Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing

The final part of John Adams' Harmonlehre is a sparkling movement that starts with an airy berceuse and concludes in E-flat major with a fanfares that mirror those of the opening movement. The title, Meister Eckhardt and Quackie, comes from another of Adams' dreams — he has said that was heavily influenced by C.G. Jung while working on the piece &mash; in which he imagined his daughter Emily flying through the universe on the shoulders of the medieval mystic Eckhart von Hochheim.

Again this is the San Francisco Symphony performance. My preferred version, partly because it's the first one I heard and partly because of loyalty to my then local orchestra and conductor, is the mid-90s recording from Simon Rattle and the CBSO. It's vibrant and energetic with a beautifully focused sound, while the mix of minimalist and Mahlerian soundworlds provides a real showcase for an ensemble at the very top of its game.

In lieu of real content, the first movement of John Adams' Harmonielehre famously inspired by a dream in which Adams was driving over the bay bridge when he saw an oil tanker take off like a Saturn V.

The performers here are the San Francisco Symphony under Edo de Waart.

Today's edition of R3's Music Matters is well worth catching, if only for Petroc Trelawny's insightful interview with John Adams. They discuss artistic collaboration — something Adams describes as being, "...after a murder/suicide pact, the most painful think two people can undertake together" — whether Adams is precious about letting go of his pieces once they've been written and how to go about telling a conductor that they've completely failed to understand a piece of music. Adams also mentions that he's on a DHS watch list, probably because of controversy surrounding The Death of Klinghoffer, which seems somewhat bizarre.

In other related radio news, I'm looking forward to hearing the new series of Dr Who radio adventures that kick off tomorrow on BBC7. I really enjoyed the last series back in 2007, which combined some really excellent episodes — Human Resources was truly inspired — with an enjoyably sparky relationship between the Doctor and his no-nonsense sidekick, Lucie Miller, so I'm hoping for great things.