In After the Fall, a new piano concerto from the conductor, the two powerhouses bring the best out in each other and out of the LA Phil in a riveting performance.
By John Lavitt
Los Angeles (The Hollywood Times) 01-29-2026
John Adams took the podium at Walt Disney Concert Hall not as a distant icon of contemporary music, but as a familiar presence shaping sound in real time. Conducting his new piano concerto, After the Fall, Adams led the Los Angeles Philharmonic through a work that felt less like a statement about modern music than a reflection of contemporary life itself—restless, layered, and quietly unsettled. Written for Icelandic pianist Víkingur Ólafsson, the piece was perfectly realized in this modern virtuoso’s playing.
From the opening moments, the piece established a world already in motion. Strings stretched across wide registers while harps, celesta, vibraphone, and tuned gongs shimmered with a faintly alarm-like glow. It was not a comforting soundscape, but an alert one, suggesting systems humming, signals crossing, and tension just beneath the surface. When Víkingur Ólafsson entered, the effect was electric. The piano did not float above the orchestra so much as cut through it, breaking the atmosphere into sharp, irregular rhythms that felt urgent and alive.
Adams’ writing for the piano is demanding, not because it seeks flash, but because it never lets the soloist take a break from the score. Ólafsson moved through the notes with remarkable focus, giving the jagged figures and constantly shifting pulses a sense of forward drive rather than anxiety. There was an unmistakable trust between composer and performer. Moreover, this trust was audible in the way the music breathed naturally under Ólafsson’s hands.
Although After the Fall carries the DNA of a traditional concerto, it unfolds as a single, continuous span in roughly half an hour without pause. Sections melt into one another, tempos stretch and snap back, and recurring falling gestures return in altered forms. Imagine standing on the ground, watching what lies beneath your feet as it subtly changes shape. The experience mirrors contemporary life: Moments of clarity followed by sudden acceleration, brief stillness interrupted by renewed pressure.
The LA Phil played with striking precision and ease, a reminder of how deeply Adams’ music is embedded in the orchestra’s identity. That relationship has been decades in the making. Since becoming Creative Chair in 2009, Adams has been a central force at the LA Phil. His influence extends not only as a composer but also as an advocate for new musical voices, through initiatives such as the Green Umbrella concert series, which champions younger composers and emerging talent. After the Fall feels born of that ecosystem: Confident, exploratory, and unburdened by nostalgia.
Though presented here by the LA Phil, the concerto was initially commissioned by the San Francisco Symphony for Ólafsson. Adams has spoken about how deeply the pianist understands his music, and that connection was palpable throughout the performance. In a moving moment, Ólafsson spoke about the spiritual intoxication of having one of his favorite composers from his childhood write a piece dedicated to him. Nothing felt imposed, and everything felt earned.
The ending avoided spectacle. After a final surge of agitation, the music thinned, leaving isolated sounds suspended in the hall—less a conclusion than an echo. After the Fall does not offer answers or closure. Instead, it leaves listeners with a heightened awareness of the present moment. Such an awareness reminds us that classical music remains fully capable of capturing the rhythms, unease, and energy of the world we are living in now.
