Nixon in China (John Adams) Act 1, scene 1

After the masterclass with Flummerfelt, I decided to investigate more on John Adams. I was pleasantly surpised when I first listened to this work. The underlying unity rests on a continuously played natural minor scale. This adds an air of mystery and allure and depth as other voices and tonalities harmonize and clash with the scale. It moves imperceptibly into the first sung (chorus) number of the opera "Soldiers of Heaven hold the sky" and the minor scale continues--though it begins to mutate and do different things which add a growing tension and interest. The scale drops out of the texture in the third section "The people are heroes now" and rhythmic dynamics increase as the chorus is doubled by the winds and later brasses to a melody that is driven by dotted notes and syncopations. The voices silence and a new theme emerges out of the low strings that is steadily picked up by the voices of the orchestra...building and building with deep percussion lows and alternating voices and brassy highs and all medlies of sound to subtle rhythmic variations--producing the effect of Wagner meets Phillip Glass. Then the music draws back and becomes more intimate for "Landing of the Spirit of '76"--interrupted by the first instance of recit. in the opera "Your flight was smooth, I hope?" The last section of scene one is called "News has a kind of mystery," and Adams brings back the themes and rhythmic adventures of "The people are heroes now," except now it is lead by two male human voices while the orchestra remains subdued beneath them. Adams uses a technique of repeating and breaking up the text and turning it also to rhythmic devise.