''Phrygian Gates'' is a

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

piece written by minimalist composer

John Adams John Adams (October 30, 1735 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, attorney, diplomat, writer, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the second president of the United States from 1797 to 1801. Befor ...

in 1977–1978. The piece, together with its smaller companion ''

China Gates ''China Gates'' is a short piano piece composed by the minimalist American composer John Adams in 1977. (Adams soon gave this work a companion, his ''Phrygian Gates'', finished the next year. The latter is the longer of the two and uses similar t ...

,'' written for the pianist Sarah Cahill, is considered by Adams to be his " opus one". They are, according to his own claims, his first compositions consisting of a coherent personal style. It was commissioned and written for the pianist Mack McCray, and first performed by him in the Hellman Hall,

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

on March 17, 1978. The work was funded by a group of the board of trustees of the

San Francisco Conservatory of Music The San Francisco Conservatory of Music (SFCM) is a private music conservatory in San Francisco, California. As of 2021, it had 480 students. History The San Francisco Conservatory of Music was founded in 1917 by Ada Clement and Lillian Hodgh ...

Overview

The piece is written in a minimalist style, and based on a repetitive cell structure. Simultaneously, Adams' desire to move away from the conventional techniques of minimalism is noticeable. The composition is set in the

Phrygian mode The Phrygian mode (pronounced ) can refer to three different musical modes: the ancient Greek ''tonos'' or ''harmonia,'' sometimes called Phrygian, formed on a particular set of octave species or scales; the Medieval Phrygian mode, and the modern ...

, and cycles through half the keys throughout its roughly 25 to 30 minute duration, starting in A Lydian (four sharps), followed by A Phrygian (one

flat Flat or flats may refer to: Architecture * Flat (housing), an apartment in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia and other Commonwealth countries Arts and entertainment * Flat (music), a symbol () which denotes a lower pitch * Flat (soldier), ...

), then E Lydian (five sharps) and E Phrygian (no flats), etc. In this way, the piece shifts following the circle of fifths, alternating between the Lydian and Phrygian mode of each key. As claimed by Adams, it is "in the form of a modulating square wave with one state in the Lydian mode and the other in the Phrygian mode". Gradually, the amount of time spent in the Lydian shortens and shifts more to the Phrygian. The "Gates" in the title is an allusion from the electronic music gates, a term for rapidly shifting modes.

Recordings

*John Adams - ''Complete Piano Music'',

Ralph van Raat Ralph van Raat (born 1978) is a Dutch classical pianist. Biography and career Pianist and musicologist Ralph van Raat appears as a recitalist in Europe, Asia, Australia and the United States. Augmenting traditional repertoire, he takes special ...

(

Naxos Records Naxos comprises numerous companies, divisions, imprints, and labels specializing in classical music but also audiobooks and other genres. The premier label is Naxos Records which focuses on classical music. Naxos Musical Group encompasses about 1 ...

) 2007

References

External links

Phrygian Gates
John Adams website
Phrygian Gates
by Ralph van Raat on

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{{Italic title Compositions by John Adams (composer) 1978 compositions Compositions for solo piano