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"An Amazing tour de force
in terms of relentless energy and build up of tension...a
fascinating and strong piece."
Gunther Schuller, about
Piece for Chamber Orchestra
"Original and Fresh....not
to be typecast in any trend."
Bruce Creditor - Boston
Symphony Orchestra
"Set with great skill and
directness, Bland's piece is a Machiavellian look, charged-up with
rhythm and harmony, at present day society."
Timothy Mangan - Los
Angeles Times, about The New World Order (part of the opera
"Assassins of The Soul")
"...the notes make their
points with Webernesque brevity and concentration as well as packing
considerable dramatic punch despite the economy of means."
Peter G. Davis - The New
York Times, about Sketches-Set One.
"Brechtian...echoes of
MAHOGANY."
Studs Terkel - WFMT-FM, Chicago, about The New World Order (part of
"Assassins of The Soul")
"Bland's music, like late Beethoven and Stravinsky, does not
immediately reward the listener but reveals itself increasingly
through repeated listenings."
Nancy Malitz - Music
Critic of the Detroit News - President of the Music Critics
Association
Legacy
Black Composers:
Lecolion Washington, bn;
Carina Nyberg Washington, cl & a; Mark Ensley, p Albany/Troy
Records 1038 - 61 Minutes
There are three works by
Ed Bland, One on One for Bassoon and Clarinet, For Bassoon, and One
on One for Bassoon and Virtual Percussion. The Bassoon and Clarinet
work, and the one with synthesized percussion, display a style of
counterpoint where each voice is connected to the other by no
specific meter. The repartee between the instruments seems to evoke
the asymmetry of the rhythms basketball players' feet make when
rushing up and down a court, according to the notes. The work for
bassoon alone is a capricious one that depicts the instrument's many
colors, from serious to sarcastic humorous.
DAVID SCHWARTZ (American
Record Guide page 225 ca. March/April 2009)
The following is part of an article that
appeared in Office Naps on
November 12, 2007
"Ed Bland is an American
composer, musical arranger and producer with a considerable catalog
of contemporary classical compositions to his name. Bland has,
a coterie of vintage
soul fans, also identified with his recordings of the '60s and '70s,
singular R&B and jazz arrangements so distinct that they unwittingly
dominate the music at times. You'll know what I'm talking about at
the end of this post."
Click here to read the article
in it's entirety.
Ed Bland's concert works
have been performed by:
-
Speculum Musicae
-
Group for Contemporary Music
-
American Brass Quintet
-
Baltimore Symphony
-
Detroit Symphony
-
Brooklyn
Philharmonic
-
Memphis Symphony
-
St. Louis Symphony
-
Civic Orchestra of Chicago
-
Sonor Ensemble with conductors: David Zinman, Michael
Morgan, Leslie Dunner, Tania Leon and Alvin Brehm, among
others
His music has been heard on radio
throughout the United States and Europe. |
