aworks :: "new" american classical music

Neruda Songs (2005). Peter Lieberson

Alex Ross on Peter Lieberson's Neruda Songs:

This is some of the most unabashedly lyrical music that any American composer has produced since Gershwin.

The New Yorker article ends by describing some of the work's musical and textual poignance, given Lorraine Hunt Lieberson's health at the time. One has to respect composer and singer who continued to lead their lives despite the ravages of breast cancer.

note to a particular aworks reader: that respect applies to you as well.

Neruda Songs (2005). Peter Lieberson

In the news...

• Lorraine Hunt Lieberson will sing her husband's Neruda Songs later this month although there are concerns about her health. NY Times
• Peter Lieberson speaks neither Spanish nor German yet has set text from both languages.  Music & Vision
• Nick Ross doesn't think classical music is elitist and staid. Lynchburg News & Advance
• Last year, Madison Opera's The End of the Affair by Jake Heggie was poorly attended but the company now has a 33-year-old general director who says it is ok to wear jeans. Wisconsin State Journal
• In Miami, Leila Josefowicz played Mark Grey's San Andreas Suite. Sun Sentinel
• Television's 1977 album Marquee Moon merits revisiting. Vermont Cynic
• Led Zeppelin et al won the Swedish Polar Music Prize. blabbermouth.net
• With 10% counted, San Mateo County is voting down all the state propositions. CA Secretary of State