Symphony No. 5 "Kalmar Nyckel" (1986). Benjamin Lees

Benjamin Lees' Symphony No. 5 was nominated for a "Classical Contemporary Composition" Grammy.  Albany Records released it as part of a 2-CD set with the American Stephen Gunzenhauser conducting (more overview here).

Steve Schwartz, writing at www.classicalcdreview.com, wrote as follows: Benjamin Lees' concertos have tended to crowd out his symphonies from public attention... 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 fifth symphony of 1998 celebrates the first (and short-lived) Swedish settlement in the New World (present-day Delaware, they think). The symphony transcends the circumstances of its commission...

Lees was interviewed at the time of his Symphony No. 4  being released on Naxos:

I had a piano teacher for about nine years. He was adequate but not awe-inspiring. New York was light years away in the 1930s and no one suggested I go there to attend Juilliard. Besides, it was in the Depression era and there was hardly money for essentials...

I've heard and liked several concertos by Lees.  I would also recommend the CD of complete violin works .

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Dominick Argento's Casa Guidi won the Grammy. 2/8/04

Comments

[Kurt Luoto]

I once had a vinyl recording of Lees's Concerto for String Quartet.
It was awesome! I dearly wish there was a recording of this piece available today on CD. I am surprised there is not any since according to the few articles I have seen regarding it, they say that it is one of the most commonly performed of his works. What gives? If anyone knows of an available recording please let me know!