Paul Reale’s composing career blossomed in the last years of his life, but he was long held in high esteem as a renowned educator, and as a “mighty maestro with a unique expressive voice.” The New Hampshire state motto “Live Free or Die,” provided the impetus for Reale to finally complete his Cello Concerto in a mere 17 days, spurred on by a diagnosis of terminal illness. This work and the First Piano Concerto gestated over many decades, and both share Reale’s signature toolbox of expressive melody, Baroque counterpoint, references to many types of jazz, and extensions of tonality. The program concludes with the Sixth Piano Sonata, each movement of which ties in with T.S. Eliot’s poem The Waste Land but within a cinematic structure that departs from any traditional form.
