Hallelujah Junction is a composition for two pianos written in 1996 by the American composer John Adams. [1] Adams titled his autobiography after this composition. [2] A two-CD retrospective album of works by Adams on the Nonesuch label is also entitled Hallelujah Junction, but does not include the composition.
The name comes from a small truck stop on US 395 which meets Alternate US 40, (now State Route 70) near the California–Nevada border. [3] Adams said of the piece, "Here we have a case of a great title looking for a piece. So now the piece finally exists: the 'junction' being the interlocking style of two-piano writing which features short, highly rhythmicized motives bouncing back and forth between the two pianos in tightly phased sequences". [4]
The work centers around delayed repetition between the two pianos, creating an effect of echoing sonorities. There is a constant shift of pulse and meter, but the main rhythms are based on the rhythms of the word "Hal–le–LU–jah".
The work is in three unnamed movements, and generally takes about 16 minutes to perform. [5] It was first performed by Grant Gershon and Gloria Cheng at the Getty Center in Brentwood, California, in 1998. It is dedicated to Ernest Fleischmann, [4] long-time general manager of the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
In 2002 the composition was used for a ballet with choreography by Peter Martins. [3]
The 2017 film Call Me by Your Name opens with an excerpt of the first movement. [13]
An excerpt of the first movement was used in the pilot episode of FX's drama Pose. [14]
John Coolidge Adams is an American composer and conductor. Among the most regularly performed composers of contemporary classical music, he is particularly noted for his operas, many of which center around historical events. Apart from opera, his oeuvre includes orchestral, concertante, vocal, choral, chamber, electroacoustic, and piano music.
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China Gates is a short piano piece composed by the minimalist American composer John Adams in 1977.
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American Berserk is a short composition for solo piano by the American composer John Adams. The work was commissioned by the Carnegie Hall Corporation for the pianist Garrick Ohlsson, to whom the piece is dedicated. The first performance took place on February 25, 2002, at Carnegie Hall, New York City, with Ohlsson on the piano.
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Christina and Michelle Naughton are twin sisters and an American piano duo.