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| Title |
Composer(s) |
Performer(s) |
Length |
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| Sonata No. 2 |
Jeremy Beck
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Tatiana Razoumova
Maria Kolaiko
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| Never Final, Never Gone |
Jeremy Beck
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UNI Concert Chorale
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| Sonata |
Jeremy Beck
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Cynthia Ellis
Roberta Garten
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| Kopeyia |
Jeremy Beck
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UNI Percussion Ensemble
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| Shadows & Light |
Jeremy Beck
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Nevsky String Quartet
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| Four Piano Pieces |
Jeremy Beck
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Heather Coltman
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Though we may live in an “in-your-face” musical age, Jeremy Beck’s lyrical and expressive compositions, conversely, exhibit the fine care and intricate passion of a master jeweler. Now, from his workbench comes a new recording that features chamber and vocal music in varying combinations, all of which display a compelling filigree of an original American tonal dialect wedded to a lively and impassioned rhythmic profile.
Beck also provides snapshots of other times and places – while teaching in St. Petersburg, the sacred music of the Russian Orthodox Church was the inspiration for his third string quartet, Shadows & Light, and the timeless beauty of the city suggested the title track. In addition, his Kopeyia reflects his study of traditional West African drumming in Ghana.
From his shop in Louisville, Kentucky, Jeremy Beck (b. 1960) has created a catalogue of work that not only speaks directly to a listener’s heart and mind, but that musicians love to play – the beauty and intensity of his music is brought to life on this recording by the nuanced and brilliant performances of those dedicated to his artistic vision.
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MusicWeb-International
American composer Jeremy Beck … was committed to tonality and a recognizable musical vernacular long before that became the hip bandwagon it is today. Indeed, though there are traces of Copland, Ravel, Debussy and minimalism here, the strongest impression is that of an original voice celebrating music. Without self-consciousness, without paralyzing abstraction, Beck reminds us that music is movement, physically and emotionally. ... [V]itally enjoyable, … Beck’s music is well worth hearing and Innova deserves thanks for putting another relevant voice in front of the public eye.
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by Mark Sebastian Jordan
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AllMusic
Never Final, Never Gone, at least in part, represents a continuation of some of the concepts visited in his previous release, pause and feel and hark, [innova 650] … [and] shows that abstraction is not alien to Beck’s vocabulary, and the wide geographic distribution of some of these pieces -- and the artists for whom they are intended -- demonstrates that Beck likes to tailor his work to fit the occasion wherever he is.
This sense of relating one’s work to the place one is in is a thread of endeavor [and] tradition … Jeremy Beck respects and values …; by relating his work in this way, Beck is able to establish indissoluble links to places and people even though life moves one around. In this sense, the resultant break is indeed “never final,” and the connections are “never gone.
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by David Lewis
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Flute Talk
Cynthia Ellis, performing Beck's Sonata for flute and piano ... has a beautiful singing sound and complete control of the instrument. ... [P]remiered in 1987 by Alexa Still to favorable reviews in the New York Times[,] ... Ellis certainly delivers a masterful performance of a work that just might enter the permanent flute repertoire.
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by
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Palm Beach Post
Jeremy Beck … is a composer of engaging music[.] … Songs Without Words, for flute and harp, is … cannily idiomatic[.] … Flutist Elizabeth Sadilek and harpist Gretchen Brumwell play beautifully. … Black Water [is] a cleverly written monodrama for soprano and piano crafted by Beck from [Joyce Carol] Oates’ 1992 novel. Beck’s music finds a strong theatrical bent in this fictionalized tale[.] … Music of Bernstein-like energy alternate[s] with dramatic sequences that climax in high notes (“I hear him say, ‘Hey – ’ as we fly off the road”), and there is a returning fragment (“As the black water filled her lungs, and she died”) that by the time it recurs for a final time at the end has taken on the character of a prayer. … Jean McDonald and pianist Robin Guy offer a committed, intelligent performance[.] … [This is a] disc by a composer with much to offer.
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by Greg Stepanich
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