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Two Works By Benjamin Lees

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 February 2010

Extract

The two works are the Piano Concerto No. 2 of 1966 and the Symphony No. 3 of 1968, which, like Lees's earlier works, continue to show ample evidence of this composer's ability to extend his traditional vocabulary in new and meaningful ways, without compromising his hard-won, individual style. Both are written in a sharp and incisive style that is full of tension. Vigorous and irregular rhythms that leave the listener no chance to relax his concentration are combined with pungent harmonies that are always imagined with a careful ear for the larger context. Large-scale form is controlled with dramatic insight, especially in the symphony, which is a work that breaks much new ground in its approach to symphonic form, while the concerto is a full-blooded and compact virtuoso work, of great character and imagination, with a sharp and incisive wit and a symphonic tautness.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1970

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