By coincidence, a recent post exploring John Adams’ El Niño was published on the 25th anniversary of the work’s premiere in Paris on December 15, 2000. Now, let’s return to El Niño to hear the nativity oratorio’s surreal final moments.
In the drama, Mary, Joseph, and the infant Jesus are on the road to Egypt. They flee the persecution of King Herod, who has decreed that the child be killed. A setting of a poem by Rosario Castellano, A Palm Tree tells an apocryphal story from the journey. Jesus bids a palm tree to bend down so that Mary might gather its fruit.
A recitative unfolds over primal open fifths. Mysterious and glistening, the music enters a dreamscape which leaves behind all that came before. In a cinematic dissolve, it transitions to the simple sounds of a children’s choir, accompanied by guitar. We are reminded of the end of Berlioz’ L’enfance du Christ, described by the composer as “a naive and gentle kind of music.”
Recordings
- Adams: El Niño, Kent Nagano · Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin · The London Voices Nonesuch Records