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"...the integrity, craftsmanship, and expressive force of these quartets--and indeed everything on this superbly-played-and-recorded program--maintain a consistently exalted level. Quartet 3, in particular, is a splendid achievement.
Anyone devoted to well-made 20th Century chamber music will admire and enjoy all four pieces, as I do. Sawyer is a composer of considerable skill and stature, and I hope to see more of his music issued soon.
Washington, D.C.
"The members of the Laurel Trio ... brought a very attractive new piece to their concert on Friday. Eric Sawyer's "Three for Trio" is the work of a person who is entirely at ease with traditional tonality stretched to its limits, who weaves powerful statements into his textures and who believes that lyricism still has a place in contemporary music. Its three movements are concise without being spare and, seemingly, entirely unself-conscious, and it received a committed performance."
Joan Reinthaler
Washington Post
Boston, Massachusetts
"world premiere of Eric Sawyer's Contours,'' a three-movement work for clarinet and piano... Sawyer has written a delightful piece that's accessible, sophisticated and, above all, witty.
The jagged first movement (it's titled ``Crags'' - each movement depicts a kind of landscape) has the instruments imitating each other, sometimes wildly, as if in a competitive improvisation. The slow ``Slopes'' movement brings to mind images of a lazy summer afternoon, the two musical lines gently intertwining, with the clarinet going off on occasional flights of fancy. And in the finale, ``Bumps,'' the instruments do mock battle in a joyful cat-and-mouse game. Who wins? The listener."
T.J. Medrek
Boston Herald
River of Love, a celebration of Shaker music
…premiere of a new work crafted around Shaker themes by Eric Sawyer, called The Humble Heart …a cantata based on traditional texts from the American Shakers, centering on community rites of humility and mystical experience. [Sawyer] scores parts of the work for children, both singing and playing instruments, to highlight the role of children in Shaker communities as well as to echo the attitude of simplicity and playfulness present in many of his chosen texts.
Clifton
J. Noble Jr.
Springfield
Examiner
The
Ives Quartet presents
Sawyer's Quartet #2
"The highlight of the evening,.... Eric Sawyer's Quartet No. 2, was immediately appealing and left me looking forward to further performances of this composer's work. The second movement in particular was memorable, combining beautiful melodic material presented in the kind of deeply personal and heartfelt counterpoint reminiscent of a late Beethoven quartet.
...The other movements, lighter in character, were also attractive on first hearing. Sawyer clearly knows how to write for string quartet, filling his music with lots of interesting interplay, unpredictable rhythmic flashes, and virtuosic challenges. It all added up to a premiere that was thought provoking, moving, and altogether entertaining. "
Steven
Miller
San Francisco Classical Voice
"This
quartet [
...these Bagatelles [ Five Bagatelles for cello and piano] are brief and witty, and would make a wonderful addition to any cellist's repertoire."
Sarah
Freiberg
Strings
Boston , Massachusetts
The Boston Globe
Our American Cousin, Amherst Gazette
"...The music is so beautiful and so startling that it really expresses the essence of [Lincoln], of the event and the wrenching change of the times, ...There's a rawness to it that really opens your heart up to that and [echoes] what [so many of us] are feeling right now."
Composers in Red Sneakers concert
Eric Sawyer knows how to write for chorus, and his Three Choruses from Ecclesiastes, shiningly sung by The Seraphim Singers, was notable for fine prosody and meaningful, pleasant harmonies: it recalled Samuel Barber’s Reincarnations cycle.
Stephen Marc Beaudoin
