Customer Reviews

Songs by Mahler, Handel & Peter Lieberson

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
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1 star:		(0)

 

 

Lorraine Hunt Lieberson got her just due as a great singer only in the last seven years or so of her life. She had sung gloriously at the New York City Opera without being offered a chance to debut at the Met until she was in her forties and made a huge success as Dido in Berlioz's Les Troyens. Now that she is gone, her rpemature death has inspsired a number of tribute albums, of which this 1998 recital in Wigmore Hall is one of the best.

For one thing, it's her only solo recital on disk, and it features some staples of her repertoire--two arias from Handel's Theodora, two beautiful Rilke settings by Petyer Lieberson, and the spiritual 'Deep River' as one of the encores. Hunt Lieberson was also a great Mahler singer but never recored any. She was deeply moving in the Third Sym. as she is here in the five Ruckert lieder. Roger Nognobles offers exceptionally sensitive accompaniments, particularly in the Mahler--I'd rank this CD as first choice if you want these songs outside their usual orchestral setting.

In sum, a unique recital form a much loved and greatly missed singer.

I am fortunate to work in an office with walls and a door, where I can actually play music without disturbing anyone. Lately, because work has been particularly stressful, I've been playing and replaying my Hunt Lieberson CD's. Sometimes I am forced to just stop what I'm doing and listen, because I can't help it. Other times I'm aware of this glorious, comforting, melodic background to my work that makes everything I do more tolerable and less fraught. To say that I'm awestruck by this woman's gift would be the grossest of understatements. I don't recall ever responding to music in this way--and I am a singer. No one who cares about vocal music should be without all of Hunt Lieberson's work. Simply extraordinary.

Few singers have been so cherished after an early demise as Lorraine Hunt Lieberson. She was, and thanks to recordings, remains a consummate artist. Not only did she have the gift of a ravishing sound to her voice, but she also had the intelligence and sensitivity to make everything she performed sound as though it was a premiere. She is profoundly missed.

Amazon.com has continued to stock the Wigmore Hall recordings of such great artists as Lieberson, Christine Brewer, and Angelika Kirschschlager - recordings that not only show the grandeur of the acoustic of this great hall but also the quality of respect the audience pays to the performer. In this recording Lieberson is accompanied by Roger Vignoles in a lush reading of Mahler's 'Rückert Lieder', as well as arias from Handel's 'Theodora', Peter Lieberson's Rilke Songs (2) and an aria from his 'Ashoka's Dream'. She then honors her audience with Brahms' 'Unbewegte laue Luft' and one of the most moving performances of the spiritual 'Deep River' we are likely to hear as encores. It is a great performance, beautifully recorded, and a fine tribute to a great lady of music. Grady Harp, October 10

The re-issue of (AT LAST!) of this live concert is a fitting tribute to the late Lorraine Hunt-Lieberson. The achingly beautiful Mahler lieder and the joyous Handel arias for which she was so well known, are exquisitely and movingly sung. This is a must-have for those who loved this great artist. Her favorite encore number, "Deep River" could melt a heart of stone.

This is an absolutely wonderful CD by a great artist. I am very pleased...and the service was excellent.

It took me a while to "get" this lovely voice, whose warmth and vibrancy is of a subtler kind than the richer, more refulgent tones of mezzos such as Janet Baker but after I had fallen in love with Lorraine Hunt Lieberson's live Berlioz recital from Berkeley (see my review) I returned to other discs such as this live Wigmore Hall debut recording from 1998. The voice is utterly even throughout its range, plangent and malleable with a peculiarly immediate quality common to great voices that makes you forget technique and concentrate upon the emotions being expressed. The blandness I sometimes associate with lighter mezzos such as Anna Sophie von Otter is entirely absent and she often reminds me of the late, great American singer Tatiana Troyanos.

The programme here was judiciously selected and at its heart is the Mahler song cycle. The ever-sensitive Roger Vignole's provides nuanced and dynamically shaded accompaniment of such distinction as almost to make one forget the orchestral versions and it is certain a welcome novelty to hear these smaller-scale accounts, so intimate and immediate. I have little time for the Lieberson songs and skip them but they are there to provide modernity and variety for those who appreciate them. The Handel arias are simply gorgeous: searing and poignant, exquisitely sung with ringing top notes and proper trills. The gem of the recital for me is the dignified and soulful version of "Deep River" - and the reason why I bought this in the first place, having heard a snippet. The sound is excellent, the audience very quiet. A beautiful disc.

This was as noted a lunchtime recital released originally, with one fewer track, by BBC Records. Wigmore Hall was able to regain the rights and use an additional track to make this neglected gem even more special. Lorraine Hunt-Lieberson was taken too soon. Her voice was still in top form and as a lieder singer she had few rivals.

The last couple of years have brought forth some great CDs by Mrs. Lieberson and all have been wonderful. I can sincerely recommend this release to anyone interested in great singing or just plain good music.

Lorraine Hunt Lieberson has a beautiful Mezzo and conveys a lot of emotion in these songs. My personal favorite was the Aria from "Asoka's Dream" and I loved the Mahler lieder as well. I know one review criticized her for being a little affected in rendering these, but maybe because I'm hearing them for the first time, I went with her take and did like it.

This is a truly lovely album, and I frequently get goosebumps listening to it, and have to repeat a track just to savor it. However, I got these as mp3s and my Bose Series II (pretty good desktop speakers) cannot handle the high notes, nor can my pretty darn good Sennheiser HD580 headphones (however plugged into the Bose speakers). I have not tried transferring to my Archos nor my Zen...maybe it's just the iTunes player. With this album, I'll probably buy it also on CD eventually, as I don't like to be defeated in things like this. Oh, the mp3 download of Coraline...lots of details there are distorted, darn it. Well, be interested to hear if others have this problem with mp3 downloads. And darn, why did she have to leave us. Such a loss...

Sorry -- I gave this as a Xmas present, so I have no idea if it's good!