Gnarly Buttons is the puckish title for John Adams 1996 concerto offered here in its first recording, released April 17, 1998, on Nonesuch Records. Written for the British clarinet soloist Michael Collins, he performs it here with the London Sinfonietta, conducted by John Adams. The work’s instrumentation underscores the vernacular roots of the music: a string ensemble is augmented by banjo, mandolin, guitar, trombone, two low double reeds, piano, and two keyboards playing a variety of sampled sounds including accordion, clarinet—and cow.

Also premiered on this new recording is a set of 11 short pieces for string quartet, entitled John’s Book of Alleged Dances, written for and performed by Kronos Quartet. Alleged Dances also references folk elements such as the Western hoe-down and a Protestant hymn-tune. Several of the dances combine sampled rhythm tracks with live strings, and project a freewheeling imagination that is mirrored in the movement titles, like “Dogjam,” “Rag the Bone,” “Stubble Crotchet,” and “Alligator Escalator.”