"An Individualist"
New York Times
"So distinct, so personal, so assertive are the stylistic and idiomatic usages in the works of Benjamin Lees that an immediately recognizable Gestalt is formed from an attentive perusal of his scores"
Nicolas Slonimsky, Tempo Magazine, London
"The 'Lees Style' is instantly recognizable and every work is possessed of lofty grandeur."
J.B. Johnson, Tempo Magazine, London
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The CD release of Benjamin Lees' Symphonies Nos. 2, 3 and 5, along with Etudes for Piano and Orchestra is available. This 2-CD compilation is on the Albany label (No. Troy 56465) and is available online at www.amazon.com or www.albanyrecords.com. Visit the Discography section to see a review of this disc. Benjamin Lees' Symphony No. 5, "Kalmar Nyckel" Nominated for 2004 Grammy Award in Best Contemporary Composition Category Benjamin Lees' Symphony No. 5, "Kalmar Nyckel" has been nominated for a 2004 Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Composition by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. You can find more information about the nominations at http://www.grammy.com. This performance, recorded by Germany's Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland- Pfalz, conducted by the composer's longtime musical interpreter and close associate, Stephen Gunzenhauser, has been released as part of Albany Records 2-CD set Troy 564-565, which also features Mr. Lees' Symphony No. 2 and Symphony No. 3, both also performed by the Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz conducted by Stephen Gunzenhauser and the composer's Etudes for Piano and Orchestra, with pianist James Dick and the Texas Festival Orchestra, conducted by Robert Spano. Special grants from the Aaron Copland Fund for Music and the Swedish Information Service helped make this recording possible. For a sound clip click here. RealPlayer is required. To download RealPlayer click here. Chamber Music America Selects Benjamin Lees' String Quartet No. 5 among 101 Great American Ensemble Works Chamber Music America has selected the String Quartet No. 5 among its list of 101 small ensemble works most nominated by its membership as the most significant American small ensemble works. There were over 1000 nominations representing the diversity and style of the membership. A complete list of the works can be found at www.chamber-music.org. Benjamin Lees' works have been commissioned and performed by, among others, the New York Philharmonic, Boston Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, Chicago Symphony, NBC Symphony, Vienna Symphony, Detroit Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, Houston Symphony, National Symphony, Dallas Symphony, San Francisco Ballet, Texas Little Symphony, the Tokyo Quartet, American Symphony Orchestra, Williams Trio, Delaware Symphony, Aurora String Quartet, Pittsburgh Symphony, Sea Cliff Chamber Players, Louisville Orchestra, Lancaster (PA) Symphony, Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte Carlo and Portland (OR) Symphony. He is published by Boosey & Hawkes.
From July 2005 Musical Opinion (U.K.):
ARMAN TRIO AT THE WIGMORE
The programme presented by the Arman Piano Trio from Turkey, sponsored by SA Banci Holding, at the Wigmore Hall on 24 June was far from traditional in content....
The greatest interest of the concert centred upon the second half, which began with the British premiere, no less, of the distinguished American composer Benjamin Lees' Piano Trio No 2 "Silent Voices" – intended, as the composer says, as "a small gesture of remembrance to those whose voices were forever stilled by pogroms and genocides of the past". The work is in one movement and was written in 1998; if some may think it has a tendency to work its material too thoroughly, I was utterly gripped by it, as were many in the large audience, who gave the composer – who was present – a standing ovation....
Robert Matthew-Walker
Cypress String Quartet Premieres Benjamin Lees' Quartet No. 6 – December 4 Performance at Le Petit Trianon in San Jose, California
The Cypress String Quartet presented the World Premiere performance of Benjamin Lees' Quartet No. 6 at 7 PM on Sunday, December 4, 2005 at Le Petit Trianon, 72 North 5th Street in San José, California. The concert was presented by the San Jose Chamber Music Society. Lees' Quartet was commissioned by the Cypress String Quartet and is in four movements. For reviews click here.
The Cypress Quartet can be visited online at http://www.cypressquartet.com.
Ian Hobson and Florida Symphony Premiere Benjamin Lees' Piano Concerto No. 3
Pianist Ian Hobson and the Florida Symphony, conducted by Susan Haig, presented the world premiere performance of Benjamin Lees' Piano Concerto No. 3 in Tampa, FL on the evening of Saturday, April 14, 2007. The work was completed in late 2006. (click here for review)
Article From Strad Magazine–August 2007
FOUR PLUS ONE works for string quartet and orchestra have their genesis in Baroque music but it's only recently that the genre has flourished.
Concertos for string quartet and orchestra may be rare, but as Robert Markow argues, composers from all corners of the world are increasingly embracing this little-explored genre...Over the years, thousands of concertos and thousands of string quartets have been written, yet there exist but a few dozen compositions that fuse the two genres into a single concept.
...The difficulty of writing for this combination, was exceptionally well realised by American composer Benjamin Lees in his 1964 Concerto for String Quartet and Orchestra. The solo quartet is clearly in the forefront of musical activity, yet it is also seamlessly fused with the orchestra in a way that suggests not so much 'us' and 'them' as 'we're all in this together'. The two ensembles are in constant dialogue, engaging in contrast and juxtaposition of all musical ideas. In true keeping with the title, the quartet is used mostly as a single soloist (as opposed to four individuals). What makes this concerto such an outstanding model of the form is not just the way Lees fashions his musical material into a tightly knit whole, but also the success with which he elevates the orchestral component to the level of an equal partner. The orchestration is uncommonly brilliant and colourful, with substantial contributions from trumpets, trombones and timpani. Through clever and frequent alternation of quartet and orchestra, Lees manages to avoid burying the soloists in dense, complex orchestral textures. The first movement hurtles along with the intense momentum of the analogous movement of Shostakovich's First Cello Concerto; the second conjures up a haunting, funereal mindscape; and the finale, a rondo in the best concerto tradition, is replete with asymmetrical rhythmic patterns (much of it in 7/8 time) and the fury of whirling dervishes. It is Lees' most frequently performed composition, with performances to date by nearly 40 orchestras...
New Haven, Conn.—The Irving S. Gilmore Music Library at Yale University announced that it has acquired the entire archive of renowned American composer Benjamin Lees. The comprehensive archive, which was a gift from the composer, includes manuscript sketches and scores for all of Lees's compositions, correspondence, concert programs, reviews, photographs, and biographical materials.
Born to Russian parents in Harbin, China in 1924, Benjamin Lees arrived in the U.S. in 1925. He and his parents settled in San Francisco where he began his piano studies at the age of five. After military service in World War II he attended the University of Southern California to study composition, harmony, and theory. Shortly after completing his studies he was introduced to the legendary American composer George Antheil and thus began almost five years of intense study in advanced composition and orchestration, during which the two formed a close and lasting friendship. Throughout his distinguished career, Lees has composed in a wide variety of genres. His works have been commissioned and performed by ensembles and soloists throughout the United States and Europe, including the New York Philharmonic, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, St. Louis Symphony, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, and l'Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte Carlo. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum has commissioned two of his works, Piano Trio No. 2 "Silent Voices" and "Night Spectres" for unaccompanied cello. As a composer, Lees is especially renowned for his orchestral works, which are represented by five symphonies and numerous concertante works that feature soloist or small instrumental groups with orchestra. Writing in the August 2007 issue of The Strad, Robert Markow called Lees' Concerto for String Quartet and Orchestra, "an outstanding model of the form." Other concertante works for small ensembles include concertos for woodwind quintet, brass choir, percussion ensemble, all with orchestra. The composer's many awards include a Fromm Foundation Award (1953), two Guggenheim Fellowships (1954, 1966), a Fulbright Fellowship (1956), a UNESCO Award for String Quartet No. 2 (1958), and the Sir Arnold Bax Society Medal, the first awarded to a non-British composer (1958). He also received a Grammy nomination in 2004 for his Symphony No. 5. Benjamin Lees' music is published exclusively by Boosey & Hawkes.
For information about the Benjamin Lees archive contact
Kendall Crilly
Andrew W. Mellon Music Librarian
Irving S. Gilmore Music Library
kendall.crilly@yale.edu
(203) 432-0495
NEW RECORD RELEASE!
A new recording of Benjamin Lees' Concerto for Violin and Orchestra is scheduled for release April 29, 2008. It can be pre-ordered now through Barnes & Noble. The recording will be on the Artek label and the Barnes & Noble UPC is 661853004227. The recording features soloist Elmar Oliveira with the National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine conducted by John McLaughlin Williams. The recording also contains the Ernest Bloch Violin Concerto.
NEW PREMIERE!
The Collage for Organ will be premiered June 21st, 2009 at the Far West Regional Convention, Phoenix, Arizona by the American Guild of Organists. It will be held at Faith Lutheran Church with soloist Patrick Hawkins.
e-mail: bgl@dc.rr.com
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