PETER LIEUWEN

• Peter Lieuwen: Chamber Symphony - II. Love

"All in all, I was very pleased to review this disc. Peter Lieuwen appeals on many different levels, and this offering demonstrates his recognisable and accessible style. His music is never boring, and speaks to a wide audience. I cannot fault the performances, the booklet provides excellent information about the works, and I am certainly encouraged that all the works presented here were written within the last decade."

Geoff Pearce, Classical Music Daily [August 2019]

"[Peter Lieuwen] writes in a post-minimalist style, with churning string ostinatos.... strength in solo writing... Concerto Alfresco is the best work on the album. His writing for solo trumpet is stunning, with a performance to match by Allen Vizzuti. Taken as a whole, the album is enjoyable."

American Record Guide [May/June 2019]

"This is MSR’s third foray into the music of Peter Lieuwen, and another success. Lieuwen’s music is so refreshing–he is contemporary but with a well-knotted connection to the past that eludes labels like “neo-classic” and resists stereotyping... Lieuwen is rhythmically driven, dynamically subtle, French, Nordic, even Stravinskian in some of his harmonies, but always his own man. Sarumba uses a palette of multiple Brazilian rhythmic patterns drawing influence from rock, world music, and jazz, yet never settling into one of these long enough to define it... The sound is very good and consistent among the various ensembles and venues. I look forward to volume 4."

Steven Ritter, Audiophile Audition [May 2019]

“[Sarumba] is nothing less than seductive and transfixing from its first note to its last. Once you engage in its beauty as a listener, you are likely fated to listen to it again and perhaps many times as I have. The sonic interplay of instruments changes and evolves constantly through each of the four pieces on the album, drawing the listener into its panoply of sonic wonder... Lieuwen has indeed created uncommon, exhilarating music.”

Joel C. Thompson, Cherry Grove Music Review [January 2019]

Praise for Music of Peter Lieuwen | Volumes 1 & 2

“an attractive array of shimmering, shuddering sonorities”

The New York Times

“arresting in every single measure”

New York Daily News

“undeniably ear-catching”

St. Louis Post-Dispatch

“broad in instrumental palette and highly successful in its handling of balances”

Musical America

“clear melodic lines, dreamy lyricism, and jazzy syncopation”

American Record Guide

“engaging conciseness and expansive tonal emotion”

Audiophile Audition

“extremely well-crafted, user-friendly and beguilingly seductive music”

Fanfare

The music of PETER LIEUWEN has been commissioned, performed and recorded by orchestras, small ensembles and artists throughout North America and Europe. Many of Lieuwen’s compositions are impressions of nature and legend, infused with the kinetic rhythms of jazz and world music. His orchestral works have been introduced by such orchestras as the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra, San Antonio Symphony, Pacific Symphony, Slovak National Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra of the Americas and the National Orchestral Association. The composer’s chamber and vocal works have been presented by numerous ensembles, including the Cassatt String Quartet, American Piano Trio, Core Ensemble, enhake, SOLI Chamber Ensemble, Trio Bel Canto, and by an array of artists, including clarinetists David Campbell and Wonkak Kim, pianist Marc-Andre Hamelin, percussionist Steven Schick, guitarist Isaac Bustos, violinist Andrzej Grabiec, and trumpeters Randy Brecker, Allen Vizzutti and Doc Severinsen. Recent commissions include works for the Royal Philharmonic, Pacific Symphony, San Antonio Symphony, The Arts Council of Wales, Cassatt String Quartet, Iridium Saxophone Quartet, Isaac Bustos and Andrzej Grabiec. In addition to winning First Prize in the Doc Severinsen International Composition Competition in 2013, the composer has garnered awards and honors from Musicians Accord, The Contemporary Record Society, The League of Composers – ISCM and the National Orchestral Association. Lieuwen was born in 1953 in Utrecht, The Netherlands, and grew up in New Mexico. He studied at the University of New Mexico and the University of California at Santa Barbara with composers Scott Wilkinson, William Wood, Edward Applebaum, Emma Lou Diemer and Peter Racine Fricker. From 1984 to 1987, he taught composition at UC Santa Barbara. Since 1988, he has been on the faculty of Texas A&M University, where from 2000 to 2005 he served as the inaugural head of the Department of Performance Studies. He is currently Professor of Music and Composer-in-Residence there. Most of Lieuwen’s music is published by Keiser Southern Music, with recordings available on Albany, Crystal, Pro Arte/Fanfare, Divine Art/métier, MSR Classics, Naxos, New World, and VMM labels. [ www.peterlieuwen.com ]
  PETER LIEUWEN (b.1953)
SARUMBA for 2 violins and chamber orchestra (2015)

CHAMBER SYMPHONY (2013)
I. Nature – Light and Spirited
II. Love – Tranquillo
III. Cosmos – Driving

QUAD CONCERTO for clarinet, violin, cello, piano and orchestra (2015)

CONCERTO ALFRESCO for trumpet and orchestra (2013)



MSR Classics