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The New York Times Pastimes Sunday, January 22, 1989
Composer Adds Links to Neo-Classic Chain
by Will Crutchfield
Three long pieces in short sections made up the concert of
Lawrence Axelrod's compositions Tuesday evening at Merkin Concert
Hall. The young composer has at least one enviable ability: It
is not easy, in a time when convention no longer provides formal
structures, to write persuasive and coherent half-hour spans.
"To Be Danced", for piano trio and "Moonsongs"
a cycle of seven songs to various poets, last that long: the "Serenata"
for 12 instruments is a healthy 18 minutes, and each seemed of
a piece.
...In each, one noted strong moments... There is a beautiful re-entry
of the piano at the end of the trio, and in general the instrumental
dramaturgy, so to speak, is sound. In the serenade, Mr. Axelrod
earns good marks for making precise use of a narrow range of percussion
colors, where so many composers would throw themselves profligately
into the realm of mere sound effect.
...imaginative involvement in the poems [of "Moonsongs"]could
well be sensed. It will be interesting to hear Mr. Axelrod's future
work in this field... [In the song cycle], soprano Gurcell Henry's
silvery tone, extraordinarily clear definition of pitch (and accuracy
in difficult intervals), fine sense of line and expressive delivery
gave Mr. Axelrod's songs a level of advocacy that any composer
would envy.
The other performers, including an ensemble from the Prism Orchestra,
the Philadelphia Trio, the pianist David Christensen and the harpsichordist
Eliza Garth, did good work... Mr Axelrod conducted the "Serenata"
convincingly.
Santa Fe Reporter Classical Music November 26- December 2, 1997
Handel Abridged, Tired Trio and Brilliant Axelrod
by William Dunning
Santa Fe pianist and composer Lawrence Axelrod continued the
tradition of Mozart, Beethoven, Rachmaninoff last Friday. A composer
who creates new music is a special person, and so is an artist
who re-creates the music of earlier geniuses. When one person
can do both, the effect is musical creativity squared.
...Mr. Axelrod delighted a small audience in a small room at First
Presbyterian Church.
Axelrod established his credentials a member of the musical continuum with a baseline performance of Mozart variations, KV. 264. A single-movement, sort of concerto for piano and tape by Sally Reid, "From Whence Butterflies?", led to a solo piece by Judith Weir, who is best known to us for two operas premiered at the Santa Fe Opera. "The King of France" is a set of variations on a Sephardic tune that Weird say "haunted" her; the form echoed Mozart to show us again that it's all one great sweet of sound.
Variations by Paul Hindemith, also a visitor to SFO, gave Axelrod a dramatic home as he moved to Karl Korte's "Homage to Bud Powell" and a who era of jazz innovation. The performer's own "Remembered Harps" featured strumming on the strings with fingers... Axelrod wrote the piece only this year in memory of a harpist friend, and it charmed the audience.
Finally, James Mobberley's "Caution to the Winds" demonstrated just how far one can go in wresting new sound from a piano, by tape and by unusual ways of playing while seated before the keys.
Albuquerque Journal Friday, January 9, 1996
Pianist builds program on keyboard variations
by David Steinberg
Pianist Lawrence Axelrod says he likes to make his audiences think when they come to his concerts.
"I'm not a performer content to put together pretty pieces and call that a program," Axelrod said in a phone interview...
His Sunday afternoon concert at Albuquerque's Congregation Albert reflects this philosophy.
It will have a variety of music for electronics and piano as well as sets of themes and variations...
San Jose Mercury News Sunday, June 6, 1999
Who'd have prophesied success of "Cassandra"?
San Jose Symphony premieres new work
by David L. Beck
The words "world premiere" and "San Jose Symphony"
are not often found in the same sentence. But Lawrence Axelrod,
whose "Cassandra Speaks" opens the orchestra's programs
this weekend, insists it really is a premiere.
"It was never performed," he says, "It was only
recorded. It's one of those weird things that can happen nowadays."
Axelrod is a 39-year-old composer and pianist who was born in New York, has worked quite a bit in the Chicago area and now lives in Santa Fe, NM, where he makes a living mostly by composing and teaching.
"Cassandra Speaks", a tone poem for orchestra and electronic tape in three sections, was written nearly a decade ago, "for a competition that it didn't win," Axelrod says. "Something with the Norwegian Radio, I think."
He explains a fact of life for composers: "There are these competitions left and right, all over the place. It's very hard to know what the competition is about - what they are looking for, anything. It's really a shot in the dark."...
Leonid Grin, music director of the San Jose Symphony, takes up the tale. "You know, this is a funny story," he says. "I will not give the name, (but) one composer asked me to listen to his music, and sent me a CD where one piece of his and Axelrod's were recorded."...
"My taste was much stronger to Lawrence Axelrod," says Grin. "I never met him. Never heard any other of his music. But that piece was really appealing to me"...
Grin is very high on the piece. "It's amazing," he
says, "when you know that this is basically...his first orchestral
piece - how crafty he is, how well he knows the instruments...
"The combination of tape and orchestral playing in a most
unusual, wonderful authentic sound really triggered my taste."