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BOB EDWARDS" IdRef="1" Descriptor="Host" SpeakerRef="EDWARDS">One of the highlights of 1999 for classical music fans was the release of a 10-CD set devoted to the music of American composer John Adams. Living composers seldom are the focus of such large retrospectives. It's an honor given all too often to those who have long since stopped breathing much less composing. Minnesota Public Radio's Alan Baker reports that the release of "The John Adams Earbox" gives listeners a rare opportunity to examine the work of a major contemporary composer midway through his career.
ALAN BAKER" IdRef="2" SpeakerRef="BAKER">John Adams grew up with music all around him. He heard Duke Ellington and other big bands in his grandfather's dance hall in New Hampshire, learned clarinet from his father and had the world at his fingertips through records.
JOHN ADAMS" IdRef="3" SpeakerRef="ADAMS"> I often think of myself as the first composer of the LP era. You know, in the sense that when I was growing up, all of the world's music was available to me. I could listen to Monteverdi or Balinese gamelan music or Pete Seeger or Benny Goodman all within the same 15 minutes. So my influences are enormous, and I suppose one could say they're indiscriminate. But I think indiscrimination is what makes a great artist.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
ALAN BAKER" > With a head full of music, Adams went to Harvard. He studied composition with...