Lowell Liebermann was born in New York City in 1961 and has swiftly risen to become one of the most prolific and performed American composers of his generation. Many awards and prizes have accompanied him through the first thirty-six years of life and his first fifty-six completed works, and he has written for virtually every instrument and in most forms. His works are at once accessible and challengingfor performer and listener alikeand these two piano concertos are works of great stature. Stephen Hough, dedicatee of the Second Concerto, gives performances which fully rise to the virtuosic demands of the score. The First Concerto has 'plague' music as its underlying motif, and includes references to the Scottish explorer Maccaber, originator of the Danse macabre in Paris. Six miniatures from Liebermann's Album for the Young are included by way of an encore.