Symphony No. 2 ...
Writing in the Dallas Morning News, John Ardoin observed, "Even though the Lees Symphony is more than 30 years old, it was new to me, and I regret not having known it sooner. As is frequently the case with Mr. Lees' music, this symphony takes a very personal approach to both its form and material. In three movements, the work centers on a virtuoso scherzo. The composer has spoken of this scherzo as having five important design elements. I found, however, that one dominates--a striking motif first sounded by the timpani and later taken up by other sections of the orchestra. It hits with vivid impact.
"The first movement is lean, even angry, music and sounds as though some definite program idea was behind its making. The final movement is a stark and transparent adagio. Mr. Lees has spoken of this movement as coming to `a strange, calm ending,' but this could be stretched to say that a calm strangeness or eeriness is characteristic of the entire movement. It is music that casts a spell and stays in one's mind long after the concert is over."
Steve Schwartz, writing at www.classicalcdreview.com, wrote as follows:
"Benjamin Lees's concertos have tended to crowd out his symphonies from public attention. I remember only the release during the LP era of the Symphony No. 2 by Robert Whitney and the Louisville Orchestra. The appearance of the Symphony No. 4 'Memorial Candles' on Naxos with Kuchar and the Ukrainians -- a strong work in a very good performance indeed -- has created some anticipation for this release. All of the Lees symphonies, excepting the first, are now available on CD.
"Lees works in a classic modern idiom, although in an individual way. He shouldn't give a listener any more fits than Piston, Diamond, or Mennin. Lees's instinct for drama and conflict help make him a fantastic concerto writer and a symphonist of at least more than passing interest. If you analyze the music, you find links to the post-Beethoven symphonic tradition, but the similarities function more as analogies than anything else.
"Lees' shapes are fantastic, in the sense of odd. While one can (and Lees does) talk of near-sonata form, one almost always finds the architecture subservient to a rhetorical or dramatic pattern. Nevertheless, no matter how unusual the result, one always gets the impression of great coherence in a Lees work.
"The second symphony enjoyed the advantage of a wonderful recording from Robert Whitney and the Louisville Orchestra in the fabled First Edition series. Fans of American music owe Whitney a great debt. Whitney commissioned composers from all over the world, but he got especially good work from Americans. Commissioning always involves a bit of luck as well as knowledge, and like Koussevitzky, Whitney seemed to know whom to ask. The Lees second moves with great power and manages to achieve both complexity and memorability. Like much of Lees's work, the themes seem to spring from a few basic intervals - notably, the upward minor second and the upward minor third - and their combination and recombination. This gives great unity throughout the entire work. However, many pieces do this without making much of an impression on listeners. After all, the technique is at least as old as Josquin Desprez. It's Lees' almost Beethovenian gift for hitting on ideas simultaneously simple, non-obvious, and extraordinarily fruitful allied with a love of strong, vivid contrast - an outlook inherently dramatic - that not only keeps the listener's attention but allows the symphony to reveal more and more of its argumentative outlines and details with further listening. Also as in Beethoven, Lees's rhythmic motives play as strong a role as his melodic ones."
PLEASE NOTE:
No reproductions of photos, articles, music or reviews are permitted without permission
of the Estate of Benjamin Lees.
No reproductions of photos, articles, music or reviews are permitted without permission
of the Estate of Benjamin Lees.