Sila - the breath of the world

"Sila: The Breath of the World defies positive or negative criticism. To try to evaluate it as a work of music is as impossible as it is pointless, so diffuse are its terms of reference and the way they are executed ... The performance itself, as far as one can judge - and nothing about this work can be 'judged' in the normal sense - is totally committed and convincing. I had read about John Luther Adams's music, of course, but this was my first encounter with it. I was sceptical to begin with, but it has opened my eyes, ears and mind to something quite new, and this was unexpected. I will certainly come back to it, though sitting down to an hour of near-static music calls for a particular mood or frame of mind. I suspect that this is not Adams at his most accessible, and perhaps not the best place to begin an exploration of his music. I will soon know, though, as I have already taken steps to hear more from him".

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"Recommended: It is hard enough to persuade people to set aside prejudices and give contemporary classical music a try without what I regard as one of the genuine masterpieces written so far in the twenty first century languishing unrecorded since its premiere in 2014. It was with a mighty hooray that I greeted the news of this present release. The only question for me was whether it does justice to this profound work. Happily the answer is a triumphant yes without reservations of any kind ... I hope that anyone reading this review comes away with an impression of a profoundly spiritual and rewarding musical experience rather than an exercise in technical cleverness. Sila is a work of the deepest humanity and the kind of simplicity of method only achieved by masters of their art. If you are going to listen to just one piece of contemporary music make it this one".

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"Now comes Sila, composed for outdoor performance and scored for five choirs of instruments - brass, woodwinds, strings, voices and percussion - each comprised of 16 players who perform their parts as much as soloists as ensemble members ... The harmonic language of Sila is based on ... the overtone series of B flat, heard initially deep in the bass. From there, the music slowly rises and falls like the respiration of some vast organism: the breath of the world. The effect is haunting, mesmeric as the chords ebb and flow between the choirs changing colours, gradually moving from the depths towards the sky".