"[4] The receipt of a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1954 allowed him to live in Europe, realizing his goal of developing his individual style away from current fashions in the American art music scene and resulting in a number of mature and impressive works.
"[5] Lees' music is rhythmically active, with frequently changing accents and meter even in his early works, and is known for its semitonal inflections in melody and harmony.
[6] In 1970, Medea in Corinth, his one-act musical drama, was given its premiere at the Purcell Room, Queen Elizabeth Hall, London,[7] and was subsequently broadcast by CBS Television in 1974.
2, Silent Voices, written in Palm Springs, is dedicated to the music of émigré Jewish composers.
[9][10] Lees received a Grammy nomination for Kalmar Nyckel in 2003, following release of a recording by the German orchestra Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz under Stephen Gunzenhauser.
[1] Lees donated his archive of manuscripts, sketches, scores, letters, photographs, articles, recordings and posters to Yale University.