China Gates Explained

China Gates is a short piano piece composed by the minimalist American composer John Adams in 1977. (Adams soon gave this work a companion, his Phrygian Gates, finished the next year. The latter is the longer of the two and uses similar techniques, but in terms of structure the pair have little in common.)

China Gates is one of Adams' first mature works, which he wrote for the then 17-year-old pianist Sarah Cahill during a rainy season in northern California. Adams himself has suggested that the constant eighth notes of the piece reflect the steady rainfall of the time. The bass notes of the piece form the root of the mode, while the upper voices oscillate between different modes. K. Robert Schwarz has noted how the style of China Gates is in keeping with the ideas of "process music" of Steve Reich.^[1]

The piece has a duration of about 4:50 minutes and is written in three parts. In the first part, the modes alternate between A-flat mixolydian and G-sharp aeolian, which sound almost like the major and minor versions of the same key. The third part alternates between F lydian and F locrian. The second part alternates more rapidly between all four modes. Adams has described the structure of the work as an "almost perfect palindrome".

Recordings

• Albany TROY 038: Christopher O'Riley, piano^[2]
• Telarc CD-80513: Gloria Cheng-Cochran, piano^[3]
• Nonesuch 79699: Nicolas Hodges, piano^[4]
• Black Box Classics 1098: Andrew Russo, piano^[5]
• Naxos 8.55928: Ralph van Raat, piano^[6]
• Yarlung 79580: Joanne Pearce Martin, piano
• Orli Shaham, Canary Classics, piano^[7]
• Deutsche Grammophon (DG) 00028948382897: Yuja Wang, piano^{[8] [9]}

External links

• Boosey & Hawkes page on China Gates
• G Schirmer music publisher page on China Gates
• John Adams official page, entry on China Gates

Notes and References

1. Schwarz . K. Robert . Process vs. Intuition in the Recent Works of Steve Reich and John Adams . American Music . 8 . 3 . 245–273 . Autumn 1990 . 10.2307/3052096 . American Music, Vol. 8, No. 3 . 3052096.
2. News: Allan Kozinn . Pianists Leave Ideological Warfare to Composers . The New York Times . 24 February 1991 . 2008-04-09.
3. News: Bernard Holland . Bernard Holland . New Life For Work By Adams . The New York Times . 9 August 1998 . 2008-04-09.
4. News: Allan Kozinn . At Home With the Songs of Norway (and Finland) . The New York Times . 15 August 2004 . 2008-04-09.
5. News: Clare Mackney . Road Movies - Andrew Russo and James Ehnes Play John Adams . Birmingham Post (via andante.com) . 26 May 2005 . 2008-04-09 . https://web.archive.org/web/20061129033832/http://www.andante.com/article/article.cfm?id=25569 . 29 November 2006 . dead .
6. News: Bernard Holland . Muscular, Enthusiastic Strings and Piano (Note the Influences) . The New York Times . 29 April 2007 . 2008-04-09.
7. News: 5 Minutes That Will Make You Love the Piano . The New York Times . 19 April 2019.
8. News: Joe Banno . Pianist Yuja Wang dazzles in pounding new John Adams concerto . Washington Post . 9 March 2019.
9. News: Falling James . Yuja Wang Lights A Fire With John Adams’ Devil Concerto . LA Weekly . 8 March 2019.