Asyla (a plural of the word asylum) was commissioned by the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and first performed by that ensemble in October 1997, under the direction of Sir Simon Rattle (who subsequently recorded the work with the CBSO). Set in four movements and lasting approximately 22 minutes, it employs a very large orchestra and features two pianists (one of whom plays both a concert grand and upright piano, while the other performs on an upright piano tuned a quarter tone flat) and a battery of six percussionists. The ambivalence of the title suggests the possibilities of both sanctuary and madhouse, and both are woven into the substance of the work.

The first movement, indicated simply as "I," suggests a free-floating expansiveness. It begins with rising splashes of cowbells and percussion. The horns then announce a darting figure soon taken up by the strings and later, the winds. Gradually increasing in presence is a restless rhythmic figure. A solo violin appears and the music broadens. Over very low brass, high brass sound an insistent, punctuating motive, buzzing like wasps. Interjections from the rest of the orchestra whirl about and the movement ends with crisp snaps of percussion.

Movement II opens somewhat hesitantly with muted cowbells. A plaintive descending figure is voiced by the English horn, as a rising, threatening figure emerges from the low brass, the upper theme constantly folding over the lower as it passes to the strings. Over increasingly active and chiming percussion, the high theme is taken up by the horn, a bass clarinet growls menacingly in its bottom register, and the section ends quickly.

Movement III begins with a quiet wash of percussion and piano. Soon a high rhythmic figure of almost spastic insistence is conjured over a growing marching theme sounded vigorously by the side drum. An ascending pizzicato figure is heard from the upper strings over the ever more insistent pulse as the movement lurches toward its end.

The final movement is introduced by glowering low voices, over which high wind figures hurtle hither and yon like lightning in a threatening summer sky. Brief moments of serenity offer themselves amidst a flowing, measured theme sounded by the strings, even as the lower orchestral voices sound their crawling motive from the depths. The movement gathers energy and, at less than four minutes into the section, the orchestra erupts briefly in full voice, then recedes as the strings wander searchingly toward a quiet conclusion.

The effect of this work is quite spectacular, with a virtuoso handling of the extensive complement of instruments called for by the score. Adès is unerringly apt in his choice of color, his employment of broad range (from very low to very high), his use of imaginatively assembled percussion sounds, and his firm sense of structure. Asyla also evidences an enveloping sense of depth and mystery, not revealing all of its secrets on first listening.

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