Lees, Benjamin

Lees, Benjamin, distinguished American composer and teacher; b. Harbin, Manchuria, Jan. 8, 1924. He was taken to the U.S. in infancy. At 5, he began piano studies with K. Rodetsky in San Francisco. At 15, he became a piano student of Marguerite Bitter in Los Angeles. He also pursued training in harmony and theory and began to compose. Following studies in theory with Stevens, Dahl, and Kanitz at the Univ. of Southern Calif, in Los Angeles (1945–49), he studied with Antheil (until 1954). In 1954 he held a Guggenheim fellowship and in 1956 a Fulbright fellowship, which enabled him to live in Europe until 1962. In 1966 he held another Guggenheim fellowship. He taught at the Pea-body Cons, of Music in Baltimore (1962-64; 1966-68), Queens Coll. of the City Univ. of N.Y. (1964–65), the Manhattan School of Music (1970–72), and the Juilliard School (1973–74). Lees’s music possesses an ingratiating quality, modern but not arrogantly so. His harmonies are lucid and are couched in euphonius dissonances. He favors rhythmic asymmetry while the formal design of his works is classical in its clarity.

Works

dramatic: Opera The Oracle (1956); Medea in Corinth (1970; London, Jan. 10, 1971); The Gilded Cage (1970–72). Ballet: Scarlatti Portfolio (1978; San Francisco, March 15, 1979). orch:Profile (NBC Radio, 1952; first concert perf., N.Y., April 18, 1954); 5 syms: No. 1 (1953), No. 2 (Louisville, Dec. 3, 1958), No. 3 (1968; Detroit, Jan. 16, 1969), No. 4, Memorial Candles, for Mezzo-soprano, Violin, and Orch. (Dallas, Oct. 10, 1985), and No. 5, Kalmar Nyckel (1986; Wilmington, Del., March 29, 1988); Declamations for Piano and Strings (1953; Oklahoma City, Feb. 15, 1956); 2 piano concertos: No. 1 (1955; Vienna, April 26, 1956) and No. 2 (1966; Boston, March 15, 1968); Divertimento-Burlesca for Chamber Orch. (Fish Creek, Wise, Aug. 11, 1957); Interlude for Strings (Toronto, July 1957); Violin Concerto (1958; Boston, Feb. 8, 1963); Concertante Breve for Chamber Orch. (1959; Vancouver, British Columbia, Oct. 1960); Prologue, Capriccio, and Epilogue (Portland, Ore., April 9, 1959); Concerto for Orchestra (1959; Rochester, N.Y., Feb. 22, 1962); Oboe Concerto (1963; Philadelphia, Dec. 12, 1964); Concerto for String Quartet and Orch. (1964; Kansas City, Mo., Jan. 19, 1965); Spectrum (La Jolla, Calif., June 21, 1964); Concerto for Chamber Orch. (Philadelphia, Oct. 9, 1966); Fanfare for a Centennial for Brass and Percussion (Baltimore, Nov. 13, 1966); Silhouettes (NET-TV, Oct. 3, 1967); Etudes for Piano and Orch. (Houston, Oct. 28, 1974); Passacaglia (1975; Washington, D.C., April 13, 1976); Labyrinths for Symphonic Band (Bloomington, Ind., Nov. 18, 1975); Variations for Piano and Orch. (Dallas, March 31, 1976); Concerto for Woodwind Quintet and Orch. (Detroit, Oct. 7, 1976); Mobiles (N.Y., April 13, 1979); Double Concerto for Piano, Cello, and Orch. (N.Y., Nov. 7, 1982); Concerto for Brass Choir and Orch. (Dallas, March 18, 1983); Portrait of Rodin (1984; Portland, Ore., April 5, 1987); Horn Concerto (Pittsburgh, May 14, 1992); Borealis (Wichita, Oct. 8, 1993); Celebration (1995); Constellations (1996–97); Percussion Concerto (1999). chamber: Horn Sonata (1951); 4 string quartets: No. 1 (N.Y., Nov. 8, 1952), No. 2 (1955; Scranton, Pa., Jan. 31, 1956), No. 3 (1980; N.Y., May 16, 1982), and No. 4 (1989; San Francisco, March 11, 1990); Evocation for Flute (1953); 3 violin sonatas: No. 1 (N.Y., Feb. 1953), No. 2 (1972; Washington, D.C., May 4, 1973), and No. 3 (San Francisco, Nov. 21, 1991); Movemente da camera for Flute, Clarinet, Piano, and Cello (1954); 3 Variables for Oboe, Clarinet, Bassoon, Horn, and Piano (Vienna, Oct. 1955); Invenzione for Violin (1965; N.Y., Jan. 26, 1966); Duo for Flute and Clarinet (1967); Study No. 1 for Cello (1969); Collage for String Quartet, Wind Quintet, and Percussion (Milwaukee, May 8, 1973); Dialogue for Cello and Piano (N.Y., March 2, 1977); Cello Sonata (Washington, D.C., Nov. 13, 1981); 2 piano trios: No. 1 (Williamstown, Mass., Sept. 8, 1983) and No. 2, Silent Voices (1998); Contours for Piano, Cello, Violin, Clarinet, and Horn (1994); Night Spectres for Cello (1999). pianon: 4 sonatas: No. 1 (1949), No. 2 (1950), No. 3 (1956), and No. 4 (1963; Oberlin, Ohio, Jan. 7, 1964); Sonata for 2 Pianos (1951); Toccata (1953); Fantasia (1954); 10 Pieces (1954); 6 Ornamental Etudes (1957; N.Y., Feb. 16, 1961); Kaleidoscopes (1958); 3 Preludes (1962; N.Y., Jan. 14, 1963); Odyssey I (1970) and 17 (1986; N.Y., May 27, 1992); Fantasy Variations (1983; N.Y., Feb. 1, 1984); Mirrors (Chicago, May 17, 1992). vocal:(6) Songs of the Night for Soprano and Piano (Los Angeles, June 15, 1952; 4 orchestrated as 4 Songs of the Night for Soprano and 13 Instruments, Genoa, April 19, 1955); 3 Songs for Contralto and Piano (1959; N.Y., Feb. 2, 1968); Cyprian Songs for Baritone and Piano (1960); Visions of Poets, cantata for Soprano, Tenor, Chorus, and Orch. (1961; Seattle, May 15, 1962); The Trumpet of the Swan for Narrator and Orch. (Philadelphia, May 13, 1972); Staves for Soprano and Piano (1977; N.Y, Jan. 29, 1978); Paumanok for Mezzo-soprano and Piano (N.Y, Dec. 9, 1980); Echoes of Normandy for Tenor, Tape, Organ, and Orch. (Dallas, June 15, 1994); Echoes of Normandy for Tenor, Organ, Tape, and Orch. (1994); The Golden Net for Soprano, Tenor, Countertenor, and Baritone (1997).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire