Molly Colin reports in the San Francisco Chronicle on Sunday that John Adams’ latest piano concerto, After the Fall, will make its world premiere on Thursday, January 16, at Davies Symphony Hall. The piece, written for Icelandic virtuoso Víkingur Ólafsson, features a subtle tribute to Bach’s Prelude near its conclusion, a musical Easter egg for attentive listeners. Adams, speaking about the work, noted that it was a playful nod to Ólafsson’s recent world tour, where he performed Bach’s Goldberg Variations 88 times while preparing for this new piece.
The concerto is Adams’ third full-scale piano concerto and will be performed by Ólafsson, conductor David Robertson, and the San Francisco Symphony. It is part of a program that also includes Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana, which will be repeated on January 18 and 19.
Robertson, a longtime collaborator of Adams, described the new work as a blend of both the familiar and the unexpected. He explained, “There are the classic hallmarks of John’s music in terms of how he orchestrates and how he showcases the solo voice of the piano. But the possibilities of how something might evolve are miraculous in the sheer number of combinations he explores.”
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