''Gnarly Buttons'' is a composition for solo

clarinet The clarinet is a musical instrument in the woodwind family. The instrument has a nearly cylindrical bore and a flared bell, and uses a single reed to produce sound. Clarinets comprise a family of instruments of differing sizes and pitches ...

and chamber ensemble by the American

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

John Adams. The London Sinfonietta and Present Music ( Milwaukee, Wisconsin) co-commissioned the work. The work received its premiere at the

Queen Elizabeth Hall The Queen Elizabeth Hall (QEH) is a music venue on the South Bank in London, England, that hosts classical, jazz, and avant-garde music, talks and dance performances. It was opened in 1967, with a concert conducted by Benjamin Britten. The ...

in London on October 19, 1996, with the London Sinfonietta, Michael Collins as solo clarinetist and the composer conducting. The work received its first Proms performance on 23 July 1998, conducted by Markus Stenz. The New York City premiere was in October 1997, with David Shifrin as the clarinet soloist and Ransom Wilson conducting musicians of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. ''Gnarly Buttons'' is composed of three movements, with the following titles: :I. The Perilous Shore :II. Hoedown (Mad Cow) :III. Put Your Loving Arms Around Me In addition to the solo clarinet, the work is scored for thirteen musicians, including a

banjo The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and usually made of plastic, or occasionally animal skin. Early forms of the instrument were fashi ...

player (who doubles on

mandolin A mandolin ( it, mandolino ; literally "small mandola") is a stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally plucked with a pick. It most commonly has four courses of doubled strings tuned in unison, thus giving a total of 8 ...

and guitar), a

cor anglais The cor anglais (, or original ; plural: ''cors anglais''), or English horn in North America, is a double-reed woodwind instrument in the oboe family. It is approximately one and a half times the length of an oboe, making it essentially an alto ...

, a

bassoon The bassoon is a woodwind instrument in the double reed family, which plays in the tenor and bass ranges. It is composed of six pieces, and is usually made of wood. It is known for its distinctive tone color, wide range, versatility, and virtuo ...

, a trombone, piano, two sampling keyboards (loaded with samples that include

accordion Accordions (from 19th-century German ''Akkordeon'', from ''Akkord''—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a reed ...

, and cow), and strings. Adams has said that “The three movements are each based on a 'forgery' or imagined musical model.” He has also stated that ''Gnarly Buttons'' was influenced in part by his father's passing due to

Alzheimer's disease Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegeneration, neurodegenerative disease that usually starts slowly and progressively worsens. It is the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in short-term me ...

. Adams has provided a short explanation for the title, claiming that it was a reference to the "gnarly buttons" on many trees, as well as the keys on a clarinet.

References

Sources

* May, Thomas. ''The John Adams Reader'' () * Taylor, Anthony G. "John Adams's 'Gnarly Buttons': Issues of History, Performance and Style." Doctoral document, University of Cincinnati, 2007. Electronic library access at: http://www.ohiolink.edu/etd/view.cgi?ucin1185548983

External links

John Adams official site, page on ''Gnarly Buttons''
{{Authority control Clarinet concertos Compositions by John Adams (composer) 1996 compositions Compositions for clarinet