Book review: Hallelujah Junction

Adams surveys his life, from the genteel poverty of his childhood that still managed to incorporate early experiences with classical music and with the clarinet, through wacky compositional experimentation at Harvard in the 1960s and in San Francisco in the 1970s, which led to Adams's evolving a personal musical vocabulary that's influenced somewhat by the minimalists, though it strives to go beyond them in exploring structural changes over the course of a piece. He's also a fearsomely smart guy, who drops in references to Jung, the Beats, Emily Dickinson, Walt Whitman, Edward Said... on and on, though he does so lightly and without pretension. Adams contemplates the oeuvres of fellow composers such as Conlon Nancarrow, Steve Reich and Frank Zappa; it's fascinating to read an assessment from someone who shares the knowledge of composition yet has different goals. Adams also dissects his own compositions, explaining the inspirations for El Nino, Nixon in China, and Doctor Atomic. There are no tortured agonies here, just the incisive self-contemplation of a thoughtful man; this book is required for anyone who's a John Adams fan or has an interest in 20th-century classical music.