Praise for BLUE RIDGE AIRS II on Paula Live!


Kenneth Frazelle's Blue Ridge Airs II is the standout track on this album. The structure is sometimes predictable, but the writing is always intelligent. It's hard to write a folk music-related piece that quotes hymn tunes and uses mild dissonance and open fifths without sounding like Copland or Ives, but Frazelle keeps it from being merely derivative. Some extended technique creates bird-call effect at one point, and he does not over-use it. He connects the hazier sections with the busier exceptionally well, and nothing sounds forced or contrived. The score calls for some playing inside the piano that imitates a hammered dulcimer. Airs II is one of the best mixes of classical disciplines, useful dissonances, and an Americana atmosphere that I've ever heard. Everything it thought out and necessary. If the rest of Frazelle's music is as good as this more people need to hear it.
--AMERICAN RECORD GUIDE

Blue Ridge Airs II , by Kenneth Frazelle, is probably the most spectacular...in terms of excitement and effect. With quotes from different sources, it explores the flute's ability to create explosive virtuostic passages, and is the kind of piece that will make the audience cheer wildly at the end of the recital.
--FANFARE