It has been a long time since music by Peter Lieuwen came my way (Mar/Apr 1992:180). I was impressed by his brass quintet Celestial Voices then, and I am impressed again now. Lieuwen (b. 1953), a composition professor at Texas A&M University, dabbles in various styles to create evocative music. Minimalist flavors are frequent but never tiresome. Passages sometimes sound much like those of other composers, such as when (in Living Waters, 1996) aggressive bass-drum and timpani crescendos bring Stravinsky's Rite of Spring to mind. Ringing percussion often reminds me of Joseph Schwantner, but Lieuwen is more delicate and less insistent.

The big piece is the Violin Concerto (2001), given a vivid reading by University of Houston professor Andrzej Grabiec with his school's orchestra. Anachronisms (1986) is played beautifully by clarinetist Jeffrey Lerner, bass clarinetist Chester Rowell, cellist David Tomatz, and pianist Werner Rose. River of Crystal Light (1999) is a solo vehicle for the fine clarinetist David Campbell with the Texas Festival Orchestra.

—Kilpatrick, American Record Guide, November/December 2007

It is astonishing what this large orchestra, under the direction of Horst Förster, can draw out of the musical score. It begins with an atmospheric harp sound that rubs-off on march-like strings. The B-A-C-H motif is the internal energy that repeatedly gains new strength. Separated violins and violas combine in melodic layers, out of which large blocks are struck. This piece does not become tedious, even when it tries the templates of minimalist music tradition. It is clear, exuberant, booming and is reminiscent of a Jackson Pollock painting.

—Christian Fanghänel, Leipziger Volkszeitung, 5/23/2007

Mr. Lieuwen’s Angelfire capped the evening effectively with an attractive array of shimmering, shuddering sonorities, making the most of minimal means.

—James R. Oestreich, New York Times

The biggest and most arresting piece was Peter Lieuwen’s Angelfire, inspired by Native American legend. Sometimes recalling Britten’s sea music, at other times John Adams’ motor energy, it’s arresting in every single measure.

—New York Daily News

Undeniably ear-catching.

—St. Louis Post Dispatch

Star, for soprano (Susan Owen), cello, piano and percussion is slight, dependent on dainty sound effects, and attractive.

—Andrew Porter, The New Yorker

Anne Harris, a coloratura soprano who sang a small role in UNM’s Carmen last month, made a spectacular showpiece out of Star, a chamber work by Peter Lieuwen. Lieuwen, composer-in-residence at Texas A&M, set a text by Dallas poet Joanne Whitebird in a disjunct, angular and eruptive manner reminiscent of the avant garde style of 20 years ago. Lieuwen’s piece had euphonious logic under its spiky surface however – this is how some of those old scream-and-boom pieces should have sounded perhaps.

—Albuquerque Journal

Peter Lieuwen’s 1986 prizewinner Star composed for Susan Owen, is quick to take advantage of the soprano’s versatility. It is a very showy piece with brilliant fortes juxtaposed to breathy whisperings.

—Santa Barbara News Press

Most stunning, in the literal sense at least, was Lieuwen's Star for soprano, cello, percussion, and piano. Luminous high blends of vibes, piano and voice cast about ringing constellations in a spacious atmosphere.

—Santa Cruz Sentinel

Peter Lieuwen has created an atmospheric world of sound; a forward-looking work in harmony with our musical age.

—Der Bund (Bern, Switzerland)

Peter Lieuwen’s Celestial Voices, commissioned by the NMBQ in celebration of the Lieksa Brass Week Solar Eclipse Concert, is the most abstract and least evocative of the works presented. The low brass are featured in the elegant, lyrical horn lines of the opening section, beautifully played by Dan Meier, and bold, disjunct cadenzas for both trombone and tuba. The multi-tongued conclusion drives to the end, again impressive for its energy and clarity.

—NACWPI Journal

Lieuwen’s Celestial Voices is dramatic, intricate, and incisive – the least overtly programmatic and most conventional of the new works.

—American Record Guide

The program concludes with Peter Lieuwen’s Celestial Voices, compositionally the most abstruse in structure, it is nevertheless an effective program ender in that it displays to the fullest the ensemble’s collective virtuosity.

—Horn Call

An excellent choice on this program...finishes the disc in a fine way.

—Tuba Journal

A pretty piece, marked by glittering high piano writing, sudden flourishes and wandering melodic lines for the low instruments.

—Houston Post

Broad in instrumental palette and highly successful in its handling of balances.

—Musical America

The other work of this (extraordinary) quality is Peter Lieuwen’s Nocturne. Night is depicted as the home of nightmares as well as repose. The cello line moves through assorted mysterious accompaniments by the piano and pitched percussion until, taking the lead, the piano moves the listener into a place where danger lurks. As the work moves through its symmetrical course, the middle section portrays the terrors of night before subsiding back into the more usual emotional states one associates with the title. That all of this is accomplished within the confines of largely tonal writing with very little in the way of special effects is especially impressive.

—Fanfare

The concert began with Peter Lieuwen’s Sonatina. The first section had immediate surface appeal with flights of notes in the right hand. In the second and third sections, Lieuwen seemed to be experimenting with the organic growth of sounds. A lot of pedal was required in this section, and out of the loud, sustained chords grew notes that seemed to emerge and blend on their own accord. The patient pianist (Marc-Andre Hamelin) held the chords and sat, listening as carefully as those of us in the audience.

—The Philadelphia Inquirer

The instrumentally colorful melody opening the work signaled a sense for imaginative orchestration, which Lieuwen exploited well in the genially amiable work.

—Houston Chronicle