Ever since I saw Nixon in China at the festival in 1980something I've been a fan of John Adams but have very seldom heard his music live so it was with great interest that I went to the Usher Hall last night to hear the RSNO play Harmonielehre under their new musical director Peter Oundjian.

Oundjian isn't as foreign as his name suggests and indeed has a Scottish granny and can do the accent when he wants to raise a smile.  He's carrying on Stéphane Denève's practice of chatting to the audience about the music and throwing in little personal anecdotes.  It's a practice I thoroughly applaud.  (It saves me buying a programme for one thing which is a consideration when a G&T at half-time sets you back a fiver).

He told us that the inspiration for Harmonielehre came when Adams, after months of trying vainly to come up with a commissioned symphonic piece, dreamt that he saw a huge tanker in San Francisco bay rise out of the water and take off like a rocket.  That's just how this music starts.  I guess you could also compare it to the Big Bang. It gets much more thoughtful and lyrical later on which is maybe not what you would expect from a minimalist but in the final movement (again inspired by a dream this time about his unborn daughter riding through space on the shoulders of a medieval mystic) the characteristic forward drive of minimalist repetition returns and sweeps us to the climax and rather sudden ending when perhaps the baby falls off.

This concert was billed as an American Festival and the first half featured Bernstein and Gershwin, two composers who illustrate that most interesting aspect of American musicians, both of them successful on Broadway as well as on the concert platform.

They're putting out the red carpet for another great minimalist, Steve Reich, in Glasgow tonight. I shall have to squeeze onto a returning rugby fans train if I go.  The last time I did that Claire, Siobhan and I unknowingly breached an alcohol ban but by the time the ticket man got to us the bottle of fizz was empty so no criminal proceedings ensued.