"[1] The critic Mark Sebastian Jordan has said that "Beck was committed to tonality and a recognizable musical vernacular long before that became the hip bandwagon it is today.

His father, Albert William Beck (b. April 4, 1931, in Scranton, Pennsylvania; d. May 16, 2018 in Quincy, Illinois), known as "Al", was a visual artist and poet who taught for many years at Culver-Stockton College in Canton, Missouri.

[10] While in high school, Beck studied music composition and theory privately with Thom Ritter George, an Eastman graduate and conductor of the Quincy Symphony Orchestra.

However, instead of returning to Iowa, in 1999, Beck accepted a position as an associate professor of music composition and theory at California State University, Fullerton, where he also earned tenure, in 2002.

[19][20] Beck's Requiem was recorded by Coro Volante and the Cincinnati String Ensemble, directed by Brett Scott, and released by Acis Productions in 2024.

"[22] Donald Rosenberg in Gramophone called it "A piece of tranquil and urgent beauty...An exquisite first recording...Beck often goes against the grain, finding fresh means to convey the weighty or hopeful messages, and turning to lyricism rather than overt drama...Beck achieves an intimate portrait of mourning at once comforting and fervent.

"[23] Released on the neuma label in 2023,[24] Beck's seventh recording includes eight diverse compositions for a variety of instrumental and vocal forces.

Called "captivating from beginning to end,"[25] three of the compositions, Invitation to Love, Elegy for piano and string orchestra,[26] and November Dances for flute, viola, and harp, were composed during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown.

The compositions, including the award-winning 'Invitation to Love', testify to Beck's extraordinary creative vision and his ability to translate deep feelings into music.

"[31] The critic Donald Rosenberg describes the music on Beck's recording, String Quartets (2013), as "forceful and expressive … concise in structure and generous in tonal language, savouring both the dramatic and the poetic,"[32] while Joshua Kosman of the San Francisco Chronicle states Beck's music is "appealing and skillfully crafted … [with] lush tonal harmonies.

"[37] In addition, critic Andrew Sigler finds Beck's music "rhythmically intricate, and makes nods to the past while sitting squarely in the present.

[39] His second recording, pause and feel and hark, released in May 2006, includes Black Water, a monodrama based on the novel by Joyce Carol Oates.

[53] With a libretto by the composer based on a novel by Joyce Carol Oates, his monodrama Black Water received its stage premiere on April 29, 2016.