Saturday 1 November 2025
Bridgewater Hall, Manchester
*****
Exploring Powerful Women in the Music of John Adams, with Astonishing Playing from Violinist Leila Josefowicz
Saturday evening’s concert at the Bridgewater Hall was the closing event of a three-day festival celebrating the work of the contemporary American composer and conductor John Adams, born in 1947. In a pre-concert talk, he was interviewed by another distinguished composer, Colin Matthews, who was Composer-in-Association with the Hallé from 2001 to 2010 and is now Composer Emeritus.
Matthews reminded us of Adams’ long association with the Hallé. Adams started working with the orchestra before the Bridgewater Hall opened. His orchestral piece Slonimsky’s Earbox was premiered by the Hallé under Kent Nagano when the Hall opened in September 1996. That piece was a co-commission with Oregon Symphony. On Saturday, we heard the UK premiere of another Hallé co-commission, this time with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Adams’ The Rock You Stand On, which ended the concert.
Adams amusingly explained that he doesn’t like to conduct his own premieres. He suffers from the ‘extreme angst’ of hearing a new piece at the first orchestral rehearsal, however good the orchestra may be.’ He described himself as a ‘nervous composer… wishing the conductor had noticed the metronome marking.’ The premiere of The Rock You Stand On was a month ago under the baton of Marin Alsop, ‘a close friend, a deeply intuitive musician and a longtime enthusiast for my music.’ No doubt Alsop paid close attention to the metronome markings in the new score.
Matthews traced Adams’ striking progression as a composer, starting with something akin to Minimalism, then re-inventing tonality, and more recently expanding his musical language. Adams said that when he was in his twenties, there was an obsession with style. Composers had to follow the style of Luciano Berio, or Serialism (Milton Babbitt, Pierre Boulez) or Radicalism (John Cage). More recently, the young composers that Adams has worked with care more about content than style, highlighting ‘hot button issues’ such as climate change, ‘how you compose is no longer at the forefront.’
Therefore, it was fascinating to trace Adam’s development as a composer in a series of three pieces spread across the decades. The earliest was The Chairman Dances, written 40 years ago, the most overtly ‘Minimalist’ in style. Scheherazade.2 was written 10 years ago, and The Rock You Stand On was only written last year. The two later pieces show a dramatic move away from Minimalism, particularly Scheherazade.2. The latter is a good example of Adams addressing a ‘hot button issue.’ inspired by his visit to an exhibition at the Institute du Monde Arabe (Arab World Institute) in Paris, describing the history of the ‘Arabian Nights.’
When he got home, Adams read the story of Scheherazade and was horrified. The Persian Shahryar sought vengeance against all women after his wife was unfaithful, murdering a thousand women in as many days. Scheherazade told the king stories for 1001 nights, the cliffhangers preventing her from being murdered, until the king fell in love with her and spared her life. Adams described Rimsky-Korsakov’s orchestral retelling of the story as ‘congenial, romantic, and not serious.’
In Scheherazade.2, Adams updated the story so that the central character represents oppressed women around the world. He joked, ‘We don’t know what happened to Scheherazade.1.’ He could have called his piece Scheherazade Version 2.0, but that would have been too long a title. He said the piece was a hybrid, a symphony that behaves like a violin concerto, and a violin concerto that behaves like a symphony, inspired by dramatic symphonies like Berlioz’s La Damnation de Faust and Roméo et Juliette.
‘I find Leila a perfect embodiment of that kind of empowered strength and energy that a modern Scheherazade would possess.’
John Adams on Leila Josefowicz
The theme of the concert was powerful women. Scheherazade.2 described the orthodoxy, sexism, and paternalism of the ‘men with beards’ who pursued the protagonist, trying to eliminate women’s power: ‘Men are afraid of powerful women.’ His other inspiration for the piece was the American-Canadian violinist Leila Josefowicz, who specialises in contemporary music and was the violin soloist on Saturday. Adams wrote, ‘I find Leila a perfect embodiment of that kind of empowered strength and energy that a modern Scheherazade would possess.’
At the concert’s start, Adams announced that he hadn’t included the titles of the four movements in the original programme note for the piece. Although the work is loosely programmatic, rather than a detailed narrative like Stravinsky’s Petrushka or Richard Strauss’s Till Eulenspiegel, the titles are helpful.
I. Tale of the Wise Young Woman-Pursuit by the True Believers
Adams said the ‘true believers’, represented by the orchestra, were mostly men, and the violin part represents ‘a beautiful young woman with grit and personal power.’ Josefowicz’s playing was sweet-toned at the start, but soon became passionate and feisty, almost frenzied. She easily held her own against a large orchestra, a testament to the power of her playing and Adams’ superbly balanced writing. At times, she played with the attitude of a rock star guitarist and astonishing virtuosity. There were quieter moments, too. At one point, the violin was silent while evocative orchestral strings played a ghostly, ethereal section. The violin joined in with spellbinding, long held notes with gorgeous vibrato. The rich orchestral colour was frequently embellished with exotic-sounding flourishes from Chris Bradley on cimbalom. He was buried in the centre of the orchestra, but the dialogue between solo violin and cimbalom sometimes made the piece feel like a concerto for violin, cimbalom and orchestra. The movement ended with a fiendishly difficult passage for the violin, Josefowicz playing incredibly fast. The orchestra of ‘true believers’ tried to match her virtuosity, but it was clear that the violin had won.
II. A Long Desire (love scene)
This beautiful movement was the highlight of the whole piece. Adams said it ‘starts violently then transforms into a love scene.’ It began with dense orchestral chords, fiercely rhythmic and syncopated, while Josefowicz stood silent and statuesque in contrast to her intense physicality in the first movement. We suddenly passed into a romantic section, entering a garden of love. With its eternal melody, there were echoes of the Jardin du sommeil d’amour (Garden of Love’s Sleep) in Olivier Messiaen’s Turangalîla-Symphonie (1946-1948). Adams created a magical world with shimmering strings and harps. The solo violin became more strident, with passionate themes falling out of it, matched by an urgent brass theme. The violin replied with equal passion before the sound dropped away again to reach a lovely moment of stasis. The movement ended with Josefowicz playing romantic themes on the upper reaches of the violin.
III. Scheherazade and the Men with Beards
Adams said that in this movement, the young woman, ‘defends herself against male rage.’ It was a dialogue between solo violin and orchestra, starting with cimbalom crashes and agitated percussion – the ‘men with beards’ tormenting Scheherazade. Josefowicz danced lightly to the orchestral themes, then came in resolutely in a different key, answering her tormentors, accompanied by a hopeful-sounding celeste. The battle continued throughout the movement. The orchestra roused itself to an angry climax, superbly played. Josefowicz stood like a caged creature, waiting to respond, fully inhabiting the role of Scheherazade even when she wasn’t playing. She gently stated her case in reply, accompanied by contemplative cimbalom, but soon became angry again, playing with stunning virtuosity. After another angry skirmish, the violin played a deliberately discordant tune. Scheherazade had won again.
IV. Escape, Flight, Sanctuary
This began with a looping orchestral theme, leading to a massive climax. Adams’ conducting was relatively low-key rather than demonstrative, as it was throughout the concert, but he drew excellent playing from the orchestra. The solo violin joined, the bow scurrying across the strings. As Scheherazade battled to escape from her oppressors, Josefowicz’s playing became more virtuosic, and it felt as if she was physically challenging the orchestra with her stance on stage. The orchestra could barely keep up with the violin, but they began to gain the upper hand. The violin’s rejoinder was equally passionate. Finally, an uneasy resolution appeared to have been reached, as Scheherazade achieved sanctuary. There was a gorgeous moment of subtle orchestral colour as the violin soared above, ending this stunning performance. Adams bowed low in acknowledgement of Josefowicz, and she turned to the orchestra to acknowledge them. As she accepted the huge applause, she looked exhilarated.
The second half of the concert also featured strong women. We began with The Chairman Dances, which Adams described in his programme note as an ‘out-take’ from Act III of his opera Nixon in China, which premiered in 1987. Subtitled ‘A foxtrot for orchestra’, the scenario describes
‘the fabled “Madame Mao”, firebrand, revolutionary executioner, architect of China’s calamitous Cultural Revolution, and… a former Shanghai movie actress.’
Madame Mao gatecrashes the Presidential Banquet and hangs paper lanterns around the hall. She motions for the orchestra to play and begins dancing on her own. Chairman Mao steps down from his portrait on the wall, and they dance the foxtrot, as they remember dancing to the gramophone years before.
This was a chance for the orchestra to shine, which they duly did in this attractive piece. The opening was pulsing and vibrant, with joyfully shifting blocks of sound. The orchestra settled on a pivoting theme, with a lovely syncopated glockenspiel. We went on a journey through orchestral colour and rhythms until we reached an actual waltz, then another and another, becoming faster and more ecstatic. Gemma Beeson played the piano part. She was invisible during the performance from where we sat as the large orchestra filled the stage. She was deservedly given a separate bow. The piece ended with the sound of a gramophone winding down, played by the orchestra rather than from a recording, a clever effect that never fails to delight.
The final strong woman featured in the concert was the American conductor Marin Alsop. Her website describes her as
‘the first woman to serve as the head of major orchestras in the United States, South America, Austria, and Great Britain.’
She was also the first woman to conduct the Last Night of the Proms, in 2013. Adams composed The Rock You Stand On as a gift to Alsop. This piece made an excellent companion to The Chairman Dances with what Adams describes as
‘a certain ‘big band’ quality to the ensemble writing… driven by an underlying jazz-infected pulse.’
The piece began with a simple plucked theme on strings, which soon evolved with a touch of Bernard Herrmann’s orchestral writing in his score for Psycho (1960). The theme cascaded through the orchestra, syncopated in the style of the early John Adams. An overarching woodwind and brass theme was offset against the strings. A constantly rising theme could easily have accompanied a film noir. The orchestral writing was always lucid, despite the size of the orchestra, with limpid textures. The piece featured the fierce rhythms and surprising harmonic changes that have become such attractive features of his music, but here transposed into even more sophisticated textures. The piece constantly evolved, endlessly searching, until it came to a sudden end. It was a worthy addition to Adams’ extensive catalogue. Several audience members gave Adams and the orchestra a well-deserved standing ovation. It was a pleasure to be in the presence of one of our greatest living composers.
Repertoire
John Adams Scheherazade.2
John Adams The Chairman Dances
John Adams The Rock You Stand On (Hallé Co-Commission / UK Premiere)
Performers
The Hallé
John Adams conductor
Leila Josefowicz violin
Sources
Boosey & Hawkes www.boosey.com
John Adams’ website www.earbox.com
More John Adams…
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