John Adams' Doctor Atomic Symphony: Part 3

[Isarsi93]

Thumbs up if u think this is a masterpiece!

[iansquared3]

i cannot imagine playing the lyrical poetry sections. the french horns are so smooth, it would be so hard to stay steady! the trumpet is flawless.

[mahler151]

I love this.

[matt123169]

Nice dramatic symphony, one movement, but I think perhaps if the sequence of the music matched the sequence of the opera it would work better. The music at the end of act 1 is very moving, but it's used as the climax of the symphony. Perhaps Adams was thinking that the ending of the opera is very similar to Transmigration of Souls and didn't want two orchestral pieces with very similar endings, wanted a more dramatic and pounding finale.

[TheBlueDevils12]

The trumpet player is Craig Morris.

[joeyroukens]

Thanks for posting this! Some wonderful moments there (like the lyrical trumpet replacing the singing), but I agree with gab1279 that overall form is not entirely convincing; it lacks the formal coherence and unity of, say, Sibelius 7th (which Adams mentions as a model for this piece).

[gab1279]

Man, this is a great performance. Alsop did a good job here with the style and detail. This is much, much better than the BBC proms recording...this makes more sense after hearing this recording. (Though I still feel the material doesn't hang together as well instrumental form.)

Who is the trumpet player? Great solo, really played well and phrased as if the singer were singing...beautiful vibrato and control.