reviews

The European Press

"[In Harmonic Fields], the refined blend of timbres created a unique atmosphere, which underscored the poetic meaning of music and its structures. A very moving ending, not only for one of the best days of the festival, but also for all those who still believe in the cathartic power of contemporary art music."

Actualitatea Muzicala, Bucharest, December 2018


"Bent was a very captivating and well-constructed piece for piano and electronics, written by Liviu Marinescu."

Actualitatea Muzicala, Bucharest, September 2015


"Echoes for solo flute and tape featured virtuoso Ana Chifu, her refined sound, and intelligent phrasing. Liviu Marinescu captured the echoes through syncopated polyrhythms, followed by more linear areas, ultimately allowing all the reverberations to unwind in space."

Muzica, Bucharest, September 2010


"Echoes captures the image of a closed universe, taking shape through the undulating sounds of a far-away flute. I am completely surrounded by music, which seems to be springing out of the walls of a Gothic cathedral. These acoustic effects are produced by an ingenious game, a music of the spheres for flute and pre-recorded sounds. There are pinched reverberations and pulverized lines smashing against an imaginary wall, eventually returning. They grow, contract, and fold in a flute and tape game which ultimately leads to elongated effects, departing and reappearing endlessly. Mixtures of panpipes, breathing in and out, onomatopoeic sounds, and a continuous dialog coming in waves. All these fleeting sounds are performed with virtuosity and imagination by the talented flautist Ana Chifu."

Actualitatea Muzicala, Bucharest, July 2010


"Following on a similar path towards international recognition (but without showing a particular interest for electronic music) is Liviu Marinescu, an emerging personality on the West Coast of the United States. His micro-opus called Moto Perpetuo reveals a creative force of wide scope, which in the spirit of "less is more" is at the same time well controlled and focused. After hearing such a successful work, the listener would obviously want to know more about the author. Fortunately, a few samples of Liviu Marinescu's works and ideas can be found on YouTube."

ICR Review - Musica Viva Festival, Lisbon, Portugal, September 2009


"Speaking of Liviu Marinescu: the former Bucharest Music Academy student is becoming without any doubts one of the most authorized voices on the American music scene, from which he derives gestures and compositional formulas as well as the courage to distill various types of creative sparks, towards a world where everything is possible."

Ateneu, Bucharest, September 2008


"Beautifully tender... remarkably modelled... Liviu Marinescu held one of the most interesting night forums."

Kromeriz, Czech Republic, June 2008


"Liviu Marinescu is one of the young composers on the forefront of the musical avant-garde."

Romania Libera, Bucharest, June 2008


"The next piece is fascinating. Liviu Marinescu's Homage Collage contains a series of short movements which pay tribute to a wide range of different composers. The references are, at times, humorous, and delightfully convincing, with Marinescu using his compositional skill to hold the different styles together in a coherent form. Even if you knew nothing of the other composer's works, this would be an interesting piece of music, which acts as a showpiece for the instruments it uses. There are some wonderful clarinet flutter-tonguing moments in the Palestrina movement, serving as a fine example of the intelligence of this composer; Palestrina's influence is obvious, and yet the harmonic and musical language is far removed from what one would associate with Palestrina. The final movement contains a variety of influences, and is entitled Bach, Debussy and others. As such, it serves to unify the work as a whole, and brings the work to a coherent end. This is an interesting work, and I'd be very interested to hear more of Marinescu's music."

Carla Rees, MusicWeb International, UK, May 2008


"... thorough and commanding organization of the musical discourse."

Romania Libera, Bucharest, September 2007


"... Clearly, the high point [of the concert] was the European premiere of Pastiche, a collage of musical sequences written by the Romanian Liviu Marinescu for Steve Thachuk."

Westfalen Post, Germany, April 2003


"... although still very young, Liviu Marinescu showed through his Chamber Concerto that not only he has the intelligence and maturity expected from a modern artist, but also the ability to express himself through sounds in a convincing way."

Actualitatea Muzicala, Bucharest, June 1997


"... Liviu Marinescu is creating within the technical and aesthetical horizons promoted by Ligeti and Lutoslawski. Based on a gradual strategy of transformation, his piece shows an impeccable writing for strings, featuring a musical expression moving in-between quiet sounds and stormy moods."

Actualitatea Muzicala, Bucharest, July 1993


"... during the first international show of the young musicians of Romania, the concert produced by the student composers turns out to be inventive in its evolution, content, and substance. And to conceive of a show with such an anti-conformist view, is already departing from the routine and questioning the old academic rules."

Le Monde de la Musique, Paris, June 1991




The U.S. Press

The quality of the sounds is terrific; there is depth and richness, and there is surprise. With this kind of music, you can close your eyes and let your imagination go.

American Record Guide, February 2017


In Harmonic Fields and Echoes, Liviu's music seems to build a mystical relationship with nature. In addition to the Romanian tradition, we can identify a modernist aesthetic that brings together the sounds of Los Angeles and the technology of the 21st century. Both works generate surprising and unexpected sonic impressions."

Unforgiven Exercises, Reflection Publishing, June 2015


"The fascination of Liviu Marinescu's five-movement Homage Collage (2005) lies not in whether the listener can identify the many composers ranging from Palestrina to Ligeti whose work he refers to but in how the composer achieves continuity among all these references. While there appear to be some deliberate motivic interrelationships among some of them, what this piece reveals is how, to a musician living in the 21st century who is acquainted with the music of the past one thousand years, what is composed by such a musician is part of a living tradition in which nothing is alien, in which there is a single musical language capable of an infinite number of inflections. Despite all of the references to the distant and recent past in Homage Collage there is always Marinescu's rich imagination, which is reason enough to want to hear it again - and again."

Composer USA, Fall 2008


"The first half [of the concert] had commanding, important music: Liviu Marinescu's intensely contrapuntal Ostinato for cello and chamber orchestra and a rare performance of George Enescu's final work, the 1954 Chamber Symphony."

Philadelphia Inquirer, April 2006


"As the work unfolds, we get an occasional, but not obvious, hint of the original Bach material on which the piece is based [...] It is a well-conceived and touching artistic gesture: all the drama, interplay, and development that have gone before have reached a moment of quiet revelation and nostalgic, but unsentimental, reflection."

Society of Composers Conference Review, April 2004


"... this piece is at least clever, at best something considerably more; it should be heard again."

The Washington Post, November 2000


"... real expressive power and attractive rhetoric."

The Strad, March 2000


"... a big piece with startling moments."

Strings Magazine, February-March 2000


"... majestic assertiveness... the surprise never wears off."

New York Concert Review, December 1999