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This extraordinarily lucid portrait of John Adams focuses on the composer and on a performance of Harmonium, the massive setting for chorus and orchestra of three poems on aspects of love: John Donne’s "Negative Love" and Emily Dickinson’s "Because I could not stop for Death" and "Wild Nights." The program juxtaposes Adams’s very articulate analysis of his own work with conductor Simon Rattle’s rehearsal of Harmonium (with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra). Rattle glows with enthusiasm about the sweep and meaning and the importance of the piece. We see Amherst and the sites connected with Emily Dickinson, as "Because I could not stop for Death" is read while the music is played. An intensity of experience is produced that is rare for any medium. (52 minutes)
 
    

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