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(John Coolidge Adams)
This piece was initially entitled
Wavemaker and written for a string septet in 1978,
where the composer had wanted to emulate the ripple effect of water. It wasn't successful, but still
in 1978 the idea of using string instruments to repeat oscillating loops was
kept alive, and pieces of the original composition were taken and the composition
was renamed Shaker Loops due to
the shaking of the strings between notes and the composer has said that it
also brought to mind his memories of living near a Shaker community when he
was young. It was premiered in Hellman Hall, San Francisco
by the New Music Ensemble of the San Francisco Conservatory. It was revised for string orchestra in
1983 and that version was premiered at Tully Hall,
New York. The movements are:
(i)
Shaking and Trembling
(ii)
Hymning Slews
(iii)
Loops and Verses
(iv)
A Final Shaking
The first movement of this
piece can be heard in the 1987 movie Barfly
and the third and the fourth movements are used in the video game Civilization IV.
San
Francisco Symphony Orchestra recordings
Shaker Loops - Hymning
Slews
Philips 475 7551 (CD: Steve Reich: Variations/ John Adams:
Shaker Loops)
Conductor - Edo de Waart
Sources:
1. http://www.earbox.com/W-shakerloops.html
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shaker_Loops
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