Official site of composer Andrea Clearfield. Biography, list of works with audio, score samples, reviews and program notes, photographs, upcoming performances.
“The highlights of the program were the premieres of two scores commissioned for the ensemble. Andrea Clearfield’s “… and low to the lake falls home” was inspired by the poetry of Gerard Manley Hopkins and Adolf Heyduk, chosen by the composer and Ms. Wincenc. The texts, included in the program, are never heard, though their essence — particularly that of Hopkins’s “Spring and Fall, to a Young Child,” which inspired the introspective fourth movement — is palpable in the score. Ms. Clearfield’s consonant and melodic style, and the ease with which she moves between graceful tracery and lively, rhythmically vital writing, suits these instruments and players perfectly, and the trio gave the work the quicksilver performance it demanded.”
Allan Kozinn, The New York Times, February 24, 2010
“…appealing, open-hearted, confident…moods are skillfully evoked”
“…The 1940s had the emergence of Samuel Barber, Leonard Bernstein, and Gian Carlo Menotti, all from the Curtis Institute. The 1970s were dominated by George Rochberg, George Crumb, and Richard Wernick. Now, a more dispersed but no-less-interesting generation has emerged: The Philadelphia composers who have had high-profile premieres in major cities are all affiliated with different educational institutions or schools of composition. And three of the four are women. In February, University of the Arts faculty member Andrea Clearfield had a major chamber music premiere at New York’s Morgan Library, and low to the lake falls home, performed by Carol Wincenc, Cynthia Phelps, and Nancy Allen. Though Clearfield is known to write big works with a strong social conscience, this one is the soul of congeniality, seizing upon the most sensually attractive of Debussy’s final three chamber works, the Sonata for Viola, Flute and Harp, and expanding its basic idea with a more war-weary awareness of subsequent history – manifested in an intense counterpoint of musical ideas and interaction among the instruments.”
David Patrick Stearns, The Philadelphia Inquirer, May 2, 2010
“I have enjoyed Andrea Clearfield’s music previously, her Women of Valor on Albany (Fanfare 41:1). In that piece, one was aware of a clear compositional virtuosity; here she pens a slow Farlorn Alemen based on a Holocaust poem that is reprinted in the disc’s accompanying documentation. Taken from a song cycle for soprano and piano, this arrangement was written for Duo Sequenza and is positively haunting. On a personal level, this is the most touching music on the disc.” (“DUO SEQUENZA: YES, IT’S STILL A THING! Duo Sequenza (Debra Silvert, fl/alto fl; Paul Bowman, gtr) NAVONA 6467)
“Many alleluias – at turns complex, simple, strange, sad and always intriguing – were heard from Mendelssohn Club of Philadelphia in celebratory commissions, both titled “Alleluia,” from two of the city’s best-known composers, Jennifer Higdon and Andrea Clearfiel…Both composers were at their best. Clearfield’s “Alleluia” went against the grain of its title with an entrancing undercurrent of melancholy and even lapsing into tragedy. The piece ended with the choir using precisely honed exhaling rather than singing, with a strong sense of farewell.”
–David Patrick Stearns, Music Critic, The Philadelphia Inquirer, 3/7/2016
“Of the nine performances I was able to attend, I was perhaps most pleasantly surprised by the premiere production of Andrea Clearfield’s mystical and dramatically compelling two-act opera MILA, Great Sorcerer (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED) at the Gerald W. Lynch Theater at John Hay College. Initially, it was indicated that the semi-staged concert, directed by the talented Kevin Newbury, would be closed to critical review. However, it was later deemed accessible to critics when the festival realized the staging’s ready-for-primetime projection attributes (the singing, orchestral playing, design, and direction were all top-notch). Ms. Clearfield’s colorful, expressive score was perhaps the most accomplished and mature of this year’s crop of compositions, which is saying a lot.”
–Andrian Dimanlig, VIEWPOINTS, Prototype Festival 2019
“MILA has an attractive score. Lush and rich without becoming cloying or dense, Clearfield’s music makes excellent use of the resources at hand, including several custom percussion instruments…the theatre was plunged into darkness while a number of tam tams continued to thrash and moan, a sonic exultation with lasting power.”
–Brin Solomon, National Sawdust, In Review: Prototype Festival 2019
“But the real treat here is the world premiere recording of Andrea Clearfield’s work Convergence, a challenging, occasionally unsettling exposition in which the seasoned instrumental work of Westphal and Ruvolo achieve a rare and unique synthesis of
expression. An unimpeachable marriage of style and substance.”
“The two Brahms sonatas are separated by a work Westphal commissioned: Convergence (2008) by American Andrea Clearfield. This fine piece is tightly argued and well designed to challenge both violist and pianist. The music has many textures, ranging from spiky and rhythmic to lyrical and expressive and the performers held my interest. This disc comes with the title Convergences. I suspect violists and others as well should be searching out this very fine release.”
“Brahms and Clearfield, “Convergences: Music for viola by Brahms and Andrea Clearfield” performed by Violist Barbara Westphal and pianist Christian Ruvolo (Bridge). Violists may not get the hoopla lavished on top violinists, cellists and pianists, but there are many fine artists among them and Barbara Westphal is one of the best. Her new release offers an intriguing musical sandwich with American composer Andrea Clearfield’s 2008 “Convergence” (commissioned by Westphal) as the filler. Surrounded by the richer textures of Brahms’ late 19th century masterworks, Clearfield’s clearly modern “Convergence” provides an excellent pairing, with its leaner lines, its suggestion of open spaces in its clean textures, and with welcome inner contrasts provided by spiky, angular rhythmic declamations. The composer fully understands the characteristics of the viola and her music projects them eloquently, without any sense of clutter”.
Herman Trotter, Buffalo News. Read entire review here.
“Snugged in between the two Brahms sonatas is Convergence for viola and piano (which, tellingly, is also the title of this CD) by Philadelphia composer Andrea Clearfield. She knows the instruments well and finds expression in a broad dynamic range, beginning with aggressive, tautly coiled declarations at the bottom of the viola’s register, well into the territory of the cello. Somewhere in the middle of the piece, the solo piano leads the work into a more relaxed, even lyrical section that ties the music neatly to the Brahms. Eventually, the growling low notes of the viola return, only now somewhat tamed by all that had come before it. It’s an ambitious bit of abstract music from Clearfield, whom I associate with more episodic and narrative work, such as is heard in her large works for voices and mixed orchestra. This is a fine example of her ever increasing stylistic range”.
Peter Burwasser, Broad Street Review. Read entire review here.
“Clearfield meets Brahms. Living composers always risk unflattering comparisons with dead ones, but on the new Bridge-label disc Convergences by violist Barbara Westphal and pianist Christian Ruvolo, Philadelphia composer Andrea Clearfield is sandwiched between two Brahms sonatas with no ill effects. Much like Brahms, Clearfield’s Convergences balances formal rigor with a more flowing lyricism and stark emotional intensity that feels downright expressionistic.”
David Patrick Stearns, Classical Picks, The Philadelphia Inquirer, May 3, 2015
“Mediating between the two Brahms masterworks is Convergence (2008) by American composer Andrea Clearfield. This 11-minute work, commissioned by and dedicated to Barbara Westphal, is a brilliant development based on intervals and harmonic elements heard in the first two measures. An energetic and soberly lyrical dialog between the two instruments, this work follows its convergences and transformations with a Brahmsian logic.”
“Andrea Clearfield’s Convergence for viola and piano (2008) is flanked on the Convergences recording by Johannes Brahms’s Sonata for violin and piano, op. 78 and Sonata for violoncello and piano, op. 38, both transcribed for viola. Violist Barbara Westphal commissioned Convergence from Ms. Clearfield, thinking it would complement the transcribed Romantic works. And she thought correctly. Not that Convergence sounds anything like Brahms, but this recent one-movement work sustains its intensity and clarity of form with fluency and makes the most of its relatively short life…Ms. Clearfield’s awareness of and inventiveness for timbral mixing and the facility with which she balances structural and rhythmic shapes are always evident, as is her ability to realize the potentials of motivic continuity. Along the way she often and almost effortlessly shape-shifts between aggressive-rough and lyrical-smooth gestures. Convergence is a rhapsodic duet for viola and piano. You might say it is monomotivic, though not totally monothematic in the sense that the listener can discern the source of the tunes and harmonies and sweeping gestures; all transpires straight-forwardly yet subtly. The meta-kernel is heard at the start, innocently at first, and then, as if listening to itself, unspooling creatively and artfully discovering what’s possible. The manner in which Convergence knows what it’s about, and lets us know gradually and with clarity, seems to me to be the most defining quality of the work. The structure reveals itself from moment to moment with ease, with obeisance to its motivic origins, and with surprising and ultimately logical detours. An organic sensibility infuses the work…Despite recurrences, the varying length of dependent and independent phrases balance one another…each contributing to and continuing the momentum of the work, converging and diverging.”
“Receiving its first US performance was Andrea Clearfield’s Convergence (2008), a tightly crafted one movement essay for viola and piano. Almost Ravelian at times, this lyrical work explores the viola’s wooden tenor voice to great effect.”
“Clearfield made the widest leap in her new Kawa Ma Gyur (The Unchanging Pillar), a compact piece for chamber ensemble with dire-sounding harmonies and sinister bass writing…haunted landscapes…electronically manipulated field recordings took on ghostly ambiguity…it’s among her best.”
David Patrick Stearns, The Philadelphia Inquirer, November 23, 2010
“daring and imagination”…Kawa Ma Gyur, displays a firm sense of confidence by Clearfield, with more sustained tempos and an even finer sense of balance within a large structure. In some of the music’s freer moments, it reaches far beyond the Asian model, recalling the energy of early Stravinsky, and even the spaciousness of Morton Feldman. This is some of the most impressive writing I’ve heard from Clearfield. Keep it coming!”
Peter Burwasser, Broad Street Review, November 27, 2010
“The work is vivid and galvanizing with drum-driven propulsiveness of rock and incantatory choral chanting…In the central fourth movement, Clearfield achieves a timeless beauty with hushed and euphonious choral writing. Clearfield is a natural musical dramatist, and this is an exciting choral/orchestral showpiece.”
Joshua Rosenblum, Opera News Magazine, October 26, 2012
“Transformative music, impressive technically and expressive emotionally. Clearfield’s evocative music shifts athletically from eerie calm to outbursts of clashing tonalities. At all points, what one hears, vocally and instrumentally, accommodates and furthers the content. Clearfield has written a compact and colorful oratorio.”
Peter Jacobi, The Herald Times, Bloomington, Indiana, February 11, 2009
“…Consistently convincing and hugely effective…a Clearfield triumph…elucidating text meaning in deeply vivid ways within well-weighted, singable phrases that reflect mastery with large choral and instrumental forces.”
David Patrick Stearns, The Philadelphia Inquirer, May 23, 2006
“New music by esteemed Philadelphia composer Andrea Clearfield, was packed beyond standing room.. In the spirit of works being created for Yo-Yo Ma’s Silk Road Project, Lung-Ta captures the ethos of Eastern music with a nine-member Western chamber-music ensemble…all rendered with the precision of a composer who is out to make every note count.”
David Patrick Stearns, The Philadelphia Inquirer, March 10, 2009
“[Clearfield's] earlier work, Lung-ta, can be heard as a turning point. She dares herself to amalgamate a huge variety of instrumental timbres (a number of Tibetan wind and percussion instruments are used) and harmonic languages, and to integrate her field tapes of actual Tibetan chanting and playing. She dares herself to amalgamate a huge variety of instrumental timbres (a number of Tibetan wind and percussion instruments are used) and harmonic languages, and to integrate her field tapes of actual Tibetan chanting and playing. The success of Lung-ta speaks for itself; it has been performed at least four times since its premier more than a year ago, almost always to sold-out audiences.”
Peter Burwasser, Broad Street Review, November 27, 2010
“This is one of this increasingly well-regarded composer’s best works yet, featuring a lucid, naturally expressive blend of her usual lyric voice, spiced with Asian-flavored percussive dissonance and haunting taped field recordings of Tibetan prayer. The dancing, music and simple but evocative murals were completely of a piece.”
Peter Burwasser, The Philadelphia City Paper, March 24, 2009
“Clearfield has a considerable history of handling large-scale choral and orchestral forces that are a forum for social issues but also have artistic texture that gives them staying power. The music’s broadly drawn strokes touched emotional bases as only music can. It was bound to make the audience jump up and cheer at the end. And it did.”
David Patrick Stearns, The Philadelphia Inquirer, July 29, 2008
“Andrea Clearfield’s Rhapsodie made its impact through brightly invented color and sonic weaving… the work celebrated richness of sound and intriguing development. After bold flute outbursts, the work moved into a quiet summation that enforced its logical strength as well as completing its wide horizon of color.”
Daniel Webster, The Philadelphia Inquirer, May 11, 2009
“Clearfield understands that Debussy and Ravel worked with old-fashioned elements like melody and rhythm. She applied her creative imagination to all the factors that draw us into a musical performance and produced a piece that can stand comparison, on the same program, with the masterworks that inspired it.”
“… the composition had an organic evolution of visceral emotions, varying from the noble and brooding to the primitive and disturbing…evoking fire and energy mixed with dark and mysterious places of a mind contemplating its own nature. Clearfield’s piece succeeded not so much because it was in any way “French” but because of its daring use of many musical traditions that gave it a sense of the collective unconscious arising out of a deep well of introspection and experience. ”
“The newest item on Dolce Suono’s chamber program at the Art Museum was Andrea Clearfield’s Rhapsodie for Flute, Harp, and String Trio, a commission that Dolce Suono premiered earlier this year. Clearfield’s Rhapsodie is more structured than her title suggests, with an overall form built around a single theme. It’s more intense than the Roussel, but it ends with a final serene moment…All the performers get their moments in the spotlight, and all get some striking passages…It’s another addition to a catalogue that has made Clearfield one of Philadelphia’s most popular composers. ”
“Clearfield juggles traditional lyricism and genial polytonal collages with a virtuosity that never contradicted the title of her new piece, Romanza. It could be a lasting contribution to chamber concerto repertoire.”
David Patrick Stearns, The Philadelphia Inquirer, April 17, 2007
“Andrea Clearfield’s Romanza for Violin and Chamber Orchestra was deliberately written to evoke some of the great 19th century romantic repertoire, inspired by an image of Florence Freeman playing the violin with her family. Clearfield’s style has a lyrical romanticism to it combined with a richness and complexity of harmony…wonderfully rhapsodic.”
Robert Hugill, Fanfare Magazine, October 27, 2020
“A first-class woman violinist playing a first-class premiere by a woman composer was the best memorial James Freeman could have arranged for his mother.”
“Andrea Clearfield’s Into the Falcon’s Eye for 2 horns and piano brands this CD as ‘Save the Best for Last’. This is a jewel. Clearfield’s exploitation of the timbres and techniques – bends, glissandi, stopping and flutter – lays the souls of the instruments bare…”
Adrienne Fox, The Horn Player (Published by the British Horn Society), April, 2005
“Into the Falcon’s Eye was commissioned by Froydis Ree Wekre and was premiered at the Sarasota Music Festival in 2003. The horn parts and the piano are skillfully intertwined. This is a trio, not a duet with accompaniment. Pitch bending and stopped horn are used very effectively. The music is interesting and well written, superbly performed, and recorded with a clarity that makes the listener feel like a part of the ensemble.”
The Horn Call, May,2006
“Clearfield knows her territory and made most-effective use of the horns and their many and muted colors. Hopefully off on a brilliant career, Into the Falcon’s Eye will receive a second hearing at the International Women’s Brass Conference in Illinois.”
Gayle Williams, Sarasota Herald-Tribune, June 17, 2003
“Best moments belonged to Clearfield’s Concertino for Marimba and String Orchestra (2004)…recalling mid-20th century neo-classics such as Stravinsky’s chic, poised ballet Orpheus. Initially, the rhythmic possibilities of the marimba (played with masterful extroversion by Zator) were mirrored by the orchestra – no easy task – though 2001′s founder/director James Freeman placed greater emphasis on the charming, smoothly sailing orchestral passages, as well as spots where the orchestra is the soloist’s plush scenic backdrop.”
David Patrick Stearns, The Philadelphia Inquirer, October 8, 2014
“…the most striking elements were provided by the fluid, glistening interplay of the commissioning Debussy Trio (harp, viola, flute) and organist Christoph Bull.”
Richard S. Ginell, The Los Angeles Times, February 23, 2009
“’The Bridge’ from The Long Bright is a masterfully calculated emotional arc from terror to acceptance.”
David Patrick Stearns, The Philadelphia Inquirer, November 11, 2005
““The Clearfield cantata joins a long line of works, such as Britten’s War Requiem and John Corigliano’s Symphony No. 1, that speak their impassioned messages in no uncertain terms…Clearfield composed one movement as rap music (sung by a girls’ chorus), its rhythmic aggressiveness suggesting the mercilessness of disease, and, in a larger sense, the mercilessness of fate. There are also more original acts of compositional wizardry….one of the best pieces written recently by a Philadelphia composer.”
David Patrick Stearns, The Philadelphia Inquirer, May 23, 2004
“The Long Bright encompasses poems written by Baker’s widower, David Wolman, during her years of illness, as well as bits of music Baker composed herself. In the background is inspiration that Clearfield gleaned from listening to tapes of Baker singing and knowing her in her final years…The Long Bright reflects the diversity of her world, with traditional harmony at some turns and, in others, a pioneering style of choral rap music in which the chorus chants in angry syncopation.”
David Patrick Stearns, The Philadelphia Inquirer, April 22, 2004
“Mozart: Reloaded”, Kimmel Center, Fresh Ink Series
“Andrea Clearfield is a composer and scholar who for two decades has held a series of “Salons” in her home which hark back to the nineteenth century events hosted by patrons of the arts in Paris. From the ferment of the many innovative performances that have taken place in her living room, she drew on musicians with an experimental bent to “push the envelope” using sources in Mozart’s music. The result was a most lively, energetic, mind-expanding, and at times delightfully humorous evening that kept the overflow audience wide awake and at times thrilled…Andrea Clearfield is to be thanked for daring, in the words of T. S. Elliot, to “disturb the universe.”
Victor L. Schermer, www.allaboutjazz.com, February 5, 2006
Issue 41:1 (Sept/Oct 2017) Fanfare Magazine by Colin Clarke.
…ingenious and invigorating composition…inspiring and radiant creativity…a maturing masterpiece performed by a groundbreaking orchestra, two world class soloists and an acclaimed American actress and playwright. Ms. Clearfield has presented powerful and modern insights into the Women of the Old Testament, that at times gives your heart a tug and offers an intense musical and emotional reaction giving credence to one’s spirituality and religious journey. This CD “Women of Valor”, on the Albany Label should be required listening for those who wish to broaden their artistic perceptions of Life.
“Clearfield’s world premiere easily dominated the afternoon. For all its Romantic climaxes and affirmations of tonality, the work’s scoring is not at all heavy, even glistening. The lavishly whirling dance of Miriam was the chief crowd-pleaser.”
Richard S. Ginell, Los Angeles Times, April 18, 2000
““Women of Valor” was the most elaborate and imaginative new composition I’ve heard in the Valley in a long time. Clearfield reached far and deep in her work…”
Philip Metzger, The Morning Call, Allentown, PA, January 22, 2004
“Sensational! Fantastic! reported our West Coast correspondent on the premiere of Women of Valor at UCLA on April 16, 2000…I was unprepared for the sheer emotional impact of the piece…”
Deborah Kravitz, Penn Sounds, Fall, 2000
“Excerpts from Clearfield’s Women of Valor are woven through with exotic Semitic melodies and seized by a passionate need to communicate what’s behind the words.”
David Patrick Stearns, The Philadelphia Inquirer, November 11, 2005
“’Prayer’ (from Women of Valor) is both authentic and effective. Built on the cantillation of the biblical Hannah’s prayer, it was premiered at the 2001 opening ceremonies of the JCC Maccabi games in Philadelphia to commemorate the eleven Israeli athletes murdered at the 1972 Munich Olympics.”
Rabbi Baruch Cohon, Beverly Hills, Los Angeles
“The highlight of the concert was the preview performance of “Ruth’s Aria” from Andrea Clearfield’s Women of Valor. Based on poems by Marge Piercy, Ruth’s pledge echoes through the ages in text and notes, expressing Ruth’s longing…”
“…a remarkable work…like most great works, it is one which reveals more and more with each subsequent hearing. Ms. Clearfield has a thorough understanding of the capabilities, both technical and expressive, of the horn and piano and makes use of them.…a cohesive and convincing piece of music. This work indeed deserves a place among the standard horn and piano repertoire.”
Catherine Mayer, Penn Sounds, Fall, 1998
“…My personal favorite was the most recent and the least conventional: Andrea Clearfield’s Songs of the Wolf. Clearfield, a young composer from Philadelphia, gives the horn an imaginative role in this piece, yet the special effects — glissandi, falling off notes at the end — while evoking animal noises, only serve the musical ends. The music moves, develops, and builds, remaining tuneful but not trite. Carr and Nishimura play this music with an understanding of the gestures that held me through the piece.”
Jean Rife, Women of Note Quarterly, May, 1997
“Andrea Clearfield’s Songs of the Wolf is a masterpiece. Full of content, the music sends the horn soaring into the altissimo, and propels it with equal force into the subterranean haunts of the basso, letting the soloists remain captivating throughout. With a dark and complex programmatic story line which lures the imagination into the realm of myths, it is easy to see how the subject served as a wellspring of inspiration for the composer…this piece will be on every aspiring hornist’s audition list. It’ll be a shoe-in for that coveted chair!”
Charles Rutan, Penn Sounds, Summer, 1998
“American composer Clearfield has created a full-length programmatic piece describing a dark, brooding, at times foreboding look at the wolf and its environs. A fast-paced series of tableaus of differing nature highlights the aura of the piece. Stopping, muffling, and scooping are some of the aspects which add character to this unique work.”
John Dressler, Horn Call Journal
Publication of the International Horn Society, No. 28.2, February, 1998
“The centerpiece of this next release, deservedly so, is Andrea Clearfield’s Songs of the Wolf… Ms. Clearfield shows a keen understanding of the capabilities of the horn, even writing for effects unheard before by this reviewer. Ms. Clearfield musically portrays many moods connected with the idea of the wolf: nobility, playfulness, savagery of the hunt and loneliness of the hunted, even to the effect of baying at the moon. It is hoped that this is not the only work Ms. Clearfield will write for the horn…”
Catherine Mayer, Penn Sounds, Winter, 1998
“Clearfield’s work is probably the most intense work on this disc. Programmatic images of two poems regarding wolves and the terrain surrounding them are convincely “told” by Ms. Carr. Sections of wild abandon followed by subtle almost creeping motion is beautifully rendered… most impressive..”
John Dressler, Horn Call Journal
Publication of the International Horn Society, November, 1996, Vol. 27, #1
“I don’t think I can imagine Froydis Ree Wekre presenting a recital without a world premiere, and I was certainly not disappointed by Songs Of The Wolf by Andrea Clearfield, a beautiful and intense new work…””
Horn Call Journal, November, 1994
“It’s a pleasure to see the greatly gifted Andrea Clearfield represented on the excellent Songs of the Wolf CD (Crystal Records CD 678). Clearfield’s two-part work is deeply romantic in the best contemporary sense of that term, highly idiomatic and expressive.”
The new works for horn and piano such as Peter Askim’s A Door in the Dark, Nathan Pawelek’s Irremediable Breakdown, Brett Miller’s Hunting Songs, and River Melos by Andrea Clearfield highlight the low horn as a solo voice and not the often heard supporting voice. These are all exciting and important contributions to the low horn repertoire and I hope they frequently find their way into the performance hall. It is refreshing to hear this range of the horn treated as an individual voice that is capable of conveying as much musicality as the horn’s brilliant upper register.
The Horn Call, 2015
Tryon plays these works and other winning pieces by Nathan Pawelek, Dante Yenque and Andrea Clearfield with sonorous fluidity and dexterity.
“The large crowd that jammed Fleisher Art memorial on Sunday afternoon to hear Voces Novae et Antiquae seemed to surprise even the concert’s organizers. Extra seating had to be added to accommodate everyone who came to hear the premiere of Andrea Clearfield’s On the Pulse of Morning. Set to a poem Maya Angelou wrote for President Clinton’s inauguration, On the Pulse of Morning might be thought of as a secular oratorio. Hopeful and substantive, Clearfield layers an emotional story over Angelou’s. The composer crafts beautiful and strong melodies…the orchestra was charged with many interludes and lovely instrumental solos”
Peter Dobrin, The Philadelphia Inquirer, March, 1996
Love Song
“…The concert concluded with Andrea Clearfield’s Love Song, an almost abstract textual and music painting about urban love…wonderfully witty and dramatic piece. The afternoon concert ended on a perfect note.”
A.J. Wester, International Alliance for Women in Music Journal, Fall, 1997
Double Play
“Clearfield’s Double Play put keyboard and percussion through a seamless, no less taut, conversation…a vibrant work.”
“Andrea Clearfield’s Three Songs for Oboe and Double Bass (1996) are intricate and atmospheric, and they evoke the lyrical spirit of the Pablo Neruda poems that inspired them. They are also fascinating on purely technical grounds – for the way the oboe and bass lines fit together like puzzle pieces.”
“The three songs (inspired by “Body of a Woman”, “The Light Wraps You”, and “Every Day You Play”) have different characters: the first evolves out of an ostinato; the second is brief and more spacious; the third playful with a touch of Milhaud in its opening. Each is brief and spare, and none overstays their welcome. They have in common an intimacy that comes from the musical material being constantly and intensely shared, sometimes in strict imitation, sometimes with considerable transformation.”
Andrea Clearfield’s Three Songs for Oboe and Double Bass (1996) are complex and atmostpheric, while grasping the spirit of the Pablo Neruda poems that inspired them. The combination of instruments, as unusual as it is, is ideal for exploring the interplay of male and female as portrayed in Neruda’s Poems.
“These pieces have a variety, creativity and inner logic…”
The Double Reed, November, 2008
“Andrea Clearfield’s Three Songs after Poems by Pablo Neruda easily provided the most artistic depth of the evening.”
Roger A. Cope, Classical Voice of North Carolina, June, 2005
“Clearfield uses the unusual combination of oboe and double bass in a work composed for a married couple, bassist from the Philadelphia Orchestra, Robert Kesselman and his wife, oboist Jennifer Kuhns. The pieces take their inspiration from Pablo Neruda poems, and the music has sensuality and charm.”"
MusicWeb International, Carla Rees
Spirit Island
“If any piece pushes the coloristic tendencies of the group, it is Andrea Clearfield’s Spirit Island, the only work on the CD not commissioned by Dolce Suono. Inspired by a trip on Maligne Lake in Jasper National Park, Clearfield paints a vivid picture of the landscape. Her careful use of register and timbral modifications (from the use of natural harmonics and glissandi to simply requesting that the cellist not vibrate) creates a spacious sound world through which Dolce Suono expertly guides the listener.
Clearfield’s treatment of material particularly allows for this space. She is more gestural than the other three composers, her composition having more to do with the progression of space than contrasting melodies. This is especially true of her first movement, “Variations on a Dream,” in which she puts a four-note idea through a set of variations. Because of her attention to texture and excellent orchestration, this idea never feels overbearing. Instead, it creates a wholly natural evolution of music—it is easy to see how the furious closing section of this movement could have been contained in the spacious, soft piano clusters that open the work.”
I care if you listen, review of Dolce Suono’s CD American Canvas, James May, May 1, 2018.
“…this work is ethereal and deeply spiritual.”
Ted McIrvine, Classical Voice of North Carolina, Asheville, N.C., June 14, 2009
“Clearfield transposed her impressions into musical form. The dark ominous piano chords that open the first movement, ‘Variations on a Dream,’ hint at the forbidding mountain scenery. The second movement, ‘Rowing,’ with its staccato piano and syncopated rhythms reflect choppy waters in its spiky harmonies. Carol Wincenc on the flute, Fred Bretschger on the bass and Joy Michele Cline at the piano were delighted with the work.”
Florence Fisher, Sarasota Herald-Tribune, June 22, 1998
Unremembered Wings
“…a true chamber ensemble piece, with intricate interplay between the two instruments. This is a substantive and substantial work.”
Jerry Dublins, Fanfare Magazine, November/December, 2004
“Andrea Clearfield composed a sweet exoticism…. I loved the work.”
Peter Dobrin, The Philadelphia Inquirer, May 16, 2000
Reviews as Performer
Relâche
“After the intermission, Relâche played Matthew Shipp’s “Vortex Z”, a jazz score. Andrea Clearfield, the pianist, Douglas Mapp, the bassist, and Harvey Price, the percussionist, all brought the necessary rhythmic freedom and dynamic suppleness to their playing.”
Allan Koznin, The New York Times, May 14, 2003
Sarasota Music Festival
“Aaron Copland’s lovely Duo “to the memory of William Kincaid,” was performed with commitment and skill by pianist Andrea Clearfield and Carol Wincenc on flute.”
Richard Storm, Sarasota-Herald Tribune, June 21, 1997
Sometimes you can see your dreaming mind, A dance/music/poetry fusion
“Improvisation was in discrete sections, each exploring a certain texture or energy level. Pianist Clearfield was particularly effective: her improvisation wasn’t just about notes, but color and atmosphere.”
David Patrick Stearns. The Philadelphia Inquirer, September 14, 2004
Reviews
and low to the lake falls home
“The highlights of the program were the premieres of two scores commissioned for the ensemble. Andrea Clearfield’s “… and low to the lake falls home” was inspired by the poetry of Gerard Manley Hopkins and Adolf Heyduk, chosen by the composer and Ms. Wincenc. The texts, included in the program, are never heard, though their essence — particularly that of Hopkins’s “Spring and Fall, to a Young Child,” which inspired the introspective fourth movement — is palpable in the score. Ms. Clearfield’s consonant and melodic style, and the ease with which she moves between graceful tracery and lively, rhythmically vital writing, suits these instruments and players perfectly, and the trio gave the work the quicksilver performance it demanded.”
Allan Kozinn, The New York Times, February 24, 2010
“…appealing, open-hearted, confident…moods are skillfully evoked”
Leslie Kandell, American Record Guide, February 22, 2010
“…The 1940s had the emergence of Samuel Barber, Leonard Bernstein, and Gian Carlo Menotti, all from the Curtis Institute. The 1970s were dominated by George Rochberg, George Crumb, and Richard Wernick. Now, a more dispersed but no-less-interesting generation has emerged: The Philadelphia composers who have had high-profile premieres in major cities are all affiliated with different educational institutions or schools of composition. And three of the four are women. In February, University of the Arts faculty member Andrea Clearfield had a major chamber music premiere at New York’s Morgan Library, and low to the lake falls home, performed by Carol Wincenc, Cynthia Phelps, and Nancy Allen. Though Clearfield is known to write big works with a strong social conscience, this one is the soul of congeniality, seizing upon the most sensually attractive of Debussy’s final three chamber works, the Sonata for Viola, Flute and Harp, and expanding its basic idea with a more war-weary awareness of subsequent history – manifested in an intense counterpoint of musical ideas and interaction among the instruments.”
David Patrick Stearns, The Philadelphia Inquirer, May 2, 2010
Farlorn Alemen
“I have enjoyed Andrea Clearfield’s music previously, her Women of Valor on Albany (Fanfare 41:1). In that piece, one was aware of a clear compositional virtuosity; here she pens a slow Farlorn Alemen based on a Holocaust poem that is reprinted in the disc’s accompanying documentation. Taken from a song cycle for soprano and piano, this arrangement was written for Duo Sequenza and is positively haunting. On a personal level, this is the most touching music on the disc.” (“DUO SEQUENZA: YES, IT’S STILL A THING! Duo Sequenza (Debra Silvert, fl/alto fl; Paul Bowman, gtr) NAVONA 6467)
Colin Clarke, FANFARE Magazine, October, 2022
Alleluia
“Many alleluias – at turns complex, simple, strange, sad and always intriguing – were heard from Mendelssohn Club of Philadelphia in celebratory commissions, both titled “Alleluia,” from two of the city’s best-known composers, Jennifer Higdon and Andrea Clearfiel…Both composers were at their best. Clearfield’s “Alleluia” went against the grain of its title with an entrancing undercurrent of melancholy and even lapsing into tragedy. The piece ended with the choir using precisely honed exhaling rather than singing, with a strong sense of farewell.”
–David Patrick Stearns, Music Critic, The Philadelphia Inquirer, 3/7/2016
MILA, Great Sorcerer (Opera in 2 Acts)
“Of the nine performances I was able to attend, I was perhaps most pleasantly surprised by the premiere production of Andrea Clearfield’s mystical and dramatically compelling two-act opera MILA, Great Sorcerer (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED) at the Gerald W. Lynch Theater at John Hay College. Initially, it was indicated that the semi-staged concert, directed by the talented Kevin Newbury, would be closed to critical review. However, it was later deemed accessible to critics when the festival realized the staging’s ready-for-primetime projection attributes (the singing, orchestral playing, design, and direction were all top-notch). Ms. Clearfield’s colorful, expressive score was perhaps the most accomplished and mature of this year’s crop of compositions, which is saying a lot.”
–Andrian Dimanlig, VIEWPOINTS, Prototype Festival 2019
“MILA has an attractive score. Lush and rich without becoming cloying or dense, Clearfield’s music makes excellent use of the resources at hand, including several custom percussion instruments…the theatre was plunged into darkness while a number of tam tams continued to thrash and moan, a sonic exultation with lasting power.”
–Brin Solomon, National Sawdust, In Review: Prototype Festival 2019
The Drift of Things: Winter Songs
“She bore deep into the meaning of the text with full-fisted piano writing and vocal lines of considerable literary sensitivity.”
–David Patrick Stearns, Music Critic, The Philadelphia Inquirer, 1/28/2013
Convergence (2015 release on Bridge Records)
“But the real treat here is the world premiere recording of Andrea Clearfield’s work Convergence, a challenging, occasionally unsettling exposition in which the seasoned instrumental work of Westphal and Ruvolo achieve a rare and unique synthesis of
expression. An unimpeachable marriage of style and substance.”
Scene Magazine
“The two Brahms sonatas are separated by a work Westphal commissioned: Convergence (2008) by American Andrea Clearfield. This fine piece is tightly argued and well designed to challenge both violist and pianist. The music has many textures, ranging from spiky and rhythmic to lyrical and expressive and the performers held my interest. This disc comes with the title Convergences. I suspect violists and others as well should be searching out this very fine release.”
Paul L. Althouse, The American Record Guide, July/August 2015
“Brahms and Clearfield, “Convergences: Music for viola by Brahms and Andrea Clearfield” performed by Violist Barbara Westphal and pianist Christian Ruvolo (Bridge). Violists may not get the hoopla lavished on top violinists, cellists and pianists, but there are many fine artists among them and Barbara Westphal is one of the best. Her new release offers an intriguing musical sandwich with American composer Andrea Clearfield’s 2008 “Convergence” (commissioned by Westphal) as the filler. Surrounded by the richer textures of Brahms’ late 19th century masterworks, Clearfield’s clearly modern “Convergence” provides an excellent pairing, with its leaner lines, its suggestion of open spaces in its clean textures, and with welcome inner contrasts provided by spiky, angular rhythmic declamations. The composer fully understands the characteristics of the viola and her music projects them eloquently, without any sense of clutter”.
Herman Trotter, Buffalo News. Read entire review here.
“Snugged in between the two Brahms sonatas is Convergence for viola and piano (which, tellingly, is also the title of this CD) by Philadelphia composer Andrea Clearfield. She knows the instruments well and finds expression in a broad dynamic range, beginning with aggressive, tautly coiled declarations at the bottom of the viola’s register, well into the territory of the cello. Somewhere in the middle of the piece, the solo piano leads the work into a more relaxed, even lyrical section that ties the music neatly to the Brahms. Eventually, the growling low notes of the viola return, only now somewhat tamed by all that had come before it. It’s an ambitious bit of abstract music from Clearfield, whom I associate with more episodic and narrative work, such as is heard in her large works for voices and mixed orchestra. This is a fine example of her ever increasing stylistic range”.
Peter Burwasser, Broad Street Review. Read entire review here.
“Clearfield meets Brahms. Living composers always risk unflattering comparisons with dead ones, but on the new Bridge-label disc Convergences by violist Barbara Westphal and pianist Christian Ruvolo, Philadelphia composer Andrea Clearfield is sandwiched between two Brahms sonatas with no ill effects. Much like Brahms, Clearfield’s Convergences balances formal rigor with a more flowing lyricism and stark emotional intensity that feels downright expressionistic.”
David Patrick Stearns, Classical Picks, The Philadelphia Inquirer, May 3, 2015
“Mediating between the two Brahms masterworks is Convergence (2008) by American composer Andrea Clearfield. This 11-minute work, commissioned by and dedicated to Barbara Westphal, is a brilliant development based on intervals and harmonic elements heard in the first two measures. An energetic and soberly lyrical dialog between the two instruments, this work follows its convergences and transformations with a Brahmsian logic.”
Review of CD Convergences on Bridge Records Phil’s Classical Reviews. Audio Video Club of Atlanta, June 2015
“Andrea Clearfield’s Convergence for viola and piano (2008) is flanked on the Convergences recording by Johannes Brahms’s Sonata for violin and piano, op. 78 and Sonata for violoncello and piano, op. 38, both transcribed for viola. Violist Barbara Westphal commissioned Convergence from Ms. Clearfield, thinking it would complement the transcribed Romantic works. And she thought correctly. Not that Convergence sounds anything like Brahms, but this recent one-movement work sustains its intensity and clarity of form with fluency and makes the most of its relatively short life…Ms. Clearfield’s awareness of and inventiveness for timbral mixing and the facility with which she balances structural and rhythmic shapes are always evident, as is her ability to realize the potentials of motivic continuity. Along the way she often and almost effortlessly shape-shifts between aggressive-rough and lyrical-smooth gestures. Convergence is a rhapsodic duet for viola and piano. You might say it is monomotivic, though not totally monothematic in the sense that the listener can discern the source of the tunes and harmonies and sweeping gestures; all transpires straight-forwardly yet subtly. The meta-kernel is heard at the start, innocently at first, and then, as if listening to itself, unspooling creatively and artfully discovering what’s possible. The manner in which Convergence knows what it’s about, and lets us know gradually and with clarity, seems to me to be the most defining quality of the work. The structure reveals itself from moment to moment with ease, with obeisance to its motivic origins, and with surprising and ultimately logical detours. An organic sensibility infuses the work…Despite recurrences, the varying length of dependent and independent phrases balance one another…each contributing to and continuing the momentum of the work, converging and diverging.”
International Alliance for Women in Music Journal, Spring 2016, Elaine R. Barkin. Full review:Convergence, IAWM Journal, Spring, 2016
“Receiving its first US performance was Andrea Clearfield’s Convergence (2008), a tightly crafted one movement essay for viola and piano. Almost Ravelian at times, this lyrical work explores the viola’s wooden tenor voice to great effect.”
I Care If You Listen magazine, Ed. 8, 2014
Kawa Ma Gyur
“Clearfield made the widest leap in her new Kawa Ma Gyur (The Unchanging Pillar), a compact piece for chamber ensemble with dire-sounding harmonies and sinister bass writing…haunted landscapes…electronically manipulated field recordings took on ghostly ambiguity…it’s among her best.”
David Patrick Stearns, The Philadelphia Inquirer, November 23, 2010
“daring and imagination”…Kawa Ma Gyur, displays a firm sense of confidence by Clearfield, with more sustained tempos and an even finer sense of balance within a large structure. In some of the music’s freer moments, it reaches far beyond the Asian model, recalling the energy of early Stravinsky, and even the spaciousness of Morton Feldman. This is some of the most impressive writing I’ve heard from Clearfield. Keep it coming!”
Peter Burwasser, Broad Street Review, November 27, 2010
The Golem Psalms
“The work is vivid and galvanizing with drum-driven propulsiveness of rock and incantatory choral chanting…In the central fourth movement, Clearfield achieves a timeless beauty with hushed and euphonious choral writing. Clearfield is a natural musical dramatist, and this is an exciting choral/orchestral showpiece.”
Joshua Rosenblum, Opera News Magazine, October 26, 2012
“Transformative music, impressive technically and expressive emotionally. Clearfield’s evocative music shifts athletically from eerie calm to outbursts of clashing tonalities. At all points, what one hears, vocally and instrumentally, accommodates and furthers the content. Clearfield has written a compact and colorful oratorio.”
Peter Jacobi, The Herald Times, Bloomington, Indiana, February 11, 2009
“…Consistently convincing and hugely effective…a Clearfield triumph…elucidating text meaning in deeply vivid ways within well-weighted, singable phrases that reflect mastery with large choral and instrumental forces.”
David Patrick Stearns, The Philadelphia Inquirer, May 23, 2006
Lung-Ta (The Windhorse)
“…stunning premiere…”
The Philadelphia Inquirer, March 13, 2009
“New music by esteemed Philadelphia composer Andrea Clearfield, was packed beyond standing room.. In the spirit of works being created for Yo-Yo Ma’s Silk Road Project, Lung-Ta captures the ethos of Eastern music with a nine-member Western chamber-music ensemble…all rendered with the precision of a composer who is out to make every note count.”
David Patrick Stearns, The Philadelphia Inquirer, March 10, 2009
“[Clearfield's] earlier work, Lung-ta, can be heard as a turning point. She dares herself to amalgamate a huge variety of instrumental timbres (a number of Tibetan wind and percussion instruments are used) and harmonic languages, and to integrate her field tapes of actual Tibetan chanting and playing. She dares herself to amalgamate a huge variety of instrumental timbres (a number of Tibetan wind and percussion instruments are used) and harmonic languages, and to integrate her field tapes of actual Tibetan chanting and playing. The success of Lung-ta speaks for itself; it has been performed at least four times since its premier more than a year ago, almost always to sold-out audiences.”
Peter Burwasser, Broad Street Review, November 27, 2010
“This is one of this increasingly well-regarded composer’s best works yet, featuring a lucid, naturally expressive blend of her usual lyric voice, spiced with Asian-flavored percussive dissonance and haunting taped field recordings of Tibetan prayer. The dancing, music and simple but evocative murals were completely of a piece.”
Peter Burwasser, The Philadelphia City Paper, March 24, 2009
Kabo Omowale (Philadelphia Orchestra premiere)
“Clearfield has a considerable history of handling large-scale choral and orchestral forces that are a forum for social issues but also have artistic texture that gives them staying power. The music’s broadly drawn strokes touched emotional bases as only music can. It was bound to make the audience jump up and cheer at the end. And it did.”
David Patrick Stearns, The Philadelphia Inquirer, July 29, 2008
“Powerful”
The Philadelphia Daily News, January 15, 2010
The Drift of Things; Winter Songs
“…she bore deep into the meaning of the text with full-fisted piano writing and vocal lines of considerable literary sensitivity.”
David Patrick Stearns, The Philadelphia Inquirer, January 29, 2013
Rhapsodie
“Andrea Clearfield’s Rhapsodie made its impact through brightly invented color and sonic weaving… the work celebrated richness of sound and intriguing development. After bold flute outbursts, the work moved into a quiet summation that enforced its logical strength as well as completing its wide horizon of color.”
Daniel Webster, The Philadelphia Inquirer, May 11, 2009
“Clearfield understands that Debussy and Ravel worked with old-fashioned elements like melody and rhythm. She applied her creative imagination to all the factors that draw us into a musical performance and produced a piece that can stand comparison, on the same program, with the masterworks that inspired it.”
Tom Purdom, Broad Street Review, April 27, 2011
“… the composition had an organic evolution of visceral emotions, varying from the noble and brooding to the primitive and disturbing…evoking fire and energy mixed with dark and mysterious places of a mind contemplating its own nature. Clearfield’s piece succeeded not so much because it was in any way “French” but because of its daring use of many musical traditions that gave it a sense of the collective unconscious arising out of a deep well of introspection and experience. ”
Victor L. Schermer, broadstreetreview.com, May 12, 2009
“…an intense, riveting piece.”
Tom Purdom, broadstreetreview.com, May 12, 2009
“The newest item on Dolce Suono’s chamber program at the Art Museum was Andrea Clearfield’s Rhapsodie for Flute, Harp, and String Trio, a commission that Dolce Suono premiered earlier this year. Clearfield’s Rhapsodie is more structured than her title suggests, with an overall form built around a single theme. It’s more intense than the Roussel, but it ends with a final serene moment…All the performers get their moments in the spotlight, and all get some striking passages…It’s another addition to a catalogue that has made Clearfield one of Philadelphia’s most popular composers. ”
Tom Purdom, broadstreetreview.com, November 18, 2009
Romanza
“Clearfield juggles traditional lyricism and genial polytonal collages with a virtuosity that never contradicted the title of her new piece, Romanza. It could be a lasting contribution to chamber concerto repertoire.”
David Patrick Stearns, The Philadelphia Inquirer, April 17, 2007
“Andrea Clearfield’s Romanza for Violin and Chamber Orchestra was deliberately written to evoke some of the great 19th century romantic repertoire, inspired by an image of Florence Freeman playing the violin with her family. Clearfield’s style has a lyrical romanticism to it combined with a richness and complexity of harmony…wonderfully rhapsodic.”
Robert Hugill, Fanfare Magazine, October 27, 2020
“A first-class woman violinist playing a first-class premiere by a woman composer was the best memorial James Freeman could have arranged for his mother.”
Tom Purdom, broadstreetreview.com, April 28, 2007
Into the Falcon’s Eye
“Andrea Clearfield’s Into the Falcon’s Eye for 2 horns and piano brands this CD as ‘Save the Best for Last’. This is a jewel. Clearfield’s exploitation of the timbres and techniques – bends, glissandi, stopping and flutter – lays the souls of the instruments bare…”
Adrienne Fox, The Horn Player (Published by the British Horn Society), April, 2005
“Into the Falcon’s Eye was commissioned by Froydis Ree Wekre and was premiered at the Sarasota Music Festival in 2003. The horn parts and the piano are skillfully intertwined. This is a trio, not a duet with accompaniment. Pitch bending and stopped horn are used very effectively. The music is interesting and well written, superbly performed, and recorded with a clarity that makes the listener feel like a part of the ensemble.”
The Horn Call, May,2006
“Clearfield knows her territory and made most-effective use of the horns and their many and muted colors. Hopefully off on a brilliant career, Into the Falcon’s Eye will receive a second hearing at the International Women’s Brass Conference in Illinois.”
Gayle Williams, Sarasota Herald-Tribune, June 17, 2003
Concertino for Marimba and Strings Orchestra
“Best moments belonged to Clearfield’s Concertino for Marimba and String Orchestra (2004)…recalling mid-20th century neo-classics such as Stravinsky’s chic, poised ballet Orpheus. Initially, the rhythmic possibilities of the marimba (played with masterful extroversion by Zator) were mirrored by the orchestra – no easy task – though 2001′s founder/director James Freeman placed greater emphasis on the charming, smoothly sailing orchestral passages, as well as spots where the orchestra is the soloist’s plush scenic backdrop.”
David Patrick Stearns, The Philadelphia Inquirer, October 8, 2014
“…a thoroughly convincing piece…inventive…entrancing.”
David Patrick Stearns, The Philadelphia Inquirer, April 5, 2005
Dream Variations
“…the most striking elements were provided by the fluid, glistening interplay of the commissioning Debussy Trio (harp, viola, flute) and organist Christoph Bull.”
Richard S. Ginell, The Los Angeles Times, February 23, 2009
The Long Bright
“’The Bridge’ from The Long Bright is a masterfully calculated emotional arc from terror to acceptance.”
David Patrick Stearns, The Philadelphia Inquirer, November 11, 2005
““The Clearfield cantata joins a long line of works, such as Britten’s War Requiem and John Corigliano’s Symphony No. 1, that speak their impassioned messages in no uncertain terms…Clearfield composed one movement as rap music (sung by a girls’ chorus), its rhythmic aggressiveness suggesting the mercilessness of disease, and, in a larger sense, the mercilessness of fate. There are also more original acts of compositional wizardry….one of the best pieces written recently by a Philadelphia composer.”
David Patrick Stearns, The Philadelphia Inquirer, May 23, 2004
“The Long Bright encompasses poems written by Baker’s widower, David Wolman, during her years of illness, as well as bits of music Baker composed herself. In the background is inspiration that Clearfield gleaned from listening to tapes of Baker singing and knowing her in her final years…The Long Bright reflects the diversity of her world, with traditional harmony at some turns and, in others, a pioneering style of choral rap music in which the chorus chants in angry syncopation.”
David Patrick Stearns, The Philadelphia Inquirer, April 22, 2004
“Mozart: Reloaded”, Kimmel Center, Fresh Ink Series
“Andrea Clearfield is a composer and scholar who for two decades has held a series of “Salons” in her home which hark back to the nineteenth century events hosted by patrons of the arts in Paris. From the ferment of the many innovative performances that have taken place in her living room, she drew on musicians with an experimental bent to “push the envelope” using sources in Mozart’s music. The result was a most lively, energetic, mind-expanding, and at times delightfully humorous evening that kept the overflow audience wide awake and at times thrilled…Andrea Clearfield is to be thanked for daring, in the words of T. S. Elliot, to “disturb the universe.”
Victor L. Schermer, www.allaboutjazz.com, February 5, 2006
Women of Valor
“A major work”, “remarkable scoring”, “highly atmospheric”, “incredibly skillful contrapuntal brass writing”.
Issue 41:1 (Sept/Oct 2017) Fanfare Magazine by Colin Clarke.
…ingenious and invigorating composition…inspiring and radiant creativity…a maturing masterpiece performed by a groundbreaking orchestra, two world class soloists and an acclaimed American actress and playwright. Ms. Clearfield has presented powerful and modern insights into the Women of the Old Testament, that at times gives your heart a tug and offers an intense musical and emotional reaction giving credence to one’s spirituality and religious journey. This CD “Women of Valor”, on the Albany Label should be required listening for those who wish to broaden their artistic perceptions of Life.
Stan Schmidt, Producer/Host, Going Beyond Words, October 8, 2017
“Clearfield’s world premiere easily dominated the afternoon. For all its Romantic climaxes and affirmations of tonality, the work’s scoring is not at all heavy, even glistening. The lavishly whirling dance of Miriam was the chief crowd-pleaser.”
Richard S. Ginell, Los Angeles Times, April 18, 2000
““Women of Valor” was the most elaborate and imaginative new composition I’ve heard in the Valley in a long time. Clearfield reached far and deep in her work…”
Philip Metzger, The Morning Call, Allentown, PA, January 22, 2004
“Sensational! Fantastic! reported our West Coast correspondent on the premiere of Women of Valor at UCLA on April 16, 2000…I was unprepared for the sheer emotional impact of the piece…”
Deborah Kravitz, Penn Sounds, Fall, 2000
“Excerpts from Clearfield’s Women of Valor are woven through with exotic Semitic melodies and seized by a passionate need to communicate what’s behind the words.”
David Patrick Stearns, The Philadelphia Inquirer, November 11, 2005
“’Prayer’ (from Women of Valor) is both authentic and effective. Built on the cantillation of the biblical Hannah’s prayer, it was premiered at the 2001 opening ceremonies of the JCC Maccabi games in Philadelphia to commemorate the eleven Israeli athletes murdered at the 1972 Munich Olympics.”
Rabbi Baruch Cohon, Beverly Hills, Los Angeles
“The highlight of the concert was the preview performance of “Ruth’s Aria” from Andrea Clearfield’s Women of Valor. Based on poems by Marge Piercy, Ruth’s pledge echoes through the ages in text and notes, expressing Ruth’s longing…”
Deborah Kravetz, Penn Sounds, Spring, 2000
Songs of the Wolf
“…a remarkable work…like most great works, it is one which reveals more and more with each subsequent hearing. Ms. Clearfield has a thorough understanding of the capabilities, both technical and expressive, of the horn and piano and makes use of them.…a cohesive and convincing piece of music. This work indeed deserves a place among the standard horn and piano repertoire.”
Catherine Mayer, Penn Sounds, Fall, 1998
“…My personal favorite was the most recent and the least conventional: Andrea Clearfield’s Songs of the Wolf. Clearfield, a young composer from Philadelphia, gives the horn an imaginative role in this piece, yet the special effects — glissandi, falling off notes at the end — while evoking animal noises, only serve the musical ends. The music moves, develops, and builds, remaining tuneful but not trite. Carr and Nishimura play this music with an understanding of the gestures that held me through the piece.”
Jean Rife, Women of Note Quarterly, May, 1997
“Andrea Clearfield’s Songs of the Wolf is a masterpiece. Full of content, the music sends the horn soaring into the altissimo, and propels it with equal force into the subterranean haunts of the basso, letting the soloists remain captivating throughout. With a dark and complex programmatic story line which lures the imagination into the realm of myths, it is easy to see how the subject served as a wellspring of inspiration for the composer…this piece will be on every aspiring hornist’s audition list. It’ll be a shoe-in for that coveted chair!”
Charles Rutan, Penn Sounds, Summer, 1998
“American composer Clearfield has created a full-length programmatic piece describing a dark, brooding, at times foreboding look at the wolf and its environs. A fast-paced series of tableaus of differing nature highlights the aura of the piece. Stopping, muffling, and scooping are some of the aspects which add character to this unique work.”
John Dressler, Horn Call Journal
Publication of the International Horn Society, No. 28.2, February, 1998
“The centerpiece of this next release, deservedly so, is Andrea Clearfield’s Songs of the Wolf… Ms. Clearfield shows a keen understanding of the capabilities of the horn, even writing for effects unheard before by this reviewer. Ms. Clearfield musically portrays many moods connected with the idea of the wolf: nobility, playfulness, savagery of the hunt and loneliness of the hunted, even to the effect of baying at the moon. It is hoped that this is not the only work Ms. Clearfield will write for the horn…”
Catherine Mayer, Penn Sounds, Winter, 1998
“Clearfield’s work is probably the most intense work on this disc. Programmatic images of two poems regarding wolves and the terrain surrounding them are convincely “told” by Ms. Carr. Sections of wild abandon followed by subtle almost creeping motion is beautifully rendered… most impressive..”
John Dressler, Horn Call Journal
Publication of the International Horn Society, November, 1996, Vol. 27, #1
“I don’t think I can imagine Froydis Ree Wekre presenting a recital without a world premiere, and I was certainly not disappointed by Songs Of The Wolf by Andrea Clearfield, a beautiful and intense new work…””
Horn Call Journal, November, 1994
“It’s a pleasure to see the greatly gifted Andrea Clearfield represented on the excellent Songs of the Wolf CD (Crystal Records CD 678). Clearfield’s two-part work is deeply romantic in the best contemporary sense of that term, highly idiomatic and expressive.”
Harry Hewitt, Penn Sounds, Summer, 1997
River Melos
The new works for horn and piano such as Peter Askim’s A Door in the Dark, Nathan Pawelek’s Irremediable Breakdown, Brett Miller’s Hunting Songs, and River Melos by Andrea Clearfield highlight the low horn as a solo voice and not the often heard supporting voice. These are all exciting and important contributions to the low horn repertoire and I hope they frequently find their way into the performance hall. It is refreshing to hear this range of the horn treated as an individual voice that is capable of conveying as much musicality as the horn’s brilliant upper register.
The Horn Call, 2015
Tryon plays these works and other winning pieces by Nathan Pawelek, Dante Yenque and Andrea Clearfield with sonorous fluidity and dexterity.
Grammophone, Donald Rosenberg, January, 2016
On the Pulse of Morning
“The large crowd that jammed Fleisher Art memorial on Sunday afternoon to hear Voces Novae et Antiquae seemed to surprise even the concert’s organizers. Extra seating had to be added to accommodate everyone who came to hear the premiere of Andrea Clearfield’s On the Pulse of Morning. Set to a poem Maya Angelou wrote for President Clinton’s inauguration, On the Pulse of Morning might be thought of as a secular oratorio. Hopeful and substantive, Clearfield layers an emotional story over Angelou’s. The composer crafts beautiful and strong melodies…the orchestra was charged with many interludes and lovely instrumental solos”
Peter Dobrin, The Philadelphia Inquirer, March, 1996
Love Song
“…The concert concluded with Andrea Clearfield’s Love Song, an almost abstract textual and music painting about urban love…wonderfully witty and dramatic piece. The afternoon concert ended on a perfect note.”
A.J. Wester, International Alliance for Women in Music Journal, Fall, 1997
Double Play
“Clearfield’s Double Play put keyboard and percussion through a seamless, no less taut, conversation…a vibrant work.”
Tim Smith, The Baltimore Sun, November 8, 2001
Three Songs for Oboe and Double Bass (After poems by Neruda)
“Andrea Clearfield’s Three Songs for Oboe and Double Bass (1996) are intricate and atmospheric, and they evoke the lyrical spirit of the Pablo Neruda poems that inspired them. They are also fascinating on purely technical grounds – for the way the oboe and bass lines fit together like puzzle pieces.”
Portland Press Herald, Allan Kozinn, November 6, 2016
“The three songs (inspired by “Body of a Woman”, “The Light Wraps You”, and “Every Day You Play”) have different characters: the first evolves out of an ostinato; the second is brief and more spacious; the third playful with a touch of Milhaud in its opening. Each is brief and spare, and none overstays their welcome. They have in common an intimacy that comes from the musical material being constantly and intensely shared, sometimes in strict imitation, sometimes with considerable transformation.”
Brian Schuth, The Boston Musical Intelligencer, February 1, 2015
Andrea Clearfield’s Three Songs for Oboe and Double Bass (1996) are complex and atmostpheric, while grasping the spirit of the Pablo Neruda poems that inspired them. The combination of instruments, as unusual as it is, is ideal for exploring the interplay of male and female as portrayed in Neruda’s Poems.
Main Classical Beat, Christopher Hyde, October 30, 2016
“These pieces have a variety, creativity and inner logic…”
The Double Reed, November, 2008
“Andrea Clearfield’s Three Songs after Poems by Pablo Neruda easily provided the most artistic depth of the evening.”
Roger A. Cope, Classical Voice of North Carolina, June, 2005
“Clearfield uses the unusual combination of oboe and double bass in a work composed for a married couple, bassist from the Philadelphia Orchestra, Robert Kesselman and his wife, oboist Jennifer Kuhns. The pieces take their inspiration from Pablo Neruda poems, and the music has sensuality and charm.”"
MusicWeb International, Carla Rees
Spirit Island
“If any piece pushes the coloristic tendencies of the group, it is Andrea Clearfield’s Spirit Island, the only work on the CD not commissioned by Dolce Suono. Inspired by a trip on Maligne Lake in Jasper National Park, Clearfield paints a vivid picture of the landscape. Her careful use of register and timbral modifications (from the use of natural harmonics and glissandi to simply requesting that the cellist not vibrate) creates a spacious sound world through which Dolce Suono expertly guides the listener.
Clearfield’s treatment of material particularly allows for this space. She is more gestural than the other three composers, her composition having more to do with the progression of space than contrasting melodies. This is especially true of her first movement, “Variations on a Dream,” in which she puts a four-note idea through a set of variations. Because of her attention to texture and excellent orchestration, this idea never feels overbearing. Instead, it creates a wholly natural evolution of music—it is easy to see how the furious closing section of this movement could have been contained in the spacious, soft piano clusters that open the work.”
I care if you listen, review of Dolce Suono’s CD American Canvas, James May, May 1, 2018.
“…this work is ethereal and deeply spiritual.”
Ted McIrvine, Classical Voice of North Carolina, Asheville, N.C., June 14, 2009
“Clearfield transposed her impressions into musical form. The dark ominous piano chords that open the first movement, ‘Variations on a Dream,’ hint at the forbidding mountain scenery. The second movement, ‘Rowing,’ with its staccato piano and syncopated rhythms reflect choppy waters in its spiky harmonies. Carol Wincenc on the flute, Fred Bretschger on the bass and Joy Michele Cline at the piano were delighted with the work.”
Florence Fisher, Sarasota Herald-Tribune, June 22, 1998
Unremembered Wings
“…a true chamber ensemble piece, with intricate interplay between the two instruments. This is a substantive and substantial work.”
Jerry Dublins, Fanfare Magazine, November/December, 2004
Awake at Dawn
“Andrea Clearfield composed a sweet exoticism…. I loved the work.”
Peter Dobrin, The Philadelphia Inquirer, May 16, 2000
Reviews as Performer
Relâche
“After the intermission, Relâche played Matthew Shipp’s “Vortex Z”, a jazz score. Andrea Clearfield, the pianist, Douglas Mapp, the bassist, and Harvey Price, the percussionist, all brought the necessary rhythmic freedom and dynamic suppleness to their playing.”
Allan Koznin, The New York Times, May 14, 2003
Sarasota Music Festival
“Aaron Copland’s lovely Duo “to the memory of William Kincaid,” was performed with commitment and skill by pianist Andrea Clearfield and Carol Wincenc on flute.”
Richard Storm, Sarasota-Herald Tribune, June 21, 1997
Sometimes you can see your dreaming mind, A dance/music/poetry fusion
“Improvisation was in discrete sections, each exploring a certain texture or energy level. Pianist Clearfield was particularly effective: her improvisation wasn’t just about notes, but color and atmosphere.”
David Patrick Stearns. The Philadelphia Inquirer, September 14, 2004
Photo by Sanny Leviste
Romanza (2007)
For Violin and Chamber Orchestra
Commissioned and premiered by Orchestra 2001
The Long Bright (2004)
For soprano, children’s chorus and orchestra
Commissioned by David Wolman
The Golem Psalms (2006)
For baritone, SATB chorus and orchestra
Commissioned by The Mendelssohn Club
Three Songs for Violin and Double Bass after poems by Pablo Neruda (1998)
For Heide Sibley and Edgar Meyer
Hannah’s Prayer from Women of Valor (2000)
For soprano, mezzo-soprano, narrator and orchestra