What Makes It Great? John Adams’s “Shaker Loops”

Featuring Terra String Quartet
Host Rob Kapilow takes you back to the heady days of early minimalism, when composers like Steve Reich and Philip Glass were rejecting the abstract and often inaccessible music of the previous generation and reshaping the sound of the era. John Adams’s hugely successful 1978 piece Shaker Loops took minimalism in a vibrant new direction by widening its dramatic range and making it visceral and emotionally expressive. The piece feels urgent, alive – even ecstatic. Hear the work in Adams’s rarely-performed, original arrangement for septet!