Search - Ulysses Kay, Kevin Scott, Metropolitan Philharmonic Orchestra :: Ulysses Kay: Works for Chamber Orchestra

A fine homage to a worthy master

Icarustriumphant | New York City | 01/06/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"An African-American who wrote in a cosmopolitan idiom, Ulysses Kay (1917-1995) was a prolific composer with wonderful craft and ear. His work is thoroughly musical and listenable even in dissonant, atonal writing. All of his pieces are marked by a fine sense of organic continuity and an instinctive feel for the orchestra.



Conductor Kevin Scott, a gifted composer himself who studied with Kay in the 1970s at Lehman College, proves a compelling advocate here for his mentor. On this CD Mr. Scott and his Metropolitan Philharmonic Orchestra traverse the many different aspects of Kay's style, from the tonal, pictorial concert suite from Kay's 1947 film score for the documentary "The Quiet One," to the astringently modern neoclassical concerto grosso of the mid-1960s "Scherzi Musicali." The "Three Pieces After Blake" for soprano and orchestra (1952) is a particularly powerful work, deserving of much more frequent concert performance and notoriety. Soprano Janet Hopkins adds very impressively to the MPO performance here, while flutist Melanie Valencia is fine in the "Aulos" for flute and chamber orchestra.



In the mid-1970s composer Gail Kubik urged me to study with Ulysses Kay when I returned to New York City from college in California. In retrospect I regret that I missed that opportunity, but am delighted that Kay's music for orchestra is again available on this eminently worthwhile Albany CD. A best buy!"