Phrygian Gates

Phrygian Gates

Phrygian Gates is a piano piece written by minimalist composer John Coolidge Adams in 1977-1978.

The piece, together with its smaller companion China Gates is what is considered Adams' "opus one". They are, according to his own claims, his first compositions consisting of a coherent personal style. It was commissioned and written for the pianist Mack McCray, and first performed by him in Hellman Hall, San Francisco on March 17, 1978. The work was funded by a group of the Board of Trustees of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.

The piece is written in a minimalist style, and based on a repetitive cell structure. Simultaneously, Adams' desire to move away from the conventional techniques of minimalism is noticeable. The composition is set in the Phrygian mode, and cycles through half the keys throughout its roughly 30 minute duration, modulating in the circle of fifths. As claimed by Adams, it is "in the form of a modulating square wave with one state in the Lydian mode and the other in the Phrygian mode". Gradually, the amount of time spent in the Lydian shortens and shifts more to the Phrygian. The "Gates" in the title is an allusion from the electronic music gates, a term for rapidly shifting modes.

References

*Adams, John (1983). "Phrygian Gates for piano". Associated Music Publishers. New York.

External links

* [http://www.earbox.com/W-phrygiangates.html John Adams website on Phrygian Gates]


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужен реферат?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Phrygian Gates — (Portes de Phrygie) est une œuvre pour piano écrite par le compositeur de musique minimaliste John Coolidge Adams en 1977 1978. Cette pièce est, avec China Gates (les portes de la Chine), considérée par le musicien comme son « opus… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • China Gates — is a short piano piece composed by the minimalist American composer John Adams in 1977. Adams wrote this work as a companion piece to his Phrygian Gates, dating from the same period. Phrygian Gates is the longer of the two pieces and uses many of …   Wikipedia

  • John Coolidge Adams — El texto que sigue es una traducción defectuosa o incompleta. Si quieres colaborar con Wikipedia, busca el artículo original y mejora o finaliza esta traducción. Puedes dar aviso al autor principal del artículo pegando el siguiente código en su… …   Wikipedia Español

  • John Adams (composer) — John Coolidge Adams (born February 15, 1947) is an American composer with strong roots in minimalism. He is best known for his opera Nixon in China (1985 ndash;87), recounting Richard Nixon s 1972 visit to China. His choral piece On the… …   Wikipedia

  • John Adams (Komponist) — John Adams John Coolidge Adams (* 15. Februar 1947 in Worcester, Massachusetts) ist ein US amerikanischer Komponist. Er wird zusammen mit Steve Reich, Philip Glass und Terry Riley zu den bekanntesten Vertretern der Minimal Music gezäh …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • John Coolidge Adams — John Adams John Coolidge Adams (* 15. Februar 1947 in Worcester, Massachusetts) ist ein US amerikanischer Komponist. Er wird zusammen mit Steve Reich, Philip Glass und Terry Riley zu den bekanntesten Vertretern der Minimal …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • John Adams (compositeur) — John Coolidge Adams Pour les articles homonymes, voir John Adams. John Coolidge Adams …   Wikipédia en Français

  • John Coolidge Adams — Pour les articles homonymes, voir John Adams. John Coolidge Adams John A …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Pandiatonic — In music pandiatonic chords and successions are those formed freely from all degrees of a diatonic scale without regard for their diatonic function, sometimes to the extent of no single pitch being felt as a tonic. The term was invented by… …   Wikipedia

  • List of contemporary solo piano pieces — John Adams:: Phrygian Gates :: China Gates Samuel Barber::Ballades::Excursions::Nocturnes Bela Bartok::Mikrokosmos::Szabadban::Elegies::Two Romanian Dances::Three Burlesques Daniel Bickerton::Genesis (2006)::Foreboding (2008) Pierre Boulez:: 12… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”