John Adams: Review: "China Gates," "Phrygian Gates"
1st November 2005
Black Box BBM 1098
[In PHRYGIAN GATES] there is much here that is intriguing, especially the relatively short, austere second section...[This] performance is...emphatic, clearly accented, and even violent...Russo's performance...makes more of the second part, drawing it out, so that the last section becomes more like one of those bravura third movements in a piano concerto. The sound on the recording is focused and crystalline, which perfectly complements the performance. Adams likens CHINA GATES to music for gamelan, and its chiming rippling notes are like a benign cousin to PHRYGIAN GATES.
— Christopher Abbot, Fanfare
CHINA GATES
PHRYGIAN GATES
Andrew Russo, piano
Black Box BBM 1098
