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Unknown: Good evening, everyone. Nice to see you all here tonight for a warm evening indoors together. Our program celebrates the music of two composers, one of whom you're very familiar with the music of john adams. But what I was trying to do is

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to find music that really somehow represents the breadth and the range of the both of these composers. They're so flexible. I mean, if you hear one piece by them, even though you probably recognize their signature, and their vocabulary

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slightly, it could almost be a completely different composer. In the case of john adams, after intermission, we're going to start with a piece for piano and orchestra that is based on and inspired by a takemitsu piece, which was inspired by another

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piece. And it's sort of it sounds a little bit to me, like Ravel meets Bill Evans, not, not so much john adams. And then the second piece of that piece was from 19 1989. I think john wrote that piece. It was actually premiered at cabrio, in 1991,

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the US premiere, and then his piece called guide to strange places as a relatively new piece. And this will be the West Coast premiere that piece, completely different sound worlds. And the composer in the first half of the program is a

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composer whose I think music is new to the festival. He's the British composer called Thomas addys. And the first piece we're going to play he wrote when he was 22 years old, that was in 1993. So he's not a terribly old guy yet. And this is also a very

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similar soundscape to talk him into his work. And there'll be three pieces in the first half by Thomas addys. The second piece will be the solo piano piece, we're changing the order a little bit just to keep you on your toes, and the opening piece

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is called, but all shall be well. And that's an excerpted phrase from a poem by TS Eliot. And this was, Thomas was writing a piece really for his grandfather who was in the throes of dying. And this is a piece I think all about changing

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landscape. But also, things staying the same, even though they change, I just want to point out a couple little things at the very beginning begins with the percussion. And we're very happy that they're all with us now. The percussion, sort of

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mirroring each other, it's almost like reflections on the water. And this will lead to the main theme of the piece, which is extremely simple. I mean, so I think he's almost thinking about

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life, you know, reducing it to the simplest terms. The main theme is very simple, and it's always shadowed by other thoughts and other ideas. And throughout the piece, you'll hear this theme, restarting over and over and over again. And to

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me, I mean, I'm not sure what Thomas had in mind, but it's a little bit like that constant continuity of life and somehow things do go on. So I hope you enjoy the music of Thomas addys Thomas adass wrote darkest visible when he was about 21

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years old, I think it's safe to say he might be considered sort of the Mozart of the 20th 21st century. Darkness visible is a setting of a john dalen song in darkness, let me dwell. But lest you think that it's a 500 years later, reworking with lots of

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variations and things like that, in point of fact, he actually took some of the notes out rather than adding them, but in so doing, if there are those of you who know the song and are tempted to sing along, you could happen. He disperses it rather

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widely, sort of the bells that that you hear in a lot of his music, as a matter of fact, in this setting are more like carillon and they have a sort of a galactic space to them. He spreads the tune out from one octave to another, over a very

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wide range, note wise, but also dynamically and texturally. We're dealing with two extremes, you know, triples, sforzando, bell like notes juxtaposed with everybody know what a butterfly harp is, you know, that sort of, sort of sort of hammered

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dulcimer sort of thing. There's that kind of tremolo pianissimo, so you have very loud and very soft within the same canvas. It's a really original way of dealing with the piano. I'll, I'll go so for us to say, you know, it's very discouraging

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playing Thomas Edison's music because he's not only a wonderful composer, but may be the greatest composer pianist since Rachmaninoff. He's an extraordinary pianist also has extraordinary near preternaturally large hands.

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very discouraging. Anyway. concerto can see so is a different ball of wax entirely. It is concise, not only in terms of length, but in terms of putting everything but the kitchen sink in about a 10 minute space. You will see for

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instance, two conductors for this piece. Another really frustrating thing about Adams when he plays this piece he conducted from the piano. We need we need two conductors, because because we're not geniuses like Thomas Adams. But

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it's but there's a reason for that as well, because you not only have different styles, everything from liturgical to Boogie Woogie piano to sort of New Orleans funeral, you know Dixieland sort of sort of business and everything in

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between very impressionistic, but not going from one to another. This piece reminds me very much of a copy of first which, which was his sort of graduation piece, and hasn't had very many styles along the way, but presented each one in turn.

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In this piece, we have several going on at the same time. Not only several styles, but several time signatures going on at the same time. But it does break in roughly I mean, it's a two movement piece, but but basically the second movement is

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slow and fast. So you have a general sort of concerto feel to it. But yes, the mixing of textures, makes makes this piece something that you want to listen to again, and again. I can only tell you that spending a lot of time on it at the

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piano. There are things that you will not hear that I've grown to appreciate just you know, my one little myopic part and the pieces like that throughout the small orchestra for that piece. It's a it's a concerto grosso. It's a concerto for everybody in

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the orchestra. I think you'll find it a very exciting piece.