John Adams: belief

Transcript context

…Last three questions. First, how ambitious are you? “Ambition” is not a very helpful term. I know people who are ambitious, and you can tell because when you’re talking to them, you see in their eyes that they’re not even listening to you. They’re thinking about their next move or what the world thinks of them. I certainly do think about what other people think of me, whether they respond to my music. I care deeply about whether my music reaches people. I would say I work hard. I do it not compulsively; I do it just because that’s what I do, but I wouldn’t call myself ambitious. I think maybe there was a time in my life when I was young, and I was anxious to meet people and make sure they knew about me, but I guess I’m just a little more philosophical now. I think if I have an important body of work and the pieces that I’ve written are good, they will continue on after I’m no longer a living, breathing specimen, and that’s really all I can ask for. Now, I suspect many of my podcast listeners and readers don’t know your music. For an uninitiated listener, where would you recommend they start to learn John Coolidge Adams? You have to send them somewhere.…

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