Search - Gustav Mahler, George Frideric Handel, Peter Lieberson :: Lorraine Hunt-Lieberson / Live from Wigmore Hall

A magnificent Wigmore debut

12/15/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Lorraine Hunt Lieberson's debut recital at Wigmore Hall is well documented by this wonderful recording. She is at home with the Mahler idiom and then successfully switches gears to sing both Handel (2 arias) and Lieberson (songs & an aria). All of this is sung with great beauty although I think that the Handel is the most remarkable accomplishment: passion and anger in "Scherza infida", conviction and a gorgeous pianissimo ending to "As with rosy steps". The "Deep River" encore brings her back to her American roots again with exemplary involvement in the appropriate style. Having first encountered this recital from a friend's tape, it is wonderful to have this so cleanly brought to CD. A magnificent Wigmore debut has received an excellent prodution. If you enjoy this singer as I do, then this is a MUST HAVE."

Ave Atque Vale

Grady Harp | Los Angeles, CA United States | 07/06/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The world will sadly miss the radiant presence of Lorraine Hunt Lieberson: news of her far too early passing at age 52 stunned the music world and touched the hearts of her legion of admirers. Hunt Lieberson was one of those magical singers who not only possessed a voice of inordinate warmth and beauty, but she was also a musician of impeccable taste with the ability to move with utter grace from the complexities of Baroque music (her Bach cantatas will remain in memory permanently as will her Handel roles on stage and recording), to the passion and honest angst of Mahler's songs, and to the ability to premiere new works by contemporary composers such as John Adams and her husband Peter Lieberson (few partnerships in music could rival their mutual respect).



This CD will doubtless be reissued because it is a strong statement about Hunt Lieberson as a phenomenon. Recorded live in Wigmore Hall, she is partnered here by the gifted Roger Vignoles at the piano, and together they traverse Mahler's 'Ruckert Lieder', Brahms' 'Unbewegte laue Luft', arias from Handel's 'Ariodante' and 'Theodora', Peter Lieberson's 'Songs on poems by Rilke' and 'Ashoka's Dream', and a deeply moving 'Deep River' - as profound a performance of this spiritual as any on record.



There are more fine CDs of Hunt Lieberson's performances, but as far as one CD that demonstrates all that is memorable about this wondrous talent, this is a memento to own. She was a miracle and that miracle will live on. Grady Harp, July 06"

Please Reissue this CD!

J. C. Weaver | 07/08/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"To whom is capable of reissuing this recording:

Please do. With the tragic loss of Lorraine Hunt Lieberman, we need this recording to add to the slim list of her available recordings. Her voice -- her passion and presence -- cannot be lost in the gallows of neglect! In tribute to her and the gift she gave us, reissue this recording for those who loved her and for those in the future, who will hear her voice and come to love her in their generation."