Reviews of Music by Edward Smaldone

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...the jazz allusions are so prominent in the first movement,

and the Scherzo feels so much like a scherzo, that a listener feels the appeal of a secure traditional idiom

in a fresh new guise.

Smaldone has a gift for connecting one phrase with another, even one note with

another, so that you get wrapped up in the music.

Smaldone’s love of

jazz comes to the forefront in the finale, “Stephane’s Dance” (the title referring to the jazz

violinist Stéphane Grappelli). A clever use of harmonies enables the sound world to remain

linked to the first two movements, though. This is a terrific piece—and both Jackson and

Umphreys can swing!

• “Smaldone makes the listener’s ear understand the music as it is happening.”
• “a listener feels the appeal of a secure traditional idiom in a fresh new guise.”
• “This is a remarkably varied disc, and one that repays multiple visits. Smaldone’s voice
• is individual and confident.” Fanfare (Feb. 2021)
• “tribute to Ellington and Monk, the American jazz masters’ voices eloquently filtered
• through Smaldone’s idiosyncratic aesthetic.” - The Wholenote
• https://www.thewholenote.com/index.php/booksrecords2/listening-room-c/30512-
• edward-smaldone-once-and-again-various-artists#read-the-review
• A captivating effort … Smaldone and company make the most of every second on this
• elegant and precise experience that you’ll want to revisit again and again. – Take Effect

• “The performances are all quite committed and tackle the music with great energy and excitement. Niklas Sivelov certainly throws himself into the technical qualities here displaying a great command of rhythmic articulation as well as managing to help communicate the phrasing of the music well. The beautiful playing of Soren-Filip Brix Hansen also invites the listener into the clarinet work with rich, full tones that give way to some great virtuosic demands.” - Cinemusical 
• “[Smaldone is] an important contemporary composer” - All Music 
• “[a] gift for intricate craftsmanship [and] quick-witted imagination” - Fanfare 
• “I dig the album!” – Texas Public Radio 
• “[Smaldone’s music is] something exquisitely different: a volcanic mix of Bebop, jazz harmony, improvisation and myriad idioms from classical music.” - The Whole Note 
• “[Smaldone is] a unique musical omnivore.” - The Whole Note 

“selections  by Hugo Weisgall, Allen Brings, Leo Kraft and Joel Mandelbaum attest to  the compositional skills of the Queens College faculty, with Edward  Smaldone’s L’infinito standing out for its adventurous harmonic language and deft evocation of an Italian landscape.” Donald Rosenberg

full review: https://www.gramophone.co.uk/review/songs-of-peace-and-praise-choral-music-from-queens-college

SMALDONE: Trio: Dance and Nocturne, Three Scenes from the "Heartland". Solo Sonata for Violin. 2 Sides of the Same Coin • Arthur Fagen, cond; Munich RO, Michael Boriskin, Donald Pirone (pn);  Curtis Macomber (vn); Allen Blustine (cl); Andre Emelianoff (vc) • CRI  863 (55:17) 

 The 1980 solo Violin Sonata elicits a supremely  polished performance from Curtis Macomber, one of New York's finest  freelance violinists. 

 His 1990 Two Sides of the Same Coin for clarinet and piano has a jazzier feel, and the harmonies, while  still very chromatic, are richly sensual.

The  stunner of the whole collection is the disc's "title track," Scenes from the "Heartland"(1994, based on the eponymous poem of Amy Clampitt).  Here is music that is a fluent blend of  jazz, American populism, New York intensity, overt Romanticism.  Smaldone obviously loves all the music that deeply influences him, and his personality filters it so that it emerges as a distinctive,  considered statement. The same goes for the 1997 Rhapsody for piano and  orchestra, a one-movement work.  When listening to this work I can't help but think of  Samuel Barber. Smaldone does not sound exactly like this predecessor,  but the combination of lyricism and spikiness that in fact characterizes  much of later Barber is similar. The other composer of whom I'm  reminded is one of Smaldone's teachers, George Perle. Like him, while  grounded in chromatic harmonic practice and postserial training,  Smaldone is able to project real harmonic content and direction, even  when the materials are not explicitly tonal. Also, the piano-writing in  all this music is fresh, full-bodied, and idiomatic. Both Boriskin and  Pirone rise to its challenges with exuberant, sensitive, and expansive  interpretations. 

 there are composers out  there who are creating a synthesis that is harmonious and yet diverse,  backed up by very impressive technique. Smaldone I think is one of  several such.

Robert Carl

“Three Scenes from the Heartland” – performed by Kristina Sokanski.

“We  get to know a beautiful work of Edward Smaldone... Her playing is  gorgeous, with passion and good lines that she pulls into the music.  This disc is highly recommended.” 

Den Klassiske CD-Bloggen, Trond  Erikson, 20.09.2019 

The most cogent work here is Edward Smaldone’s Transformational Etudes, written in 1990, a richly flavored and beautifully crafted set of six short impressions. The opening and closing are the same music, a blast of energy reminiscent of the compressed, quiet fury of the final movement of Chopin’s Sonata No. 2. The center of the work is entitled “Secret of the Earth,” and the music rewards with a quiet spirituality that is suggested by the portentous title. Especially in the stark, contemplative mood of this section, but also throughout, Smaldone evokes a stylistic eclecticism and emotional focus of Messiaen. 

Fanfare, 1993

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