Customer Reviews

Peter Lieberson: Red Garuda, Rilke Songs, Bagatelles, Piano Quintet

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I saw the Red Garuda piano concerto played almost a decade ago[I think] in Chicago played by Peter Serkin. My only complaint at the time was that I could only hear it once. This is a piece that desperately requires and rewards repeated listening. I have been keeping an eye out for it ever since and was ecstatic to hear such a marvelous performance by the very artist I heard perform it. The piece even works better on disc, which allows you the freedom to peruse its complex path. I highly recommend this disc for both new comers to Lieberson and those in tune with the new philosphy of classical music[no longer strategic non-sense, or blimp-bloop music]. This piece, while not your typical concerto in the romantic tradition, follows a logic that will appeal to listeners and provides moments of rhythmic excitement and dramatic beauty.
Much of the same can be said for the piano quintet which was written recently for the orion quartet who perform it here.
One of the highlights, however, was the studio and first time release of the late Lorraine Hunt-Liebersons Rilke Songs, one of Liebersons masterpieces. The Bagatelles are also delicious treats, previously released by New World Records. It is excellent to have another performance of them here. For new music fans and those who believe classical music has become too extreme, a welcome retreat.

Sadly composer Peter Lieberson has died at age 64, five years after the death of his famous wife, mezzo soprano Lorraine Hunt Lieberson. This recording while not currently available is in the hands of most of Lieberson's admirers as it covers a spectrum of his artistry as well as any other CD collections.

The recital opens with Lieberson's Piano Concerto No. 2, also known as 'Red Garuda', a mythical bird on whose back the composer dreams he rides surveying nocturnal elemental landscapes, 'tubular bells sounding an ominous, syncopated call to the wide whoosh of the enormous bird's flapping wings, an image passed around the sections of the orchestra. The muscular, jabbing solo piano acts as a commentator, sometimes instigator. Variations on fire, water and earth-wind are moodier, made vivid by declarative percussion statements, often colored with a tinge of the Orient.' Peter Serkin is the soloist with James Conlon conducting the New York Philharmonic.

Next comes Lieberson's very popular 'Rilke Songs' written for and sung by his wife Lorraine Hunt Lieberson. It is an unbelievably touching work, delivered with voluptuous intensity by Hunt Lieberson and her collaborator Peter Serkin at the piano. Serkin offers Lieberson's 'Bagatelles', a work far too infrequently performed and one with wide ranging technical demands. The concert ends with the Piano Quintet with Serkin joining the Orion String Quartet in an exemplary performance.

The extent of Lieberson's talent spanned opera, orchestral works, chamber music, and songs for voice and piano and voice and orchestra. He mastered them all. He will be missed but thanks to the many recordings of his works and the continued programming of his pieces by the major ensembles in this country, he will be with us for a very long time. Grady Harp, April 11