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Title of audio medium	In the White Silence
Article no.	6025998
Subcategory	Chamber music
Performer	Oberlin Contemporary Music Ensemble
Conductor	Weiss, Tim
Composer	Adams, John Luther
Label *	click here
Label's article no. *	click here
Brief description	Like many of Adams's previous works, In the White Silence (1998) is an example of his concept of "sonic geography,” through which he attempts to realize the notion of music as place and place as music and reveals his obsession with the "treeless, windswept expanses of the Arctic.” The title of the work thus points to Alaskan landscapes in a general sense. And like Dream in White on White, it specifically refers to Adams's fascination with the color of white, a dominant feature of Arctic landscapes. As Adams explains in his preface to the score: "White is not the absence of color. It is the fullness of light. As the Inuit have known for centuries, and as painters from Malevich to Ryman have shown us more recently, whiteness embraces many hues, textures, and nuances.” In the White Silence slowly unfolds over the course of about seventy-five minutes. The work's extended length and non-dramatic structure suggest the idea of music as an "immeasurable space” and reflect the desire to transcend the conventional boundaries of musical composition. In the White Silence, a large-scale work of structural refinement, balance and arresting beauty, gently envelops the listener and thus becomes a "musical presence equivalent to that of a vast tundra landscape.”
Year of publication	1998
Total duration	ca. 1:15:06
Available	yes
Supplementary text *	click here

No.	Track title	Duration	Music	Sound sample
1	Beginning	4:10
2	Letter B	3:43
3	Letter C	3:43
4	Letter D	4:03
5	Letter E	3:59
6	Letter F	3:34
7	Letter G	2:49
8	Letter H	5:05
9	Letter I	4:05
10	Letter J	4:00
11	Letter K	2:57
12	Letter L	4:08
13	Letter M	4:00
14	Letter N	3:40
15	Letter O	2:52
16	Letter P	4:56
17	Letter Q	4:06
18	Letter R	5:06
19	Letter S	4:10

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