John Adams to conduct Glass's Symphony No.9

We now have the US premiere at Carnegie Hall with the American Composers Orchestra on Glass's 75th Birthday proper on January 31, 2012.  And we have the West Coast premiere of the new work at Walt Disney Concert Hall in April under Adams's baton with Carnegie Hall and the LA Philharmonic listed as part of the commissioning consortium along with the Bruckner Orchester Linz.

April 5,6,& 7, 2012, at 8 p.m.

Los Angeles Philharmonic
John Adams, conductor
Leila Josefowicz, violin
Pärt: Cantus in Memory of Benjamin Britten
Adams:  Violin Concerto
Glass:  Symphony No. 9 (West Coast premiere, LAPA co-commission)

Comments

[Steve Glassfan]

Adams will finally get to conduct real music!

[Mark Walther]

Is this really a good idea...mixing matter (Glass) and anti-matter (Adam)?

I shall have to consult with Dr. Hawking on this.

[Proman]

Wow, I'm speechless. Literally. I didn't see that one coming.

I would love to hear how this came about though? Who's idea was it?

[Alon]

Unbelievable and interesting

[les b.]

Bit of a wait; all are eager. Is there any hard preliminary info on the work--movements, program, etc? I wonder if PG found confronting "The Ninth" daunting, as did Mahler & others.

[Richard Guerin]

I cant imagine its not daunting writing a Ninth Symphony. Although hes eager to write a Tenth soon and who could blame him. The original plan which Glass talked about for years was to write 9 and 10 at the same time. The commissioning of #9 just worked out this way with Bruckner Orchester Linz/Carnegie Hall and the LA Philharmonic.

Im very happy about this consortium of commissioners because the commissioning of the first 8 symphonies wasnt on this level. Only one symphony wasnt premiered by Dennis Russell Davies, No.7 Toltec. So the others were commissioned by the orchestras that he was working with - Brooklyn Philharmonic, Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra, American Composers Orchestra. All due respect to those organizations my feeling is that the major international orchestras should be doing and commissioning these pieces.

However, to date the Berliner Philharmoniker and the Wiener Philharmoniker arent calling. And major US orchestras including Boston, Chicago, San Fancisco, Philadelphia and others seem content to pretend Glass doesnt exist.

[Proman]

It's a great reason to be excited, especially considering that this symphony will be following what I consider to be his best symphony to date (#8). I know Richard and I agree on this :).

If that's what it takes, I sort of wish someone would commision Mr. Glass to finish the second set of his etudes, especially considering that he's more than a half-way done. I think I speak for many when I say that we want this recorded by Mr. Glass himself and released soon.

[les b.]

With you on the eight being his top, purely symphonic work to date. PG's favorite composer is reported to be Schubert. Perhaps that is a hint on the ninth.

[Celeste De Bease]

Philip Glass turned 75 last month and his Sym #9 had its US premier. I've loved his music. Sometimes I brace myself when listening for the first time to a Philip Glass piece...thinking he will overreach with his minimalism and produce a real noise-maker...but Sym #9 is wonderful!