Interestingly, the work that tried to please the least was the most compelling. Hayes Biggs’ piece Ave Formosissima harkens back to the dance-mad, melismatic and slightly raucous music of the Middle Ages. But the score, with its zig-zagging lines and pungent dissonances, is genuinely contemporary.”

—New York Times

A Consuming Fire, a short, zesty trio by Hayes Biggs, led off the evening. The piece is framed by some engagingly angular rhythmic writing, with a lyrical nougat at the center.”

—San Francisco Chronicle

[The] most convincing and coherent performance [was] Hayes Biggs’ homage to his composer/pianist colleague Eric Moe, E.M. am Flügel, a short piece with romantic gestures and echoes of Berg and Stravinsky.”

—Aufbau

The Mass for All Saints would be an exciting challenge for those choirs skilled in precise intonation and rhythmic agility. Biggs writes with knowledge of and respect for the expressive capabilities of the human voice.”

—Choral Journal

Hayes Biggs’s wedding motet Tota Pulchra Es, here being sung for the first time, impressed by its quiet solemnity and neat working of its expressive opening motif: not empty fanfares but a reminder of the seriousness and privacy of love.”

—New York Times

Mass for All Saints by composer Hayes Biggs releases shadows transformed into tendrils of light by the arabesque of the vocal line. Contrapuntal procedures are used to their utmost expressive effect. [It] is a work of a melodist of talent in the manner of Puccini, or better yet, Respighi.”

—La Liberté

The Biggs song, Northeast Reservation Lines, is a real party piece... the sneakiness of the changes, the liveliness of the music and the verve of the performance worked handily... a potential recital hit in the vein of Bernstein’s I Hate Music cycle.”

—The Village Voice

All the works tried a return to tonality typical of the decade; the most successful made the return oblique and ambiguous. Hayes Biggs’ O Sacrum Convivium took off from the motet of Tallis, yet it handsomely reconfigured early modes in a modernistic scheme of free tonality.”

—New York Times

Hayes Biggs’ To Becalme His Fever... is a vivid evocation of anxiety, fits and repose. The language embraces pointillistic colors, romantic lines and prickly episodes when the demons hover. Biggs claims a forceful and subtle dramatic hand, along with a keen command of instrumental resources.”

—The Plain Dealer

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24
Feb

Composers Now Video of Yours Truly, and a Plug for Next Week’s Premieres

Several weeks ago I was asked to take part in a videotaping for Composers Now, because C4 (The Choral Composer/Conductor Collective), of which I have been a member since 2010, has been participating in their current Festival. I, along with several other composers,  was asked to respond to some simple questions about myself, how I got interested in composing, etc. I must say it feels pretty odd to watch myself on video, but others, including my wife Susan, seem to think it turned out well, so I’ll let you all judge for yourselves. For those who may be interested, here’s a somewhat more fleshed-out accounting of my path to putting the little black dots on paper.

Please check out next week’s upcoming events on my Concerts page, including the March 4th premiere at Merkin Concert Hall by Rolf Schulte and Stephen Gosling of my new work for violin and piano, Inquieto (attraverso il rumore), as well as the first performances of Goe lovely Rose, written for C4’s Tenth Season, on March 1, 5, and 7.

One Comment  |  Posted in Composers, Hayes Biggs, News

Comments

  1. From Dot Yeaton on March 5, 2015

    Hayes, I so enjoyed seeing you in your grownup form! 🙂 I could’ve predicted you’d be a musician when you “played” the vacuum sweeper as a kid in single digits. Sorry I didn’t get a pic of that to send w/ the others. Enjoying hearing your work, too. Thanks so much for including me on your mailing list.

    Best,
    Dot

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