Opportunity to shine
Concertos for Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra's centennial -
".. filled with romantic gestures and crowd-pleasing virtuosity."
Benjamin Lees - Leonardo Balada - Ellen Taaffe Zwilich. ©
1996 Recorded Anthology of American Music Inc
This disk presents three of the works written for the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra's centennial celebration. There is much to commend -- the composers merit a wider audience; it's hard to imagine better performances; and we hear concertos for French horn, oboe and bassoon rather than overworked violins or pianos.
The first piece is possibly the best introduction on disk for those unfamiliar with Benjamin Lees. Of the three works here I believe it has the best chance of entering the standard repertoire. It's a horn concerto that glories in the strength and nobility of the instrument and gives musician William Caballero a chance to show he has at least a lung or two more than most people [listen -- track 1, 4:29-6:52]. The work is typical of the composer in its intensity and aggressive use of brass and percussion. It also features largely traditional structures, the tight working out of melodic material and what Lees terms 'extended tonality.' These characteristics make him one of the more readily recognized contemporary composers. The concerto's three movements are filled with romantic gestures and crowd-pleasing virtuosity [listen -- track 3, 4:14-5:13]....
Ron Bierman
www.mvdaily.com
Loren Maazel
Contemporary American Concertos
* Lees: Concerto for French Horn & Orchestra
* Balada: Music for Oboe & Orchestra, Lament from the Cradle
of the Earth
* Zwilich: Concerto for Bassoon & Orchestra
William Caballero (French horn)
Cynthia Koledo DeAlmeida (oboe)
Nancy Goeres (bassoon)
Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra/Loren Maazel New World Records
80503-2 Total time: 62:04
Summary for the Busy Executive: Handsome accounts, and at least *somebody* knows what he's doing.
Strictly speaking, these are all "contemporary" concerti, in the sense that the composers are still alive, but stylistically they wander all over the map. The Lees concerto resembles neoclassic American Modernism, Balada neo-Romanticism, and Zwilich the international postwar style.
...Lees has a demonstrated affinity for the concerto form.
He's written not only at least one concerto for the usual suspects,
but also "sectional" concertos for first-desk strings,
winds, and brass. His music is full of dramatic contrast anyway,
which translates well to the genre. It's not
merely a matter of dynamic or scoring contrasts. The musical ideas
themselves have distinct, memorable characters and shapes. In
the horn concerto's first movement, for example, the opening idea
resembles a fanfare, and the notes jump around largely on skips
of fourths and fifths. The second major idea, however, keeps hitting
two notes a second apart. These cells provide most of the movement's
argument. Just as impressive, the character of the movement (marked
"boldly") never flags through its eight-minute run.
The second movement begins with the horn singing all by itself,
anchored in a fundamental note and flowering from there. A lyrical
mood predominates, while the music avoids sentimentality and predictability.
The music intensifies, becoming quite gruff, even nervous, in
places. Three themes - the opening song, a theme built on successive
thirds, and one that stutters repeated notes - not only keep interest,
but also clarify the musical argument. New themes grow out of
new combinations - for example, parts of the opening song combined
with the stuttering rhythm. Lees' ability to find power in very
basic ideas never fails to amaze me. The movement ends as it
began, with the solo horn, although it's not, as you might expect,
an arch structure. Lees neatly avoids that particular cliché.
The finale is a triple-time motor that gets the body moving,
not least because of artful syncopation and, of course, Lees's
absolute mastery of symphonic rhetoric. The end exhorts the audience
to rise and cheer. Here's one composer who knows exactly what
he wants and how to get it, all in his own way. Although in many
ways Lees is the most stylistically conservative
of the trio, his music doesn't really remind you of anybody else.
He studied with Halsey Stevens and George Antheil, two strong
artistic personalities, and managed to avoid sounding like either.
Independence was probably the main lesson he learned from both.
The Pittsburgh Symphony has quietly made great music at least since the Fritz Reiner days. The only reason I can see for its low profile is that it never had a good record deal and it lived in Pittsburgh. Maazel gives wonderful support to terrific soloists, all of whom meet the considerable technical challenges and all of whom wring as much music as can be had from these works. The composers should all write thank-you notes, if they haven't already.
Steve Schwartz
www.classicalcdreview.com
A thundering ovation greeted the soloist and composer Benjamin Lees at the first performance of this commissioned new work by the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra May 14, 1992, under Lorin Maazel. Writing in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, critic Robert Croan exclaimed, "It's absolutely wonderful to see the staid Pittsburgh Symphony audience give a prolonged standing ovation to a new piece. This happened last night at the end of Benjamin Lees' engaging Concerto for French Horn--performed brilliantly by soloist William Caballero." Croan went on, "Lees' musical ideas are, indeed, interesting from first note to last. His music has always been characterized by interesting rhythmic patterns, and the outer movements of his new concerto feature a driving underlying pulse enhanced by irregular accents and unpredictable meter changes. His harmonic language is conservative but not bland, his melodies--notably in the calmer second movement--songful and human. Most important, the new work has inner energy, a distinctly personal profile."
Critic Donald Rosenberg of the Pittsburgh Press was no less enthusiastic. "Lees' concerto is a splendid vehicle to show off Caballero's expertise. The horn's character is defined in a multitude of temperamental ways, its ability to take off on bravura flights balanced by passages of atmospheric lyricism. Lees establishes the work's accessible language in the opening pages, and the horn soon serves as a dramatic protagonist eager to offer urgent calls and poetic asides. The horn outlines the second movement's serene theme as a nocturne that gives way to bold statements bringing to mind the majestic 'American' qualities of Bernstein. The finale places the solo instrument in a hunting landscape whose rhythmic pulse is given spice through numerous metrical changes. Caballero's tour-de-force last night illuminated the best aspects of Lees' music."
On June 2, 1992, the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra performed the concerto in Bonn. Again, the reaction was the same as in Pittsburgh. Hans G. Schürmann, critic of the Bonn General-Anzeiger exclaimed, "The Benjamin Lees Horn Concerto, practically tailor-made for the orchestra--and its excellent horn soloist--is a genuine showpiece for a virtuoso ensemble featuring instrumentation shot through with brilliant color combinations, bracing shock waves from the full percussion, and silky and tender impressionistic passages which gently surround the solo instrument or inspire it to loud and boisterous escapades. The concerto remains light and conversational. It has denser instrumentation here and there but leaves room for a great deal of flexibility and fine shading in the music, which always maintains interest and tension-- where the irrepressible William Caballero with his varied, simultaneously elegant and intelligent horn artistry hadn't already done that all by himself."
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