For string quartet.
50:00
Commissioned by Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center, Summer Stages Dance @ The Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston, Liz Gerring Dance Company.
For string quartet.
21:00
Commissioned by Third Angle New Music with generous support from Betsy Russell.
For flute, alto flute, 2 percussion, piano, violin, viola, ‘cello, and doublebass
.
26:00
Co-commissioned by Camerata Pacifica, The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Chamber Music Northwest, Emerald City Music, and Redlands Symphony.
For string quartet.
56:00
Commissioned by SFJAZZ for the JACK Quartet.
For string quartet.
18:00
Commissioned by the Los Angeles Philharmonic for the Calder Quartet.
For string quartet.
24:00
Commissioned by the University of North Carolina for Brooklyn Rider.
for horns (in multiples of 8), performing outdoors.
22:30
Commissioned by the East Neuk Festival and the Southbank Centre.
For piano and percussion.
17:00
Commissioned by Tracy-Lipke Perry and Eugene Koshinski.
For string quartet.
16:00
Commissioned by Theodore Front Musical Literature.
For piano, percussion and electronic sounds.s
32:30
Commissioned by Stephen Drury.
For solo ‘cello (also available for violin).
10:30
For alto flute, bass clarinet, vibraphone/crotales, piano, violin, ‘cello, and electronic sounds.
11:45
Commissioned by the Seattle Chamber Players and the California EAR Unit.
“Inspired by James Turrell’s ethereal installation art, Adams’ thick and undulating wall-of-sound approach suggests a musical corollary to Turrell’s sublime manipulations of time, space and color.” - Josef Woodard, The Los Angeles Times
“… the standout work of the festival … a shimmering spectrum of massive, merging harmonies … the textures of noise as our contemporary counterpart to the sublime.” - Thomas May, Seattle Weekly
For solo violin (also available for 'cello).
10:30
For piano, mallet percussion, and processed sounds
12:00
Commissioned by Ensemble Sirius.
“…a shimmering, minimalist, impressionistic landscape of sound: rolling waves from the piano, gentle whooshes from the percussion, augmented by an occasional loud groan from the computer.” - Atlanta Journal-Constitution
For violin, vibraphone, marimba, sustaining keyboard, contrabass instrument.
13:00
Commissioned by the Paul Dresher Electric Chamber Ensemble.
“…an enormous geography of sound… a wilderness of big sky… the audio analog to a series of floating clouds beside a snowcapped mountain.” - Ben Fleury-Steiner, ei magazine
For bass clarinet, vibraphone, marimba, piano.
12:00
Commissioned by Marty Walker.
“…striking… the deep bass clarinet line weaving in and out of the rolling bass notes of the piano and the vibraphone accompaniment.” - Francois Couture, The All Music Guide
“…a sumptuous ensemble rumble, with thrumming chords from piano and three mallet percussionists.” - Los Angeles Times
For violin, vibraphone, marimba, piano, doublebass.
11:00
For solo piano.
10:30
“It sounded, as its name might imply, like an enormous rock formation turned into sound.” - Greg Sandow, NewMusicBox
For celesta, harp (or piano), 2 vibraphones, string quartet.
18:00
Commissioned by the Third Angle New Music Ensemble.
“Adams’ music made the unseen visible, like breath exhaled into frosty air, a bodilessness pulsing with life. His rising and falling themes, traded among the strings, built a prayerful melodic arc that stretched out to infinity yet spoke directly to the individual soul.” - Grant Menzies, The Oregonian (Portland)
For violin, vibraphone, piano, sustaining keyboard, contrabass instrument.
30:00
“…an unbroken, slowly shifting, many-hued sound texture… frequently energized by internal ripples and coruscations… the discipline imposed by the work’s own internal structures has the effect of disclosing, within the sound mass, particular dimensions of power, range and beauty…” - Christopher Ballantine, International Record Review
For flute, violin, harp (or piano), ‘cello, percussion.
16:30
For 2 piccolos and 3 percussion.
Ca. 40:00
“I’m working as a fire lookout on Aztec Peak in Arizona. Used to work same job on N. Rim of Grand Canyon. Your musical evocation of the hermit thrush, common to both places, moved me to tears.” - Edward Abbey, Letter, July 1978
“…one of the most sensitive reworkings of birdsong since Messiaen’s.” - Ear Magazine
” …exquisitely gentle evocations of wilderness sounds… songbirdsongs transformed the auditorium into the aural equivalent of some enchanted forest…The effect was musical magic.” - News and Courier/Evening Post (Charleston, S.C.)
“…uncanny… songbirdsongs is a beautiful recording.” - John Schafer, NPR
“…charm and a real feeling for the nature of nature’s music.” - Eric Salzman, Stereo Review
“un monde d’enchantement sonore, vibrant de mystere et de poesie.” - Le Devoir (Montreal)