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PAN PIPES • WINTER 2017 • sai-national.org 24 REVIEWS MUSIC OF PETER LIEUWEN, VOLUME 2: CONCERTOS Various Artists B orn in the Netherlands, composer Peter Lieuwen grew up in New Mexico and is currently Composer in Residence at Texas A&M University. His award winning compositions are published by Keiser Classical and Southern Music, and his music has been widely recorded on such labels as Albany, Crystal, MSR Classics, Naxos, New World, and VMN. Performances of his music have been given worldwide by prestigious orchestras such as the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the Saint Louis Symphony, the San Antonio Symphony, and the Slovak National Symphony, and by artists as diverse as the Cassatt String Trio to Doc Severinsen. Each work presented here is a world premiere recording and highlights the diverse style of the composer; imaginative, dramatic, well crafted, contemporary, and appealing in its blend of 20 th and 21 st century compositional techniques, while anchored in neoclassicism. The CD contains attractive and extensive liner notes. Written in 2012, the Concerto for Cello and Orchestra is in two movements. It was written for and performed enthusiastically by cellist Nicholas Jones, who is accompanied by the Slovak National Symphony Orchestra under the direction of conductor Franz Anton Krager. The music is at once animated and gives a feeling of optimism. Although somewhat conservative tonally and in its instrumental writing, the Cello Concerto is a fascinating blend of many 20 th -21 st century techniques including the influence of jazz, rock, impressionism, and minimalism. Romance for Violin, Cello, and Piano was written in 1994 and revised in 2010. It is performed by Andrzej Grabiec, violin, Misha Quint, cello, and Alessandro Lapegna, piano. Their exuberant performance captures the many shifting moods of the work. Peter Lieuwen includes a quote from William Shakespeare on the title page which provides a clue as to the sentiment that inspired this work: "The course of true love never did run smooth", from A Midsummer Night's Dream. Romance has wide mood swings beginning with a serene minimalist introduction in the piano followed by a somewhat more foreboding entrance in the cello on top of the repetitive pattern in the piano. Agitation builds as the next layer is introduced by the violin. The work becomes increasingly agitated as tension builds with the dialog between the violin and cello against the more calm piano line. The final section returns to the serene calm mood resolving as the ascending violin and descending cello move apart and fade into nothingness. Vivace for String Orchestra, written in 2010, begins somewhat like the Romance with an ostinato-like pattern with layers added one by one providing rhythmic interest and agitation. The string sections answer and imitate one another antiphonally. Originally written as the third movement of Lieuwen's Sonata for guitar, one could not imagine a better performance than the spirited rendition given here by The Slovak National Symphony Orchestra, with conductor Franz Anton Krager. Concerto for Piano, Marimba, and Orchestra was written in 2008 for the brothers Leonel (piano) and Jesus (marimba) Morales. Consisting of three movements, the piece is highly original in its orchestration, which features a large and colorful orchestra with many percussion instruments. The first movement features the orchestra and piano alone. The marimba enters in movement two, and the piano and marimba engage in a spirited dialog. The third movement has a heavy Latin influence which includes syncopation and asymmetric meter changes. The interplay between the brothers and the orchestra is expertly complimented by the Texas Music Festival Orchestra, under the direction of Franz Anton Krager. RUNNING AT THE TOP OF THE WORLD: NEW MUSIC FOR TRUMPET AND PIANO Paul Futer, trumpet, and Susan Nowicki, Piano Works by Anthony Plog, Charles Reskin, Martin Rokeach A merican trumpeter Paul Futer has selected three new works for the trumpet for this recording. Futer is on the music faculty at Settlement Music School in Philadelphia and is head of the brass faculty at the Luzerne Music Center in New York. He maintains an active career as a performer and recording artist, and he has received high critical acclaim for his many performances. Collaborating pianist Susan Nowicki has performed throughout the United States as well as on numerous recordings. She maintains a private studio in Wyndmoor, Pennsylvania, and is also a faculty member at Curtis where she coaches for the Vocal Studies Department. Both performers deliver an elegant and flawless rendition of the three works presented here. The performance venue of the Troy Savings Bank Music Hall in New York provides excellent acoustics, and the engineering quality of the work is excellent. All three of the pieces chosen for this disc reflect the neo-classical style of the present day, and anyone who enjoys contemporary brass music should be enthusiastic about this disc. The first work on the disc is the Sonata for trumpet and piano (2007) by Charles Reskin. Known for his wide range of styles, the style of this three movement work combines both mid-20 th century classical and jazz elements. Reskin plays the trumpet, but has in recent years concentrated more on composing. The second piece is the Sonata by Anthony Plog (2010) and is a work in four movements. Like Reskin, Plog is also a trumpet player and is considered one of the most influential figures in the brass world today. His music is widely performed around the world by brass players who love it for its great range of musical expression which is written to be idiomatic for the instrument. The trumpet Sonata was written in 2003 and was later revised by the composer. The final work here is the title piece for the album, Running at the Top of the World by Martin Rokeach (2012). Unlike the other two composers, Rokeach does not play the trumpet, but the three movement work will nevertheless be considered idiomatic, innovative, and expressive by trumpet players. He is currently on the faculty at Saint Mary's College of California. The CD contains interesting performance notes on the performers, the composers, and each of the three compositions.

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