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PRAISE FOR ...
... LANDSCAPES
“These songs contained elements of beauty and charm in
the modern idiom, a style that injects moments of dissonance into themes of rare
tonal brilliance... passages that are lush, many of them inordinately beautiful
with some that are brooding and melancholy.”
Wayne Smith
... MUSHROOMS
“Mushrooms is without a doubt his finest work to date.”
John Orr
... PERICLES
“... a grand night for Windham County. Our first, home-grown, sung and
produced opera was performed at Brattleboro Union High School Saturday night: Zeke Hecker’s “Pericles.”
“The use of unusual instruments such as the viol and
lute were very pleasing, especially when they enhanced arias of often fine
grace. Some of the music was
startlingly literal. The strings
were at one point made to sound quite seasick, and at another to create the
squeak of a rusty hinge.”
“The orchestra, as appropriate, was a star ... The
musicians reflected Hecker’s sensitive matching of instruments to integrate the
personalities of a variety of sounds.”
Virginia Page
... ANIMAL LULLABIES
Show Us Your Warebrook
DAVID CLEARY
Warebrook Contemporary Music Festival. July 14, Irasburg,
July 16's concert was given over to choral music ...
(21st Century Music,
... SYMPHONY #3
Re: The Symphony Orchestra Thread
by shostakovich » Mon Feb 16, 2009 9:32 pm
I recently got a chance to hear a premiere by a local
symphony orchestra. It was of Zeke Hecker's 3rd symphony. What, you never heard
of Zeke Hecker? That's probably because he has no commercial recordings,
although he has written over 100 works. The 3rd was in 3 movements, nervous,
energetic, 20 minutes long and similar to Malcolm Arnold in style. I got to
speak with Zeke. He's an oboist living and teaching in southern Vermont.
... DOUBLE EXPOSURE
“ ... a wonderful blend of clever wordsmithing married
to just the right melodies -- melodies that you can hum and sing the words to.”
“... The lyrics weave through the melody effortlessly.”
“Do yourself a favor.
Go see it.”
William Menezes
... BEMUSED
... an instant local hit
... a showcase for Hecker’s acrobatic use of language ... memorable ... a very amusing evening of musical
theater ...
If you haven’t ordered your tickets for this weekend, do
so today, as you might be left outside the theater ...
William Menezes
... THE LIFT
“... a simple and sweet paean to another time and
another place ...
“If you like your plots uncomplicated, your music direct
and ably sung and watching three actors capture the charm and good humor of
their characters, then I encourage you to go and see The Lift ...
“Hecker’s songs are often a treat to the ear...”
William Menezes
“A deft, knowing, skillful piece of work in the Sondheim
mold ... Very clever lyrics throughout ... There are a couple of standout
numbers, among them the title song and ‘Going to the Opera,’ which is every bit
as good as any comedic number in the
Broadway canon.”
Mark N. Grant,
... A MORNING STAR
MUSIC
For Monadnock Chorus, success hits close to home
Concert focuses on Americana and self-reliance
By Dave Eisenstadter
... Zeke Hecker of Guilford, Vt. ... composed one of the
highlights of the concert.
Hecker’s piece, “A Morning Star,” set to music passages
taken from Thoreau’s “Walden.”
Containing four movements, the composition was among the
most memorable of the concert. Light and airy, the upper voices sang “Time is
but the stream I go a-fishing in...,” then followed by the lower voices, who
repeat it as if a round. Floating high and in the air, those upper voices sang
“Castles, castles, castles...” as the lower voices literally built a musical
foundation under them, alluding to the famous Thoreau quote about building
castles in the air.
The third part of the work, The Earth’s Eye, still
haunts me with its distinct rhythm, declaring a lake landscape’s “most beautiful
and expressive feature.” The movement ends with the declaration, “A lake!”
The last movement, which shares a title with the whole
piece, included rich tones, fading voices and a lonely piano. Listening to it
had the wonderful finality of a sunrise after an all-nighter. “The sun is but a
morning star.”
All through was the excitement of hearing a piece never
before heard, and something that sounded like real music, something that could
last.
... SONATA FOR CELLO AND PIANO You can hardly turn around without stepping on a Zeke Hecker piece these days, whether at Pioneer Valley Symphony, Holyoke Civic Symphony or, for that matter, his colleagues at the Friends of Music at Guilford, who’ll be playing one of his works on the Sept. 2 program. But no matter, the only sure thing to expect from this virtually completely self-instructed maverick is the unexpected. While, to be sure, one readily detects the spirits of various hallowed heroes flitting by in various passages of his music -- whether by Stravinsky, Copland or Mahler -- just where he will go and how he will contrive to get himself there almost always comes as a surprise. The threads of development find themselves evolving into the most unlikely places -- far different than their beginnings might have led us to imagine. And so, there is no predictability during a Hecker outing. Indeed, with Hartka and Hayes at bat, we can be sure that whatever wattage inherent in the composer’s original, it will receive an ever more sizzling send off in their hands.
Joseph Marcello
This is, I believe, the first time Hartka has featured a vocalist in one of her outings and the interplay should prove interesting. I’m willing to venture the concert will be top-notch purely based on Hartka’s & Co.’s track record; the previous Bach, Brahms, Beethoven tryst proved so, refreshing us with the premiere of a chimerical, delicately wrought, rhythmically inventive cello sonata by Pioneer Valley composer Zeke Hecker.
Joseph Marcello
(from the New York Times)
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