Canon
Where to start with Adams
Essential works to know this composer by — spread across their styles-
KeyboardChina Gates
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OrchestralHarmonielehre
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StageNixon in China — Opera
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ChamberFellow Traveler — For string quartet
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VocalHarmonium — For chorus and orchestra
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OrchestralShort Ride in a Fast Machine
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OrchestralDoctor Atomic Symphony
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OrchestralThe Dharma at Big Sur — For electric violin and orchestra
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OrchestralViolin Concerto
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KeyboardAmerican Berserk
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OrchestralBerceuse élégiaque — For chamber orchestra
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OrchestralChamber Symphony
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StageDoctor Atomic — Opera
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OrchestralGrand Pianola Music — For voice, pianos, winds, brass and percussion
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KeyboardHallelujah Junction
Listening guide
Hand-curated paths into Adams's catalogueMost Popular
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Short Ride in a Fast Machine
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Nixon in Chinaopera
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Harmonielehre
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The Chairman Dances
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Shaker Loops
Most Acclaimed
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Doctor Atomicopera — the Manhattan Project and the first bomb
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The Death of Klinghoffer
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El Nino
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Century Rollspiano concerto
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Naive and Sentimental Music
Most Weird
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On the Transmigration of Souls9/11 memorial — electronics, chorus, and recorded voices in public spaces
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Grand Pianola Musictwo pianos and wind ensemble — deliberately kitschy and overwhelming
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My Father Knew Charles Ives
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Christian Zeal and Activityminimalism with a hymn buried inside
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Phrygian Gatespiano — 25 minutes of pure process
Similar composers
Same era, overlapping styles — by genre & period affinityWorks 27
- Keyboard
- ● China Gates
- American Berserk
- Hallelujah Junction
- Phrygian Gates
- Orchestral
- ● Harmonielehre
- ● Short Ride in a Fast Machine
- Doctor Atomic Symphony
- The Dharma at Big Sur — For electric violin and orchestra
- Violin Concerto
- Berceuse élégiaque — For chamber orchestra
- Chamber Symphony
- Grand Pianola Music — For voice, pianos, winds, brass and percussion
- Light Over Water — For brass and tape
- Lollapalooza
- Must the Devil Have All the Good Tunes? — For piano and orchestra
- The Chairman Dances
- Stage
- ● Nixon in China — Opera
- Doctor Atomic — Opera
- I was looking at the ceiling and then I saw the sky
- Chamber
- Fellow Traveler — For string quartet
- John's Book of Alleged Dances — For string quartet
- Road Movies — For violin and piano
- Shaker Loops — For strings
- String Quartet
- Vocal
- Harmonium — For chorus and orchestra
- The Gospel According To The Other Mary — Oratorio
- The Wound-Dresser — For baritone and orchestra