Label: Cold Blue

老舗のコンテンポラリー系レーベルModeやNew World Recordsにもソロ音源を残し、主に自身出身のアラスカをテーマとした楽曲を数多く出版してきた80年代前半より活動を続けるベテランコンポーザーJohn Luther Adams。量子物理学、フラクタル幾何学、ノイズにインスピレーションを得たという2024年作[Waves And Particles]。主にクセナキス作品で知られる米ストリングカルテット"The JACK Quartet"が演奏を担当した非常にカッコイイ作品であり、点によって表現される音の連続体が6つの楽章で展開します。







"Waves and Particles" is a shimmering, virtuosic string quartet, performed by the extraordinary JACK Quartet.

Adams writes about the piece:
"'Waves and Particles' was inspired by quantum physics, fractal geometry, and noise—which function as elemental metaphors in my music.
"Quantum physics tells us that the universe is more like music than matter. And the musical material of this piece traverses a continuum from silence articulated by points of sound to rolling waves of pitch, timbre, intensity, and velocity.
"A simple fractal form shapes each of the six movements, which I hope imparts a quality less like personal expression than like inevitable force.
"The noise I had in mind was as an acoustician might define it: complex aperiodic sound.
"Composing 'Waves and Particles' in this time of cultural disintegration, I also remembered Jacques Attali, who heralded music as prophetic noise that can signal creative disruption. 'What is noise to the old order is harmony to the new.' (Jacques Attali)"

John Luther Adams is a Pulitzer- and Grammy-winning composer who lived for many years in Alaska, where his work derived much of its unique character from the landscape and weather of the Great North. Some years ago, he moved from Alaska, living in various desert and mountain areas in South and Central America—places that also inspired and found expression in his music. He currently resides in rural New Mexico.
He is a long-time associate of the Cold Blue label; his music has appeared on nine previous Cold Blue CDs, including the Grammy nominated "Darkness and Scattered Light," "Houses of the Wind," "Arctic Dreams," "Everything That Rises," and the Grammy-nominated "Lines Made by Walking."

“John Luther Adams . . . one of the most original musical thinkers of the new century.” — Alex Ross, The New Yorker

“His music becomes more than a metaphor for natural forces: it is an elemental experience in its own right.” —Tom Service, The Guardian

“His music perfectly echoes the landscape he loves: impersonal, relentless, larger than human scale, yet gorgeous, a quiet chaos of colors, suffused with light.” —Kyle Gann, Chamber Music Magazine

“Adams’ manner is that of Thoreau—to be in a place, incorporate it into his memory and values, and recreate that through music. It misses the point to say he is inspired by nature—Adams is changed by nature and his music is a catalogue of the places that changed him. . . . Adams [is] an important and necessary musician for our time.” —New York Classical Review

JACK Quartet has been deemed “superheroes of the new music world” (Boston Globe), “the go-to quartet for contemporary music, tying impeccable musicianship to intellectual ferocity and a take-no-prisoners sense of commitment” (The Washington Post), and “a musical vehicle of choice to the next great composers who walk among us” (Toronto Star). The group is focused on the commissioning and performance of new works, leading it to work closely with composers John Luther Adams, Derek Bermel, Chaya Czernowin, James Dillon, Brian Ferneyhough, Beat Furrer, Georg Friedrich Haas, Vijay Iyer, György Kurtág, Helmut Lachenmann, George Lewis, Steve Mackey, Matthias Pintscher, Steve Reich, Roger Reynolds, Wolfgang Rihm, Salvatore Sciarrino, Julia Wolfe, John Zorn, and many others. JACK has recorded three earlier albums of Adams’s music for Cold Blue: Lines Made by Walking (CB0058), Everything That Rises(CB0051), and The Wind in High Places(CB0041).

“The string quartet may be a 250-year-old contraption, but young, brilliant groups like the JACK Quartet are keeping it thrillingly vital.”—The Washington Post