John Adams - "Harmonium" (1980)(excerpt)

[6:15]

Birmingham Symphony Orchestra / Simon Rattle

wiki: "Harmonium" is a composition for chorus and orchestra that could be considered a choral symphony in all but name, by the American composer John Adams, written in 1980-1981 for the first season of Davies Symphony Hall in San Francisco, California. The work is based on poetry by John Donne and Emily Dickinson. It is regarded as one of the key compositions of Adams' "minimalist" period. The San Francisco Symphony and the San Francisco Symphony Chorus, with conductor Edo de Waart, gave the premiere of the work on 15 April 1981, and subsequently recorded it. The UK premiere was on 13 October 1987 at Birmingham Town Hall, with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (CBSO) conducted by Simon Rattle. Rattle and the CBSO gave the London premiere on 28 July 1990 at The Proms.

Each movement is a setting of an entire poem:

1. "Negative Love" (by John Donne)
2. "Because I could not stop for Death" (by Emily Dickinson)
3. "Wild Nights" (by Dickinson)

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