The genre of the piano concerto in John Adams’s work on the example of “Must the Devil Have All the Good Tunes?”

Abstract

Statement of the problem. The genre of the instrumental concerto is an important part of the famous American composer John Coolidge Adams’s oeuvre. This is evidenced by the popularity of his concertos among performers and the ongoing interest of researchers in them. However, the composer’s piano concertos, especially the Third Concerto titled “Must the Devil Have All the Good Tunes?”, remains largely unexplored, which prevents the elucidation of the principles of interpreting the genre. Objectives, methods, and novelty of the research. The purpose of the study is to reveal the specifics of the genre and stylistic interaction in J. Adams’s Third Piano Concerto, “Must the Devil Have All the Good Tunes?”. For the first time the genre, stylistic, structural and dramaturgical features of this composition become the subject of analysis. The methods of structural and functional, genre and stylistic , and comparative analysis are used in the study. Research results and conclusion. The analysis of J. Adams’s Third Piano Concerto, “Must the Devil Have All the Good Tunes?” indicates a combination of classical principles with features of minimalism and elements of jazz (ragtime, swing and other) and rock and roll. The classical principles are evident in the three-part structure of the cycle, the use of sonata form in the first movement and variation form in the second, and the orchestration that predominantly adheres to academic traditions. At the same time, there are the features of music poem genre, an openness of forms that appeal to the late-Romantic tradition, alongside with fragmentation inherited in contemporary compositional approaches. These aspects are counterbalanced by timbre dramaturgy, which embodies the idea of continuous development through the gradual addition of new instruments and registers, from the lowest to the highest. Minimalist features are evident in the repetitiveness, the significant role of ostinato rhythms, in the structure of the theme of the second movement, and the use of variation form with the addition of new episode. They also interact with baroque stylistics, as evidenced by the use of short trill-like motifs reminiscent of ornaments found in French harpsichord music. Jazz features are embodied on the genre basis of ragtime, funk, and swing as the extensive use of syncopated formulas, accents, polyrhythmic combination of parts, quasi-improvised elements and the walking bass in the piano part, as well as the ensemble techniques borrowed from jazz-bands. The inclusion in the orchestra the bass guitar and the piano sampler with “Honky Tonk” timbre refers to the rock music, to the ragtime tradition and the honky-tonk bars’ music-making. The programmatic aspect of the Concerto is realized through the stylistic interaction between the Classical embodying tradition, balance, and restraint, and the “diabolical” embodying fearlessness, freedom, and boldness associated in the Concerto with jazz, rock, and pop elements. Therefore, these aspects define the stylistic and dramaturgical uniqueness of J. Adams’s Third Piano Concerto, “Must the Devil Have All the Good Tunes?”.