Neruda Songs

In recapping the year that was 2006, most took another moment to remember the life and career of Lorraine Hunt Lieberson. It’s almost too bittersweet to have this recording of Peter Lieberson’s music which he built on five of Neruda’s love sonnets as a gift for the woman he loved. Even if you come to the work ignorant of the details behind it, you couldn’t miss the sentiment so strongly communicated in the performance here. Lorraine and the Boston Symphony Orchestra under James Levine convey the power of each of the various facets of love described in the texts and embedded in the music. In the liner notes, Peter shares the simple knowledge that “I loved Lorraine completely and I have never felt so completely loved.” In this work and in their performance, that embrace is generously shared with the rest of us.

—MS