2017-10-04

On 3 December, the Apollon Musagète Quartett and the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra (NOSPR) under the baton of José Maria Florêncio will be giving the first Polish performance of John Adams’s ‘Absolute Jest’, at the NOSPR concert hall in Katowice.

‘Absolute Jest’ was written to a commission from the San Francisco Symphony to mark its centenary. The work was first performed in March 2012, with the SFO, under the baton of Michael Tilson Thomas, accompanied by the musicians of the St Lawrence String Quartet. After that first performance, the composer made several changes to the work, presenting its final version in December that same year.

On his website, the composer tells the interesting story behind the work’s inspiration and the several stages over which it was written.

John Adams holds an exceptional place in the world of American composers. His works – symphonic, chamber and operatic – are distinguished by a depth of expression and clarity of sound and characterised by complex textures. On account of the scale of Adams’s compositions, he is frequently dubbed the ‘maximal minimalist’.

More on the concert

fot. Christine Alicino