Hallelujah Junction
by John Adams
Three-movement work for two pianos (1996). Named for a truck stop on Highway 49 near the California–Nevada border close to Adams's Sierra Nevada cabin. The two pianos play in tightly phased sequences — short, highly rhythmicised motifs bouncing back and forth with slight delays, creating planned resonance as if processed by a delay circuit. The title's rhythm (Hal–le–LU–jah) is the generative rhythmic cell of the entire piece.