John Coolidge Adams is an American composer and conductor born on 15th February 1947.  Born into a musical family, he attended Harvard and studied with Roger Sessions, Leon Kirchner and David Del Tredici and was the first Harvard student to be allowed to write a musical composition for his senior thesis. He was heavily influenced by John Cage, particularly after reading Cage’s book “Silence: Writings and Letters” (which was given to Adams by his mother) and consequently moved away from the modernist and serial music, towards minimalism, gaining much attention with works such as Phrygian Gates, Harmonium, Harmonielehre, and Shaker Loops. Compared to other minimalist composers such as Steve Reich and Philip Glass, his style is richer and more textured.   Although Adams is particularly noted for his operas such as Nixon in China (1987) which recounts the visit to China by (now disgraced) American President Richard Nixon, for which he won a Grammy Award in 1989, the controversial (because of its’ subject matter) 1991 composition The Death of Klinghoffer, and Doctor Atomic about Robert Oppenheimer and the Manhattan Project, his extensive list of composition includes important piano works such as the Phrygian Gates and China Gates, a Violin Concerto, Road Movies for Violin and Piano, as well as orchestrations and arrangements of woks by Liszt, Debussy, Ives and Piazzolla. Among many awards Adams has received, he won the Pulitzer Prize for Music for his 2002 composition On the Transmigration of Souls, five Grammy Awards, and six honorary doctorates.
Hippo Variations No.5 – a Fantasy for solo double bass & string orchestra
Hippo Viikari V is for double bass in orchestral tuning only.
Hippo Viikari V …was composed in 1990 as a 70th birthday tribute to FrantiÅ¡ek PoÅ¡ta (1919-1991), the legendary double bass virtuoso who was Principal Bass of the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra for over forty years.
In one movement, this is part of a series of pieces with a similar title and based on the same thematic material. The solo double bass is both soloist and team player, weaving its colourful and inventive melodic lines into music which has a rhythmic energy, alongside passages of quiet calm and beauty.
A number of modern playing techniques are employed, but never at the expense of the narrative or musical landscape, and anyone who enjoys the music of Teppo Hauta-aho will love this piece.
Contemporary in style, but always accessible and approachable, Hippo Viikari V explores and exploits the lyrical, sonorous and singing qualities of the double bass, against a magical and evocative background of ever-changing sonorities and soundworlds.
This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.
Strictly Necessary Cookies
Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.
If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again.