Reviews
Large Ensembles
A work must be heard to be controversial, and on that basis alone this work (Spectrum for Band and Tape) has created as much interest with band conductors and their audiences as any piece in recent years…(I)t is somehow fulfilling even to the uninitiated, and young performers enjoy playing it and
working with it, though sometimes amused by it, are rarely offended, and more often intrigued.
A near perfect blending of the two elements of sound, plus a careful plan and skillful execution
make this both a valid and interesting work for band.
John Paynter, Instrumentalist
A new work, Abstractions for Strings, by Herbert Bielawa, is a tasteful piece that comes off well and directly because it minds its business, sticking close to the material at hand. Bielawa treats
the medium simply and with respect for its most flattering sonorities.
Robert Commanday, San Francisco Chronicle
Above all, it (Concerto for Organ) is polished, strongly constructed piece of considerable dramatic force… Hopefully it will be taken to the breasts of organists and given the repertory status it deserves.
Heuwell Tircuit, San Francisco Chronicle
Chamber Music
Blurts by Herbert Bielawa exploded. The composer at the piano gave forth with wild, virtuoso sounds; flute and clarinet (almost always in rhythmic tandem) sustained another level, more edate and tonal at the beginning, more violent as the piece moved on. In the very attractive work the titles of three short movements…suggested changing levels of motoric activity.
Marvin Tartak, San Francisco Classic Voice
The title of this high-energy and bravura piece (Through Thick and Thin) is a joking reference to its textures and tempos, which are in a state of continual flux. The piece, which begins like a cannon shot
with a jazzy motif, is a breezy checkerboard mix of ensemble and solo elements, the former going
from fast to slow, the latter in the opposite direction. Technically, it’s demanding stuff.
Marilyn Tucker, San Francisco Chronicle
A work in declamatory style (String Quartet), it also speaks well on the instruments, each of the Alexander’s (String Quartet) players having an eloquent say in this direct and personal piece.…The writing for the instruments (Duo for Violin and Harpsichord) was very sure and idiomatic.
Robert Commanday, San Francisco Chronicle
Binaries proved the most rewarding experience of the evening, a kind of fantasy that suggests a four-movement sonata. From the opening horn fanfare, this piece announced itself as an important statement. Heuwell Tircuit, San Francisco Chronicle
Written in 12 tone technique, the Sonatina (for Clarinet and Piano) is everything but cerebral, bubbling as merrily as the 18th Century compositions of the same name.
Marilyn Tucker, San Francisco Chronicle
It (Valves for Four Trumpets) was a gutsy work in three parts that combined elements of fugal and canonic writing with flourishes in a pleasing manner.
Marilyn Tucker, San Francisco Chronicle
Pipe Organ
The suite of seven short movements (Organ Booklet) was piquant and engaging, The fast movements, For Arpeggios and For Endurance were particularly effective.
Bruce Murray, The Tuscaloosa News
The most original…turned out to be the five-movement Monophonies. the idea was to write a series of pieces around single strands of music, stripped of al harmony and secndary support. Bielawa's ways
around this problem were often fetching. The use of alternationg extremes of register…
gave the impression that one was hearing two or three voices.
Heuwell Tircuit, San Francisco Chronicle
Equally engaging were two pieces by Herbert Bielawa, ‘For a Special Occasion’ and
‘Quodibet SF 42569’ ‘Quodlibet’ pits a witty electronic tape score against
the solo organ, with provocative and amusing results.
Daniel Cariega, Los Angeles Times
Bielawa exploited the Baroque meaning of Quodlibet as a delightful contemporary analogy: a duet for organ and tape, humorous, clever and magnificently worked out in detail.
Gemma Coebergh, Haarlem Dagblad
Other Keyboard
While this (Piece of pi) was a tour-de-force of number-crunching (3.1414....), there was nevertheless shape, purpose, and variety...much more than one would expect from raw math, almost breaking into an atonal sentimental journey (if such a thing is possible) toward the conclusion.
The piano and tape coordination was superb throughout.
Carolyn Hautbois and Phillip George, 20th Century Music
The most vernacular aspects of Expressions for piano (1992), by Herbert Bielawa, are the verbal tags which serve as titles. "Back and Fill" is a beautiful bulldozer of three-stave virtuosity. "Stately and Sonorous" as advertised, manifests an extended super-tonality of modulatory freedom,
with a clever fortississimo ending...."
Mark Alburger, 20th Century Music
The program began with Brass 'n' Jacks for harpsichord…a kind of tongue-in-cheek toccata, somewhat in the form of Bach's harpsichord toccatas. The music is serial, but generously sprinkled with
jazzy and cakewalk elements…
Heuwell Tircuit, San Francisco Chronicle