Learning curve

John Adams' "Nixon in China" opens Feb. 2 at New York's Metropolitan Opera. In a post describing the Met ("sort of the Pentagon or General Motors of classical music") and preparations for the company's first production of his best-known stage work, the composer writes: " 'Nixon' requires a kind of video-game alertness and attention that only familiarity with the music can give, and that familiarity will have to establish itself in a very short span of time." . . .

http://www.earbox.com/posts/104