Naive and Sentimental Music (1999). John Adams

Like The Standing Room, Lisa Hersch attended the San Francisco Symphony performance of John Adams' Naive and Sentimental Music: It's a dynamic piece; there are places in it where I can imagine getting up and dancing, if only there were a dance floor handy.

I remember a jazz buddy of mine taking the position that to move one's body when listening was, at best, a show of disrepect to the art being performed.  While I don't personally dance to John Coltrane (or John Adams), I welcome others to express themselves...

• Prior aworks post.

Comments

[mwanji]

"I remember a jazz buddy of mine taking the position that to move one's body when listening was, at best, a show of disrepect to the art being performed."

Well, that's a very odd position for a jazz person to take, IMO.

[Robert Gable]

I think he thought that jazz should be treated as a serious, intellectual art requiring total concentration, presumably in emulation of his idea of classical music, and so anything less was at best disrespectful. So, to hear Lisa Hersch wanting to dance to John Adams struck me as interesting.