Nocturne No.6 for piano solo Op.62 (1998) c.8'00"

First performed on November 15th, 1998 at Alice Tully Hall in New York City by James Giles

Commissioned by Richard Goula

Dedicated to the memory of Lynn Hantel

ABOUT

Nocturne No.6 Op.62 was written for pianist James Giles and is dedicated to the memory of Lynn Hantel. It receives its world premiere tonight.  Nocturne No.6 is perhaps the darkest of the first six Nocturnes, its emotional climate affected by the news of the tragic sudden death of Lynn Hantel, a close friend of the work’s commissioner, Richard Goula.

Marked Larghissimo, Nocturne No.6 hovers around a tonal center of e-flat, with an elegaic melody presented over a disquieting ostinato figure.  The piece builds to a shattering climax from which the primary material emerges, this time with an intimation of resolution.  The Nocturne, however ends ambiguously and somewhat disturbingly. The work was later orchestrated as Nocturne for Orchestra, Op.84.

RECORDINGS

REVIEWS

“The piano works of American Composer Lowell Liebermann (b.1961) are significant and poetic additions to the keyboard repertoire. One of the most successful composers of his generation, Liebermann is also controversial, especially in “progressive” musical circles. His music is mostly tonal, beautiful, and - unforgivable to some critics and academics - popular and accessible…Liebermann is often categorized as a postmodern tonalist or neoromantic, but such pigeonholing can diminish the distinctive qualities and traits of such an individual composer. His works maintain a strong sense of structural and emotional balance and proportion. The ability to write beautiful, soaring, and memorable melodies attests to his great lyric affinity. Throughout his music, Liebermann makes imaginative use of a rich a varied harmonic and textural palette, and he often demands superior technical ability from his performers. Liebermann’s work for piano are written with a masterly command of idiomatic keyboard writing. He is a formidable pianist who understands (and exploits) the coloristic and virtuoso possibilities of the instrument…Nocturne No.6, Op.62 (1998) is an intense, lyric and somewhat dark work…”
William T. Spiller, Notes