This is a WONDERFUL book!!!!!!

In just 318 pages, John Adams manages to tell his life story, give us a background into the creation of his major works, explain modern classical music in a style that does not exclude people, such as myself, who do not have a musical education and provides an insight to his fascinating philosophy of life! PHEW!!

I do not intend to précis this book, as it would end up as a 636 page review that would not be a quarter of an eighth of a sixteenth as good as the original. I absolutely recommend this book to anyone who has the slightest interest in music. ( )

When I read someone's memoir, what I am most interested in learning is what kind of person the writer might be. A select few describe their failures along with their achievements, and John Adams is one of that small group. (Pitcher David Wells, of all people, is another!) If I had never listened to any of his compositions (only what I can find recorded, unfortunately), I might miss some of his work after reading his comments on his work. Adams also illuminates the work of composition, at least as it is for him, and the difficulties of writing operas. What struck me most was what a fine person he is, speaking ill of no one but himself. ( )

John Adams is a great composer, but not a great writer. He doesn't even write the librettos for his operas. The text of this book alternates between clunky and cliched unless he is talking about music, when it lights up.

The book is also for a very limited audience. If you are unfamiliar with much of Adams' work and don't have at least a moderate familiarity with concert music (especially of the 20th century), much of the content of the book will be ungrounded and uninteresting.

Still, for people with the requisite background (which I mostly have) and the willingness to overlook the inelegant prose, there is plenty of stuff to like here. Adams has very interesting thoughts about serialism and minimalism in 20th century music. His descriptions of the composition processes for some of his major works (operas and otherwise) are interesting, as is the recollection of some failed premieres due to technical difficulties! After reading his descriptions of some of his pieces, I went back and listened to them carefully, and had a much better feeling for both the emotional and technical structures of the works. (My favorite Adams piece, incidentally, is the magnificently beautiful Dharma at Big Sur, a concerto for electric violin. Highly, highly recommended, with or without Adams' "liner notes" on pp 233-236.)

In retrospect, rather than an autobiograpy, Adams could have packaged this same material as a collection of essays about music, his own, that of others, and his thoughts on music in general. It might have worked a little better. ( )