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Composer John Adams.

Composer John Adams. Although he comes out of the classical tradition, Adams is not afraid to use drum machines, synthesizers and silent-movie chord progressions in his music. His latest work, "The Wound Dresser", is a setting of a poem by Walt Whitman about the experience of tending wounded soldiers during the Civil War. For Adams, the work has connections to both the AIDS crisis and his father's recent battle with Alzheimer's disease. Adams also talks about his best-known work, the opera "Nixon in China". He says he likes to write music about events that the whole world is watching.

22:20
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Other segments from the episode on January 2, 1990

Fresh Air with Terry Gross, January 2, 1990: Interview with John Adams; Commentary on rap music; Interview with Stefan Kanfer; Review of the novel "Goodnight!".
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11:23

The History of the Catskills' Resorts.

Writer Stefan Kanfer. Kanfer's latest book is called "A Summer World: The Attempt to Build a Jewish Eden in the Catskills, from the Days of the Ghetto to the Rise and Decline of the Borscht Belt." The Borsht Belt nurtured a generation of comics and defined a culture. Kanfer talks about the lives of the people who frequented the Catskill resorts, and the reason those resorts are now in decline.

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03:47

A Fictionalized Memoir.

Book critic John Leonard reviews "Goodnight!," by Soviet novelist Andrei Sinyavsky (AHN-dray Sin-YAV-skee). Sinyavsky was the first writer in the Soviet union to be convicted for the opinions voiced by his imaginary characters, and the book straddles the line between fiction and non-fiction as it tells the story of Sinyavsky and his alter ego/pseudonym, Abram Tertz.

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49:58

Composer and Conductor John Adams.

Composer and conductor John Adams. There's a new 10-CD box retrospective of his work, that spans the last two decades. It includes his orchestral pieces like Harmonium, and his operas "Nixon in China," and "The Death of Klinghoffer." The boxset is titled "The John Adams Earbox" (Nonesuch).

Interview
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09:41

Composer John Adams

Adams is often associated with other minimalist composers like Philip Glass and Steve Reich. His new album, The Chairman Dances, features parts of his new opera-in-progress called Nixon in China.

Interview

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