Andrew McKenna Lee
News and Press
Below are links to some programs that have featured segments on me and my music. If you have Real Player installed (free download!), you can view and listen. Also below are a couple of reviews.
Stay tuned for more information about my upcoming CD release on New Amsterdam Records, in addition to some upcoming fall and spring performances.
Interview on Tokafi
Check out the interview that appeared on the new music website Tokafi earlier in the summer of 2007. Many thanks to Tobias Fischer for inviting me to participate, and for his insightful and generous introduction to my work.
The Rest is Noise Princeton and my friends get a plug from The New Yorker's own Alex Ross.
Critique of Critics
The Philadelphia City Paper's Peter Burwasser gives a detailed account of the ACO's concert at The Annenberg Center, where I had the pleasure and fortune of performing Arabescata this past March. After reading his review, one might believe that he is somewhat insightful, until he says that my program description of Arabescata, which stated that the piece is a cross between Jimi Hendrix and Domenico Scarlatti, is more suitable to Steve Mackey's Deal than my own work.
While shadows of Hendrix certainly loom large in Steve's piece, the compact form; succinct, direct expression; and baroque stylings of Scarlatti's sound world are really no where to be found in Deal. Arabescata, on the other hand, is really no less- and certainly no more- than a combination of these things. This comment, therefore, leads me to believe that Mr. Burwasser is largely guilty of having missed the boat entirely.
I guess this is what happens when you weigh "new music" on a scale that was invented in the 1950's!
Review on Sequenza 21
Steve Layton wrote a favorable summary of my work which appeared in his Click Picks column on Sequenza 21. Click the link above to read it...
Arabescata featured on WNYC's New Sounds with John Schaefer! Click here to listen to the show which featured my piece, Arabescata, as well as performances by the LAGQ, Arthur Kampela and Bert Jansch.
Interview
with Allison McNair on New Hampshire Public Television, aired August
28, 2003.
Click on the banner to be taken to the program site
where you can view it...
In April and May of 2003, I was fortunate enough to have been awarded a residency at the MacDowell Colony in New Hampshire. I had an amazing time while I was there, and met some great people and some wonderful artists as well. During my residency, the MacDowell Colony asked me if I would be willing to do an interview with New Hampshire Public Television for their TV program, New Hampshire Outlook. Naturally, I said, "Sure thing."
If for some reason the banner link above doesn't work, you can still access the program by going here and searching in the program archives. If you search with "Lee" as a keyword, you should be taken to a page of about five listings. Find the one titled "LCHIP Cuts; MacDowell Colony Profile - The Classical Guitar" which aired on August 28, 2003, and that'll be it. My interview begins around the 18 minute mark, and lasts about ten minutes. You'll need Real Player to watch the clip, but you can download it from NHPTV if you don't already have it.
Review of Vortices in the New Jersey Star Ledger Click on the link to read the full, original article: NJSO Bows to Youth
My work, Vortices, was performed by the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra in July of 2002. A couple of days later, a review was published in the New Jersey Star Ledger, in which the critic stated the following:
"... By contrast, South Carolinian Andrew McKenna Lee's "Vortices" originates from the abstract, mid-century modernism of lonely brass calls, screechy strings, and hard edged contrasting orchestral color... Lee's command of his style must be respected. His orchestration is precise, the composition balanced with clear directional goals and the means to get there."
All in all, not a terrible review, and I certainly appreciate the compliment at the end; but, although there is one spot where the strings are "screechy," and the piece does vaguely allude to some "modernist" ideas (mostly Lutoslawski's), there is nothing really "mid-century" about Vortices, nor are there any "lonely brass calls!" I like "hard edged contrasting color," though!!
He also makes a reference in the review to Vortices being somewhat unaccessible, which I kind of disagree with. I mean, it's not like John Williams or something, but it's not exactly like Luis de Pablo, either... :-)