A lover of European art and architecture, the American author Lowell Lieberman is one of many spectators who have fallen spellbound by the fantastic beauty of gargoyles, those fabulous representations of monstrous, grotesque appearance that ornament the churches and cathedrals of the Western world. Originally placed there to ward off evil spirits, today they cast a spell on us and perhaps leave us a little perplexed... For Lieberman, they were the inspiration for a short suite for piano.
"Gargoyles" was the name of the colorful set of four piano pieces with which the promising composer responded in 1989 to a request from the Tcherepnin Society of New York.
Lieberman, born in 1961, and with studies at the Juilliard School of Music, belongs to a brood of contemporary American composers who have felt very comfortable leaving dodecaphonism behind to rediscover the perennial vitality of the familiar and ever-recurring tonality.
 |
| Lowell Liberman (b. in 1961) |
His most popular piano work is Gargoyles, but Lieberman is the author of an interesting number of concertos for solo instruments and orchestra. He has written for clarinet, flute, piano, trumpet and violin. He is also the author of two symphonies, two operas, and of course, in the purest 19th century style, a Rhapsody on a theme by Paganini. In addition, he has written acclaimed sonatas for flute, piano, cello and guitar.
The composer lives in New York, and is a professor of composition and director and founder of the Mannes American Composers Ensemble, which specializes in the dissemination of contemporary American musicians.
Gargoyles for piano, opus 29
Premiered in October 1989 in New York, the four-movement suite is not intended to illustrate a specific gargoyle that particularly impressed the composer. Still, the spirit of the work is at times distinctly fantastic or mysterious, even frightening, at times.
Movements:
0:00 Presto
2:00 Adagio semplice, ma con molto rubato (the romantic piece... still in force)
4:24 Allegro moderato
6:45 Presto feroce
The rendition is by the brilliant Chinese pianist Yuja Wang.
