In the post below, I’ve added links to Lorraine Hunt Lieberson obituaries and tributes as I’ve come upon them…and they continue to mount, unsurprisingly. But the lovely essay by David Patrick Stearns that appeared in the Philadelphia Inquirer today deserves to be singled out for special attention, I think. It’s an insightful, elegant piece, and one that gets right to the core of why we all cared so deeply for an artist most of us didn’t know, and perhaps never even met. (I didn’t.) Thanks, David. And thanks to Musical America for the pointer.

Among the many tidbits that I learned in reading all of these essays was a tantalizing revelation found in Craig Smith’s similarly lovely obituary in the New Mexican: namely, that the Liebersons included in some recital programs Bob Telson’s poignant "I Am Calling You" (from the film Bagdad Cafe). Now, that’s something I wish I could have heard.

Playlist:

Johann Sebastian Bach – Cantatas Nos. 82 and 199 – LHL, The Orchestra of Emmanuel Music/Craig Smith (Nonesuch)

George Frideric Handel – Arias – LHL, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment/Harry Bicket (Avie)

Gustav Mahler – Four Rückert Lieder; Maurice Delage – Four Hindu Poems – LHL, Moab Music Festival/Michael Barrett (MMF)

Gustav Mahler – "Urlicht" from Symphony No. 2, "Resurrection" – LHL, San Francisco Symphony/Michael Tilson Thomas (SFS)

John Adams – El Niño – LHL, Dawn Upshaw, Willard White, Theatre of Voices, London Voices, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin/Kent Nagano (Nonesuch)

Peter Lieberson – Rilke Songs – LHL, Peter Serkin (Bridge)