Songs By Mahler, Handel and Peter Lieberson

We are indebted to Wigmore Hall for preserving this 1998 recital by the great, beloved mezzo-soprano Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, who was tragically taken from us in 2006. Now that her recordings are all we have left, this one is particularly valuable: it captures the vibrant immediacy of a live performance. The concentrated, spellbound silence of the audience is like a tangible presence. It also captures the incomparable beauty of Hunt Lieberson's voice: a dark alto in the low register, a warm mezzo in mid-range, crowned by a radiant top. Seamless, focused, and pure, she could make it float ethereally or glow with intensity; her intonation and breath-control were impeccable. The program illustrates the breadth of her repertoire. Baroque opera was among her specialties, and the record includes two slow Handel arias, one a lament, one a prayer. She carries the influence of the bel canto style and its tendency to swell notes with delayed vibrato over into the Five Mahler Songs on Rückert poems, making them sound a bit fussy and calculated, particularly the first and last, which are extremely slow. In the fourth, however, the initial despair and final heroic resignation come out beautifully. In both these groups, one misses the orchestra, especially because the pianist, an admirable, empathetic partner, sounds distant and subdued. The program ends with works by her husband, Peter Lieberson: two songs on Rilke poems and an aria from the opera Ashoka's Dream. No composer could wish for a more persuasive advocate. She brings out their majesty, passion, and inward expressiveness with total identification. As encores, the spiritual "Deep River," the first verse in the low register, the second an octave higher, is deeply devout; Brahms' "Unbewegte laue Luft" starts softly and ends in a burst of glory. --Edith Eisler

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