John Adams started his musical career early in idyllic New Hampshire: he was playing clarinet in bands and orchestras, composing, and conducting as a teenager. Over the last twenty-five years, he’s written some of the iconic works of modern music: Shaker Loops, Harmonielehre, the operas Nixon in China, The Death of Klinghoffer, Doctor Atomic, and the oratorio El Niño. In his memoir, Hallelujah Junction (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, $26), Adams describes his early life and influences, finding his “voice” on the West Coast, and details his works and collaborations. The writing is as felicitous and inventive as his compositions. (Nonesuch Records has released a companion 2-CD compilation of his works, also titled Hallelujah Junction.)