The Wind in High Places explained

The Wind in High Places is a composition for string quartet by the American composer John Luther Adams.

Composition

The Wind in High Places has a duration of roughly 16 minutes and is composed in three movements:

The composition was developed from the 2007 piece Three High Places for solo violin, which Adams composed in memory of his friend and collaborator Gordon Wright. The piece uses only natural harmonics and open strings.^{[1] [2]}

Reception

The Wind in High Places has been praised by music critics. Pwyll ap Siôn of Gramophone wrote:The piece was also lauded by John von Rhein of the Chicago Tribune, who remarked, "There is no real development here, no musical ideas in a conventional sense. Softly undulating strings and open fifths become the aural equivalent of daylight breaking over the rocky Alaskan peaks." He added, "Could any new music be more delicately sparse, more wonderfully poetic? I think not..."

Recording

A recording of The Wind in High Places performed by the JACK Quartet was released on January 13, 2015, through Cold Blue Music.^[3] This recording was later named one of the best classical music recordings of 2015 by Corinna da Fonseca-Wollheim of The New York Times.^[4]

Notes and References

1. Web site: Siôn . Pwyll ap . ADAMS: Wind in High Places; Canticles of the Sky . . April 2015 . February 13, 2016.
2. Web site: Rhein . John von . More delights than duds in MusicNOW series opener . . September 30, 2014 . February 13, 2016.
3. Web site: Huizenga . Tom . John Luther Adams' Ode To Sundogs . Deceptive Cadence . . January 21, 2015 . February 13, 2016.
4. Web site: The Best Classical Music Recordings of 2015 . . December 10, 2015 . February 13, 2016.