An evening with Adams

It was a true pleasure to hear the composer John Adams speak last night at the Cantor Arts Center. Kronos Quartet violinist David Harrington conducted a free-flowing interview with his fellow musician and friend -- the two have known each other for 30 years. It was like eavesdropping at a particularly entertaining dinner party. You never knew what turn the conversation would take next.

Harrington confessed to being a novice interviewer, which made my ears perk up. As someone who throws out queries for a living, I was curious to hear what was on his index cards. I may have to steal his most creative question: "What's your favorite note?"

"God," Adams responded, grinning. He finally responded in part: "I'm not a linear guy. I like 'em when they're stacked up." (His 2008 "String Quartet," a piece full of deft, hectic energy that will be performed at Stanford this weekend, certainly attests to that.)

Harrington and Adams talked a lot about the need for better arts education in this country, and about the pure joy of experiencing music. More than all the other arts, Adams said, it's about simple emotion. "Music can't convey ideas; it's raw feeling." He added that after 9-11 many people sought comfort in classical music -- not pop -- because of its "depth of feeling."

(Later in the evening, the issue of classical music's depth arose again when a man asked whether our short-attention-span society is killing classical music. Adams was adamant that it's not. "People love to concentrate," he said. Bruckner's complex symphonies, he noted, are more popular than ever, perhaps a welcome exercise for our brains in these poppy times.)

In a pleasantly quirky moment, Harrington asked what Adams thought about Obama giving an iPod to the Queen of England. Adams said: "I thought it was very cool. The iPod is a representation of what's so great about this country." How so? It's beautiful, and it's optimistic, the composer said. "I only regret that Silicon Valley hasn't dedicated itself more to the arts."

The two men laughed about how the iPod was loaded with Rodgers & Hammerstein, with Harrington suggesting "The King and I" as an apropos selection for the Queen.

Adams quipped, "And probably, 'There is Nothing Like A Dame,'" earning delighted groans from the crowd.

When I had interviewed Adams about his "String Quartet," he had been candid about his concerns about the piece, saying that he had shortened the end because it was too long even for him. Last night, he also confessed to being his own worst critic about his compositions, saying, "People try to keep me away from my babies, because I'm like one of those animals who eats them." Another roar of laughter from the audience.

But Adams was anything but critical in talking about his favorite classical works and composers. At one point, he mused aloud, "I'd love to have a selective lobotomy, a regenerative lobotomy, so I could hear Beethoven's Fifth again, just like the first time I heard it."

Photo by Margaretta Mitchell, from John Adams' website at earbox.com.