[1] The piece is divided into two movements, titled A New Day and Sri Moonshine, which are intended as homages to Lou Harrison and Terry Riley, respectively.
[2] Adams described the process of composing the piece: I wanted to express the moment, the so-called “shock of recognition”, when one reaches the edge of the continental land mass.
[5] The 2003 premiere of The Dharma at Big Sur received a strongly positive review from the Los Angeles Times, in which Mark Swed wrote: Mozart is lovely in Walt Disney Concert Hall; Stravinsky, sensational.
Friday night, at the second of the three opening galas, it got just that with the premiere of John Adams' irresistible tribute to California, "The Dharma at Big Sur.
The recording took place on August 23, 2004, at Abbey Road Studios in London and April 8, 2006, at Skywalker Ranch in San Francisco and was released by Nonesuch, paired with Adams's My Father Knew Charles Ives, in September 2006.