Peter Lieberson: Neruda Songs

One of the most moving, well written and orchestrated pieces of all time. It will be a classic. Regardless of how many times I listen to it I am equally spellbound every time. A tribute to the love of two people for each other and for a passion of expression that cannot be articulated into common words. Congratulations on the Grammy nomination, well earned!

Congrats to this album being nominated for the 2007 Grammy Award.

Buying this is the best thing you possibly do with five dollars.

As a Pablo Neruda fan, I was taken away by Lorraine Hunt Lieberson's interpretations. They suspend time and the heart in aria. As Mark Swed wrote in the Los Angeles Times, "Her final legacy was the Neruda Songs, her husband's exceptional beautiful love letter to her. These are among the most sumptuous orchestral songs ever written, and they are also a profuoundly inspiring public farewell by lovers." For an introduction to Neruda's poetry, I suggest City Lights' "The Essential Neruda: Selected Poems" As Pulitzer Prize winning Chilean/American writer Ariel Dorfman wrote, "What better way to celebrate the hundred years of Neruda's glorious residence on our earth than this selection of crucial works - in both languages! - by one of the greatest poets of all time. A splendid way to begin a love affair with our Pablo or, having already succumbed to his infinite charms, revisit him passionately again and again and yet again." The Bloomsbury Review wrote, "The call for a more accessible collection of Neruda's important poems is answered with City Lights' The Essential Neruda, a 200-page edition that offers 50 of Neruda's key poems. The editors and translators know how to extract gold from a lifetime of prolific writing. If you want a handy Neruda companion and don't know where to begin, this is it." The book makes an important accompanimient to Lorraine's incredible recording.

Has more powerfully gorgeous music ever been written? Or more sublimely performed?

Undoubtedly this recording contains a sad reminder of Mrs. Lieberson who died short;y after this performance, and some may be influenced by that tragic event to listen to this album. However no matter what the reason performances like this come along so seldom during ones listening experience that this recording is a magnificent tribute to the composer, and his wife, Mrs. lieberson and the superb Boston Symphony under James Levine. The music is not difficult to absorb and the commitment by the performers is so intense and vivid, it is almost impossible to not to be moved. By all means get this recording and thank nonesuch for releasing it.

This may be the most important classical release of the year. Not only are these hauntingly beautiful songs sung exquisitely, they were composed specifically for the composer's wife, Lorraine Hunt Lieberson. What we didn't know, when she took these songs on tour with orchestras across the country, was that she was dying of cancer, and she has since lost her courageous battle. So this recording is also a tribute to the memory of a great artist. Thank you Mr. Lieberson, James Levine, Boston Symphony, Nonesuch Records and iTunes for making this special recording available.