Los Angeles Times
Review: What's Next? Ensemble Deftly Explores Space, Time & Place
"...guitarist Alexander Elliott Miller, one of the ensemble’s directors, began in a deceptively laid-back L.A. way as preparation for foisting on the viola inventive electric guitar effects and a battery of unconventional percussion ones."
LAist
This Electric Guitar Album Puts You Inside 6 LA-Area Landmarks That Are Long Gone
"Inspired by real pieces of local history, each of the instrumental songs creates a soundscape, rooting you in a place through the use of ambient sound effects layered into the guitar work."
Long Beach Press Telegram
This guitarist wants you to hear the history of Anaheim, Long Beach and Los Angeles
"Using a portable microphone and recorder and his electric guitar, Cal State Long Beach and Chapman University music professor Alexander Elliott Miller found inspiration in long-gone places that have left their mark on local history. The result is “To….Oblivion: Historic Landmarks Around Los Angeles,” his new instrumental album that captures modern sounds of the city to take people back in time sonically."
San Francisco Classical Voice
Earplay Plays to Spellbind
"The curtain raiser, Scrim for solo viola by Alexander Elliott Miller, was winner of this year's Earplay Don Aird Composer's prize. The viola is usually considered the laid back member of the string family but you would never have known it from the dazzling sounds coming from the fearless Ellen Ruth Rose. The composer claims Van Halen as one of his influences (his own instrument is guitar) and it showed in the wide (and wild ) variety of sounds that he asks for — and gets — from the instrument. Fluttering arpeggios were coupled with unearthly sighing in the upper register in lyrical sections that showed off Rose's beautiful tone. These were punctuated by passages of agile playfulness and percussive effects that did indeed sound like guitar riffs. But more than mere effects, Miller created a variety of moods that forecasts a voice worth listening to."
Boston Classical Review
Music of Young Composers Sparks at BNMI Wide-Ranging Program
"The concert opened with Alexander Elliott Miller’s Two Autumns.
A song cycle based on three haiku by Basho, Buson, and Shiki, Two Autumnsis a plush and tightly constructed piece that is filled with colorful imagery. A searching flute line, complete with trills and bent tones, opened the setting of the first haiku, “Harvest moon.” Soprano Chelsea Beatty muttered, whispered, and hummed her lines to haunting effect. To accompany her, the flute, violin, clarinet, and cello fused their phrases into close dissonances, which shimmered like moonlight on water.
Squirrelly clarinet runs and pizzicato strings punctuated the second of the set, “The old pond.” The lines of the searching third section, “I don’t know/ which tree it comes from/that fragrance” featured Beatty in passages of creamy lyricism. The singer chanted the lines of “The scissors hesitate” with sharp focus, a fitting counterweight to the piercing blasts from the flute and percussion. Velvety phrases from the ensemble supported Beatty in the final poem of the set, Shiki’s “I go/you stay/two autumns.”
Los Angeles Times
8 Best Things to do this Weekend
Sequenza 21
Microfest Concert at Monk Space
"The final work on the concert program was The Blur of Time and Memory (2014) by Los Angeles-based Alex Miller and this was a keyboard piece based on a tuning devised by the composer. This began with a strong opening line, with many dark sounds and pitches. Although the tuning was definitely exotic to the ear, the harmonies that developed from this material were simultaneously dramatic and intriguing. The dynamic changes added to the imposing sound and as the piece reached a crescendo, the combination of unorthodox pitches and the muscular playing of Aron Kallay sailed past a feeling of tension and into anxiety. The Blur of Time and Memoryillustrates the evocative power and emotional punch that can result when a composer goes all in with alternate tuning."
Los Angeles Times
Want to hear the real La La Land? Lend an ear to the L.A. composers of the Hear Now Festival
San Francisco Classical Voice
Catching Up With HOCKET
Sequenza 21
Aron Kallay, Beyond 12, Volume 2
"The Blur of Time and Memory is solidly crafted and makes full use of the many pitches in its tuning palette to add new emotional colors to the harmony and phrasing."
The South Pasadenan
The Last Five Years deconstructs a marriage - Theatre Review
"The music is stunning with Alexander Elliott Miller on guitar, Jon Lee Keenan on bass, Jessica Chen on violin, Derek Stein and Betsy Rettig on cello, and Foy conducting from a grand piano....Again, I can’t say enough about the orchestra – the combination of the lush music and mesmerizing voices is electrifying."
LAist
36 Awesome Events in Southern California This Weekend
New Classic LA
Track Premiere: Alexander Elliott Miller's "Zanja Madre" from "To....Oblivion"
San Francisco Classical Voice
What 2020 Sounds Like, in 45-Second Bits
Sequenza 21
Wicked GOAT in Pasadena
"Running Spring (2020) was next, composed and realized by Los Angeles – based Alexander Elliott Miller. This was performed on electric guitar in conjunction with a formidable amount of digital processing. Miller explained that this piece was inspired by his penchant for long distance running during the pandemic. Accordingly, Running Spring began with a number quick plinking sounds, evoking perhaps the first few steps of a run. These seemed to be looped and the rhythms suggested continuous movement. More sounds were added, building into a nice variety and the piece continued at a steady, comfortable pace. There was an introspective feel to this, much like the way jogging lets the mind focus on ideas and the abstract. A faster tempo marked a sprint to the finish. Running Spring puts many different sounds under the control of a single player, impressively expanding the creative possibilities."
New Classic LA
Synchromy + HOCKET present Crusoe at LACC
"Alexander Elliott Miller's 'Clock Smasher' made for a striking and auspicious beginning. As its title might suggest, the opening motif, in four hands in ascent, burst open a vivid sonic palette that would traverse and transmogrify in interesting and musically satisfying ways.
In his program note Miller makes mention of the “… polyrhythms, many of which do have a sort of ‘tick-tock’ quality, like a room full of out-of-sync clocks.” This is most certainly accurate but it only begins to suggest the variety and vitality of harmonic and gestural realms it creates and explores. Clock Smasher teases us at first with a metronomic, pulsed music which evolves into something ominously hovering, then interrupted by syncopated rhythms infused with quasi-jazz harmonies. Even the mention of the “J Word” is sometimes frowned upon – personally, I don’t frown upon it – but regardless of what that might suggest to you, this is certainly not a jazz composition. But that isn’t to say that it doesn’t flirt with tonality, some very lovely melodies and, at times, even hints at something Bill Evans might have mused about at the keyboard. This music, as Miller’s notes suggest, does subvert its own idiomatic tendencies with those irregular rhythms, to my ear something of a this-is-definitely-NOT-jazz insistence, which then somehow, artfully evolves into a spacious, airy coda, punctuated by big, long and spacious chords. A poignant, striking work."
Review: What's Next? Ensemble Deftly Explores Space, Time & Place
"...guitarist Alexander Elliott Miller, one of the ensemble’s directors, began in a deceptively laid-back L.A. way as preparation for foisting on the viola inventive electric guitar effects and a battery of unconventional percussion ones."
LAist
This Electric Guitar Album Puts You Inside 6 LA-Area Landmarks That Are Long Gone
"Inspired by real pieces of local history, each of the instrumental songs creates a soundscape, rooting you in a place through the use of ambient sound effects layered into the guitar work."
Long Beach Press Telegram
This guitarist wants you to hear the history of Anaheim, Long Beach and Los Angeles
"Using a portable microphone and recorder and his electric guitar, Cal State Long Beach and Chapman University music professor Alexander Elliott Miller found inspiration in long-gone places that have left their mark on local history. The result is “To….Oblivion: Historic Landmarks Around Los Angeles,” his new instrumental album that captures modern sounds of the city to take people back in time sonically."
San Francisco Classical Voice
Earplay Plays to Spellbind
"The curtain raiser, Scrim for solo viola by Alexander Elliott Miller, was winner of this year's Earplay Don Aird Composer's prize. The viola is usually considered the laid back member of the string family but you would never have known it from the dazzling sounds coming from the fearless Ellen Ruth Rose. The composer claims Van Halen as one of his influences (his own instrument is guitar) and it showed in the wide (and wild ) variety of sounds that he asks for — and gets — from the instrument. Fluttering arpeggios were coupled with unearthly sighing in the upper register in lyrical sections that showed off Rose's beautiful tone. These were punctuated by passages of agile playfulness and percussive effects that did indeed sound like guitar riffs. But more than mere effects, Miller created a variety of moods that forecasts a voice worth listening to."
Boston Classical Review
Music of Young Composers Sparks at BNMI Wide-Ranging Program
"The concert opened with Alexander Elliott Miller’s Two Autumns.
A song cycle based on three haiku by Basho, Buson, and Shiki, Two Autumnsis a plush and tightly constructed piece that is filled with colorful imagery. A searching flute line, complete with trills and bent tones, opened the setting of the first haiku, “Harvest moon.” Soprano Chelsea Beatty muttered, whispered, and hummed her lines to haunting effect. To accompany her, the flute, violin, clarinet, and cello fused their phrases into close dissonances, which shimmered like moonlight on water.
Squirrelly clarinet runs and pizzicato strings punctuated the second of the set, “The old pond.” The lines of the searching third section, “I don’t know/ which tree it comes from/that fragrance” featured Beatty in passages of creamy lyricism. The singer chanted the lines of “The scissors hesitate” with sharp focus, a fitting counterweight to the piercing blasts from the flute and percussion. Velvety phrases from the ensemble supported Beatty in the final poem of the set, Shiki’s “I go/you stay/two autumns.”
Los Angeles Times
8 Best Things to do this Weekend
Sequenza 21
Microfest Concert at Monk Space
"The final work on the concert program was The Blur of Time and Memory (2014) by Los Angeles-based Alex Miller and this was a keyboard piece based on a tuning devised by the composer. This began with a strong opening line, with many dark sounds and pitches. Although the tuning was definitely exotic to the ear, the harmonies that developed from this material were simultaneously dramatic and intriguing. The dynamic changes added to the imposing sound and as the piece reached a crescendo, the combination of unorthodox pitches and the muscular playing of Aron Kallay sailed past a feeling of tension and into anxiety. The Blur of Time and Memoryillustrates the evocative power and emotional punch that can result when a composer goes all in with alternate tuning."
Los Angeles Times
Want to hear the real La La Land? Lend an ear to the L.A. composers of the Hear Now Festival
San Francisco Classical Voice
Catching Up With HOCKET
Sequenza 21
Aron Kallay, Beyond 12, Volume 2
"The Blur of Time and Memory is solidly crafted and makes full use of the many pitches in its tuning palette to add new emotional colors to the harmony and phrasing."
The South Pasadenan
The Last Five Years deconstructs a marriage - Theatre Review
"The music is stunning with Alexander Elliott Miller on guitar, Jon Lee Keenan on bass, Jessica Chen on violin, Derek Stein and Betsy Rettig on cello, and Foy conducting from a grand piano....Again, I can’t say enough about the orchestra – the combination of the lush music and mesmerizing voices is electrifying."
LAist
36 Awesome Events in Southern California This Weekend
New Classic LA
Track Premiere: Alexander Elliott Miller's "Zanja Madre" from "To....Oblivion"
San Francisco Classical Voice
What 2020 Sounds Like, in 45-Second Bits
Sequenza 21
Wicked GOAT in Pasadena
"Running Spring (2020) was next, composed and realized by Los Angeles – based Alexander Elliott Miller. This was performed on electric guitar in conjunction with a formidable amount of digital processing. Miller explained that this piece was inspired by his penchant for long distance running during the pandemic. Accordingly, Running Spring began with a number quick plinking sounds, evoking perhaps the first few steps of a run. These seemed to be looped and the rhythms suggested continuous movement. More sounds were added, building into a nice variety and the piece continued at a steady, comfortable pace. There was an introspective feel to this, much like the way jogging lets the mind focus on ideas and the abstract. A faster tempo marked a sprint to the finish. Running Spring puts many different sounds under the control of a single player, impressively expanding the creative possibilities."
New Classic LA
Synchromy + HOCKET present Crusoe at LACC
"Alexander Elliott Miller's 'Clock Smasher' made for a striking and auspicious beginning. As its title might suggest, the opening motif, in four hands in ascent, burst open a vivid sonic palette that would traverse and transmogrify in interesting and musically satisfying ways.
In his program note Miller makes mention of the “… polyrhythms, many of which do have a sort of ‘tick-tock’ quality, like a room full of out-of-sync clocks.” This is most certainly accurate but it only begins to suggest the variety and vitality of harmonic and gestural realms it creates and explores. Clock Smasher teases us at first with a metronomic, pulsed music which evolves into something ominously hovering, then interrupted by syncopated rhythms infused with quasi-jazz harmonies. Even the mention of the “J Word” is sometimes frowned upon – personally, I don’t frown upon it – but regardless of what that might suggest to you, this is certainly not a jazz composition. But that isn’t to say that it doesn’t flirt with tonality, some very lovely melodies and, at times, even hints at something Bill Evans might have mused about at the keyboard. This music, as Miller’s notes suggest, does subvert its own idiomatic tendencies with those irregular rhythms, to my ear something of a this-is-definitely-NOT-jazz insistence, which then somehow, artfully evolves into a spacious, airy coda, punctuated by big, long and spacious chords. A poignant, striking work."