Belgian composer, pianist, and flutist
Line Adam was commissioned to create a set of pieces in response to an exhibition of stone sculptures shown in a natural setting at Grand Pré. The pieces are scored for various combinations of instruments, including string quartet, piano, and flute.
Adam's music sounds for the most part like it's outside the mainstream of contemporary classical composition in its simplicity and its use of fairly conventional melodies, harmonies, and structures. Close listening, though, reveals that her musical vocabulary has more sophistication and complexity than is immediately obvious -- it's not as easy as it sounds. The composer familiar to American audiences whose work hers most resembles is
Edgar Meyer, whose work has an inventive and quirky musical inventiveness that happens to present itself in pieces that are immediately accessible and have a folk-like directness.
Adam's brief character pieces are sometimes elegiac, sometimes whimsical, and always gratifyingly lyrical. Belgian ensemble
Quatuor Thaïs plays with warmth and intensity, and the composer joins in on piano or flute in several pieces. The sound is full, balanced, and resonant.