Lorraine Hunt Lieberson - Recital at Ravinia

A precious addition to the recorded legacy of a great singer

Record and Artist Details

Composer or Director: George Frideric Handel, Johannes Brahms, Bob Telson, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Claude Debussy, Henry Thacker Burleigh

Genre:

Vocal

Label: Harmonia Mundi

Media Format: CD or Download

Media Runtime: 77

Mastering:

Stereo
DDD

Catalogue Number: HMU90 7500

Tracks:

Composition Artist Credit
(8) Lieder, Movement: No. 8, Unbewegte laue Luft Johannes Brahms, Composer
Johannes Brahms, Composer
Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, Mezzo soprano
Peter Serkin, Piano
(15) Romanzen aus 'Die schöne Magelone', Movement: Ruhe, Süssliebchen Johannes Brahms, Composer
Johannes Brahms, Composer
Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, Mezzo soprano
Peter Serkin, Piano
(4) Lieder, Movement: No. 1, Von ewiger Liebe (wds. Fallersleben) Johannes Brahms, Composer
Johannes Brahms, Composer
Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, Mezzo soprano
Peter Serkin, Piano
(La) Lucrezia, Movement: O numi eterni ... Già superbo George Frideric Handel, Composer
George Frideric Handel, Composer
Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, Mezzo soprano
Peter Serkin, Piano
(La) Lucrezia, Movement: Ma voi forse cielo....Il suoi che preme George Frideric Handel, Composer
George Frideric Handel, Composer
Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, Mezzo soprano
Peter Serkin, Piano
(La) Lucrezia, Movement: A voi padre, consorte....Giå nel seno comincia George Frideric Handel, Composer
George Frideric Handel, Composer
Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, Mezzo soprano
Peter Serkin, Piano
(3) Chansons de Bilitis Claude Debussy, Composer
Claude Debussy, Composer
Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, Mezzo soprano
Peter Serkin, Piano
Dans un bois solitaire Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Composer
Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, Mezzo soprano
Peter Serkin, Piano
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Composer
Als Luise die Briefe Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Composer
Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, Mezzo soprano
Peter Serkin, Piano
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Composer
Abendempfindung Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Composer
Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, Mezzo soprano
Peter Serkin, Piano
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Composer
(Eine) Kleine deutsche Kantate, '(Die) ihr des une Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Composer
Drew Minter, Alto
Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, Mezzo soprano
Peter Serkin, Piano
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Composer
Giulio Cesare, 'Julius Caesar', Movement: Son nata a lagrimar George Frideric Handel, Composer
Drew Minter, Alto
George Frideric Handel, Composer
Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, Mezzo soprano
Peter Serkin, Piano
Deep River Henry Thacker Burleigh, Composer
Henry Thacker Burleigh, Composer
Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, Mezzo soprano
Peter Serkin, Piano
Calling You Bob Telson, Composer
Bob Telson, Composer
Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, Mezzo soprano
Peter Serkin, Piano
She truly was one of the great singers of our time – it is not just the seal and solemnity of death that confirms such a firm commitment. One felt it surely enough whenever she sang: I myself heard her on relatively few occasions, but they always brought that conviction, and what we hear now reaffirms it. The performance of the Lucretia cantata alone would be sufficient. Without quite the fierce utterance of a Baker or a Fassbaender, Hunt Lieberson brings nobility to the full range of emotions and (as she did with Britten’s Lucretia) an extraordinary sense of identification with the suffering woman. The voice itself was a noble instrument: warm, full-bodied and seamless in its passage over the vocal registers. It was particularly well suited to Brahms, and the three songs which open the programme here find in both voice and spirit sympathy and a rare reverence for the depth of feeling they embody. Then, it is touching to find how this same voice can lighten and rejuvenate with the Bilitis songs of Debussy. And I’ve rarely heard an encore achieve such a height of simple dignity as the “Deep River” sung here (you can sense it) to such a moved and attentive audience. If there’s a limitation (and I felt this in the London recitals I heard) it is the absence of merriment and the preference for slow speeds. And I’m not quite sure what we have here in terms of content: if a single, complete recital, the ordering and the anomaly of applause and for some items and not for others, is strange, and it seems, from what she says, that Drew Minter did more than sing (very beautifully) with her in the Cornelia-Sesto duet from Giulio Cesare. Certainly the disc is a precious addition to the singer’s legacy on records. And throughout we are conscious of our further debt – to the strongly imaginative collaboration of Peter Serkin as accompanist.

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