Composer John Adams Dishes On Pop Culture

Complete video at: http://fora.tv/2009/05/14/John_Adams_Composing_an_American_Life

"The great bifurcation in music is between pop and classical," says composer John Adams. He discusses the challenge of creating classical music in a nation dominated by pop culture and "lingering anti-intellectualism."

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One of America's most performed and admired composers, John Adams (Nixon in China, Doctor Atomic) helped shape the landscape of contemporary classical music.

His new memoir reveals the inner workings of his creative process and illuminates the recent history of music-making. - Los Angeles Public Library

John Adams is a Pulitzer Prize-winning American composer with strong roots in minimalism. His best-known works include Harmonielehre (1985), On the Transmigration of Souls (2002), a choral piece commemorating the victims of the September 11, 2001 attacks (for which he won the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 2003), and Shaker Loops, a minimalist four-movement work for strings. His well-known operas include Nixon in China (1987), which recounts Richard Nixon's 1972 visit to China, and Doctor Atomic (2005), which covers Robert Oppenheimer, the Manhattan Project, and the building of the first atomic bomb.

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[UnDead483]

I think those who watch this video without any previous knowledge of John Adams might be a little misled by it. If you read his auto-biography, he talks about how disgusted he was with the eiltism of contemporary classical music when he was younger. He's spent his career, writing music that appeals to a broader audience. He's a composer that's spent his whole life trying to close the divide between popular and classical music. And its totally understandable that he's frustrated with pop culture.

[yisacknayrabin]

@suddenlyitsobvious Absolutely true. The masses are not responsible for the content, the are only responsible for the absorption of it. It is up to us, the composers, writers, filmmakers, news presenters, media moguls, TV networks, etc. to provide the masses with quality content. If you give them Brittney Spears, they'll listen to it. If you give them McDonald's they'll eat it. So why not give them something better?

[StanGay]

@hairdressershusband Regan doted on his films many evenings in the White House - Carter doted on Mozart - There is absolutely no point in my comment. PS I have spoken with Adams on 2 or 3 occasions in SF and found him to be a "regular guy" down to earth and realistic.

[7of23]

But I agree with his aproach, I mean I aprecciate what he is trying to do

[7of23]

His music bores me, he has no genius

[prom9etheus]

An excellent composer and and all- around smart guy but the intellectual elitism - along with the ironically POPULAR cliche' political sentiments is disappointing. Can one not be an artist and still have some manners and tolerance for different views.

[hairdressershusband]

"If Barak Obama or John Kerry, God forbid, had said that they liked Beethoven, their poll numbers would have dropped through the floor."

What, what?? There is absolutely no grounding for that statement, no evidence to back it up (although I admit it is likely true, which gives you an idea of the kind of people we have voting in this country...). He talks about disgust with the elitism of contemporary music and yet he clearly separates himself out (and perhaps above) those who engage with pop.

[stayonmytoes]

"Lingering anti-intellectualism has a great presence in America" - Preach on brotha!

[stinkpickle1000]

i dislike this