two seminal essays, the composer's journal telling the story of the day-to-day emergence of The Place, as well as musical notations, graphs and illustrations of geophysical phenomena.

Did Alaska Create The Music Of John Luther Adams, Or Did The Music Create His Alaska? In This New Book Adams Proposes A Musical Ecology, The Philosophical Foundation On Which His Largest, Most Complex Musical Work Is Based-a Sound And Light Environment That Adams Describes As A Place For Hearing The Unheard Music Of The World Around Us. The Book Includes Two Seminal Essays, The Composer's Journal, Musical Notations, And Illustrations.--jacket. In Search Of An Ecology Of Music. The Breath Of The World ; Locus Ex Machina ; Real Time ; Working In Place ; Two Minds -- A Composer's Journal, Part I : Always Getting Ready : December 21, 2003, To August 18, 2004 -- A Composer's Journal, Part Ii : Studio Notes : September 1, 2004, To May 18, 2005 -- A Composer's Journal, Part Iii : In The Place : May 27, 2005, To March 30, 2006 -- Hearing Where We Are. The Romance Of The Real ; The World Is Listening ; Resonant Space ; Things We Haven't Heard Before -- An Ecosystem Of Sound And Light. Mapping The Terrain ; The Colors Of Noise And Tone ; An Orchestration Of Untouched Material ; The Light That Fills The World ; The Choirs Of Day And Night ; The Voices Within ; The Voice Of The Moon ; Aurora Bells ; Earth Drums ; The Sonic Space ; The One Who Listens. John Luther Adams ; Foreword By Alex Ross. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. A personal journey into the music of the Arctic Did Alaska create the music of John Luther Adams, or did the music create his Alaska? For the past thirty years, the vastness of Alaska has swept through the distant reaches of the composer's imagination and every corner of his compositions. In this new book Adams proposes an ideal of musical ecology, the philosophical foundation on which his largest, most complex musical work is based. This installation, also called The Place Where You Go to Listen, is a sound and light environment that gives voice to the cycles of sunlight and darkness, the phases of the moon, the seismic rhythms of the earth, and the dance of the aurora borealis. Adams describes this work as "a place for hearing the unheard music of the world around us." The book includes two seminal essays, the composer's journal telling the story of the day-to-day emergence of The Place, as well as musical notations, graphs and illustrations of geophysical phenomena. A collection of poetry organized in two sections. The first section, "Versed," play with vice and versa, the perversity of human consciousness. They flirt with error and delusion, skating on a thin ice that inevitably cracks. The second section, "Dark Matter," alludes to more than the unseen substance thought to make up the majority of mass in the universe. The invisible and unknowable are confronted directly as the author's experience with cancer marks these poems with a new austerity, shot through with her signature wit and stark unsentimental thinking.--From publisher description