The first all-Lees CD has been received with genuine enthusiasm by a number of publications devoted to record reviews. This disc contains the Violin Sonatas nos. 1, 2 and 3 as well as the Invenzione for Solo Violin.
Writing in American CD, critic K. Robert Schwarz commented, "Benjamin Lees' Complete Violin Works, played with blustery force by violinist Ellen Orner and pianist Joel Wizansky, span the years 1953 to 1989. The three violin sonatas are visceral and explosive, filled with arresting gestures and keen motivic development, preferring rhythmic propulsion and lean textures to sensuous lyricism. They may be dissonant, but their relentless energy and grim wit make them readily accessible and they deserve to find a place in the recital repertory."
Echoing these comments is Scott Duncan in the Orange County Register (CA). "Although Lees writes from a nontonal foundation, the music is remarkably accessible to the listener, entertaining as it is deeply dramatic. The Sonata No. 3 (1989) is one movement, 18 minutes long; the violin and piano form equal protagonists as their individual themes are developed, often in a continuous thread.
"Orner and Wizansky give persuasive, thoroughly committed performances that span Lees' complete violin works including two other sonatas and the Invenzione for Solo Violin."
Finally, music critic Hewell Turcuit for In Tune Magazine observed "Composer Benjamin Lees has been one of the most performed and recorded of American composers since the early 1950s--if one discounts the big shots like Copland and Barber. But there's very little available of his individual music on disc at the moment. That makes this release of his four violin works all the more welcomed. Violinist Ellen Orner and pianist Joel Wizansky play Lees' three Sonatas, with Orner adding his large Invenzione for unaccompanied violin.
"Although Russian by birth, Lees' family moved to the United States soon afterward. Following formal university studies, he was for five years a student of avant-garder George Antheil. His violin music is all on the dramatic side, flashy but stern in manner. Like his teacher, Lees shunned schools of thought, to hack his way through musical problems in his own way. What emerges is mildly atonal music, carrying some of the abrasive masculinity of Prokofiev or Strawinsky, plus a hint of Bartok here and there. Of course, that's only superficial comparisons. Lees' music really sounds like nobody but Lees, which is relatively free of folksy materials. (The finale of the First Sonata does hint at American dance rhythm values.) There are so few major violin sonatas by American contemporaries that one stands amazed at the neglect of these pieces. They represent some of the most interesting Lees I've encountered.
"Violinist Orner, who is also Russian-American, always saves a large affection for new music in her repertoire. She's a beautifully skilled artist with a terrific technique and the innate sensibility needed to make new music convincing at first hearing. Handsomely partnered by Wizansky, these are superior performances all around. The disc comes with detailed notes, also by Orner.
"Recommended."
Bret Johnson, writing in Tempo Magazine, London, October 1996 said, "A very warm welcome to the first all-Lees CD. The three Violin Sonatas encompass a time-frame of over 35 years; each one is a window affording a clear view of the landscape being surveyed. not only by the sonatas but by other music under way at the time as well. On this disc the sonatas are laid out in reverse chronological order, which is not only ingenious but logical: for it is in the tightly constructed Third Sonata of 1989 that the real essence of Lees' art is most conspicuously and graphically revealed. Germs and seedlings, less overtly on display in the earlier pieces. come across as even more subtle in their camouflage as a result. The one-movement structure of the Third is matched by its single-mindedness of purpose. Subjects are cast, honed, fashioned and polished with alacrity and objectivity. The Lees business plan states its case and rests it with dramatic flourish It is sure to succeed.
"The Second Sonata (1973) has enjoyed some popularity and has been recorded at least once before. In some ways it is the most impassioned of the three and although there is much pent up tension the composer allows himself some reflective moments. As the sleeve notes imply, the shifting rhythmic patterns and expansive gestures impart a rhapsodic mood: sometimes the argument pauses to survey the landscape before choosing its next path, especially in the slow movement, but it never loses its way. The finale is a fast and furious joust between the two instruments.
"Solo violin literature is not a vast field and Lees' Invenzione (1965) is demanding for both soloist and student. The First Sonata (1953) inhabits a wholly different, carefree world. Even so. there is always evidence of that purposive streak, as much a part of Lees the man as of his music; an agenda is set and adhered to. Longer, more sinuous lines of thought suggest affinity with Bartok and Ravel, but make no mistake about it: this is an astonishingly assured and mature work for a 29-year-old. A fine recording and performance. For the umpteenth time: may we please have some Lees orchestral music on disc? The Horn Concerto has been played again in this country recently, and the Symphony No.5 and Mobiles would make excellent companions."
Available at all record stores or from Albany Records, 98 Wolf Road, Albany, NY 12205.
The Violin Sonata #2 and Invenzione for Solo Violin are published. The Sonata #1 and #3 are in preparation for publication. All scores and parts are available from Boosey & Hawkes, Inc.