All posts by Pamela Akison

RECORDING COMMENTS

Unchanging Love: Brass and Organ Music (recording)
Poems
Liturgical Suite
Four Lyrics
Unchanging Love
Rembering Al: Idumea Variations

“Bell’s is an unabashedly tonal, lyrical, and unproblematic approach to music Poems, for trumpet and piano, serves up five melodically inspired pieces that, in their simple eloquence, bring the best of the Beatles to mind. Remembering Al: Idumea Variations, is a muted, aphoristic piece full of tonal ambivalences, but a piece that, in its paradoxical directness of utterance, not only conveys the grief experienced at the demise of a beloved friend, but also gives us a fleeting glimpse into eternity.”

-William Zagorski-Fanfare

Music for Strings (recording)
String Quartet No. 3 (Homage to Beethoven)-
Borromeo String Quartet
Celestial Refrain- John Muratore, guitar
Tarab, Tarab Cello Ensemble

“…the best single-disc introduction to [Larry Bell’s] work currently available. It is a significant release that displays well the vitality and creativity of Bell’s music. …the best new release of chamber music that I heard all year. Strongly and urgently recommended.”

– Carson Cooman – The Journal of the Living Music Foundation


Chorale Preludes (recording)

“Chorale preludes composed in 2002; what’s going on here? If anyone tells you they know what 21st-century music is, don’t listen. Instead, listen to these evocative and poignant neo-Ivesian ruminations for solo piano that are my favorite recording to date among Larry Bell’s numerous recordings.

– Frank J. Oteri – NewMusicBox.org


Songs of Innoncence and Experience (recording)

“The music is supremely crafted for young performers yet with enough to challenge their performing skills and make it worth the effort. The two solo items Infant Joy and The Sick Rose are sung with considerable aplomb. This is a very attractive work and makes for a most rewarding experience for players and listeners alike”

– Hubert Culot – musicweb-international.com


Four Pieces in Familiar Style, recording

“Four Pieces in Familiar Style is a short suite of four two duos for two violins (played here by the same player) that may be compared to Bartok’s own Duos, i.e. as didactic works for younger players. I hope that they may be as popular as Bartok’s work.”.

 – Hubert Culot – MusicWeb-international.com

 

In Memory of Roger Sessions, recording

It is a short suite for violin solo in three movements: Elegy (a rhapsodic fantasy based on a theme from Sessions’ opera Montezuma), Parody (a scherzo of some sort and a real compositional tour de force quoting from nine of Sessions’ works, and all over in less than three minutes!) and Dialogue (and imagined conversation between Sessions and Bell, whose names are spelled as musical themes, and one in which Sessions has the last word!

 – Hubert Culot – MusicWeb-international.com


Mahler in Blue Light, recording

“Mahler in Blue Light . . . is moody, intense, extremely moving, and in its own way quite beautiful. It is also a tour de force for the saxophone with the inclusion of a cello as as well as the piano.”

– Paul Wagner – Saxophone Journal


Mahler in Blue Light, recording

“This is a real compositional tour de force as well as being a quite substantial piece of music.”

– Hubert Culot – Classical Music web. UK


Piano Sonata, recording

“The most substantial, and by far the most compelling, work on this program… A broad, passionate composition, Bell’s music has something of the anxious, highly embroidered density of Rachmaninov… a result of the youthful exuberance of an exceptionally talented composer. I would expect fine things yet to come from this fresh and exciting voice.”

– Peter Burwasser – Fanfare


River of Ponds, recording

“The longest and most enjoyable piece is River of Ponds, a three-movement sonata evoking fishing trips taken by the composer and his father in North Carolina. For some reason this work manages to evoke the images that other works only hint at: it is really quite beautiful, humorous in places, and basically a positive experience.”

– David W. Moore – American Record Guide


River of Ponds, recording

“……downright beautiful. Bell has a Southern tone to his writing, touching on American folk tunes and hymns, even quoting “The Old Rugged Cross” in the third movement of his River of Ponds , the title selection on this North/South recording. Throughout, Bartlett and Bell perform blazingly. And the solo cello Caprice and duet Fantasia on an Imaginary Hymn (where the cellist is nicely joined by violist Sarah Clarke) come off very fine as well.”

    – Mark Alburger – 21st Century Music


Sacred Symphonies, recording

“… a bittersweet, sophisticated, and half-ghostly simulacrum – the depth and simplicity of homespun religious sentiment.”

– American Record Guide


The Book of Moonlight, recording

” All of it [The Book of Moonlight CD] is remarkably satisfying, strongly recommended to anyone interested in hearing a beautiful and distinctive American voice.”

–Peter Burwasser – Fanfare


Short Symphony for Band, recording

“The Short Symphony for Band was written in 1999 for the Jordan Winds, who perform it here. They do a handsome job on a piece that deserves a wide audience. It is by turns dark and mysterious, then bright and lively. (Bell’s) music is tonal, tuneful, and enjoyable.

The sound in all four works is very good, never distracting one from the music. The presentation is attractive, notes (by the composer and his wife) are excellent.”

 – Thomas McClain – The American Record Guide


The Sentimental Muse, recording

” This composer’s music [i]s the direct heir of Copland and, as such, presents a sort of present-day Americana. . . . he is a composer who wants to communicate in direct terms, regardless of any current trends and fashions. Though fairly traditional, his music approaches the American symphonic tradition in a most refreshing way, which is to my mind his most endearing quality. ”

– Hubert Culot – Classical Music Web (www.musicweb.uk.net)


Reminiscences and Reflections (recording)

” Fascinating and exhuberant music well worth getting to know.”

– John Sunier – Audiophile Audition