John Luther Adams - Become Ocean: An example of sublimity

 

John Luther Adams’ “Become Ocean” is a composition that could play as the soundtrack of a movie and I am certain that this movie should be about a deep dive into the ocean. The composition and of course the orchestra did a great job at capturing the ever-flowing motion of the ocean.

The beginning caught me in a mysterious setting. I did not feel like swimming in the ocean or even “becoming” the ocean, but I was curious about what would happen next after this exposition. The first 6 minutes stayed as calm and dragged me into the intended setting: I felt like underwater, but not just in some comfortable water as the Caribbean Sea, it was dark, gloomy and cold. The music raised images of looking down into an endless abyss and then up to witness single rays of sunlight piercing through the water and then getting blurred by the waving surface.

The first rise in volume happened at about 6:25 and it appeared sudden at first because the music played so slow the whole time. I had to listen to it a second time to understand how long this part had been build up. Nevertheless, the music conveyed a feeling that is hard to describe in words: It felt like being exposed to a devastating force, dragged and pushed through the darkness without even knowing what moves me. The voice of the ocean was roaring into my ears. I felt relieved as soon as this part was over and the relaxing but mysterious tunes took over again. My disturbed image of slow waves and weightlessness was restored, but a slight feeling of distress was left.

I think I have rarely come closer to the feeling of experiencing something sublime as I did while listening to “Become Ocean”. My imagination went absolutely wild when the music became louder and hectic. The contrast of these moments to the ones when no sound was perceivable presented a spectrum of feelings from absolute tranquility to fear. I am glad that Adams chose to present a feeling of becoming the ocean and not getting eaten by the ocean; this would have been a very stressful experience.