Peter Lieberson

Peter Lieberson (October 25, 1946, New York City  – April 23, 2011, Tel Aviv, Israel) was an American composer. He was the son of ballerina and choreographer Vera Zorina (née Eva Brigitta Hartwig) and Goddard Lieberson, president of Columbia Records.

He studied composition with Milton Babbitt, Charles Wuorinen, Donald Martino, and Martin Boykan. After completing his musical studies at Columbia University, he left New York in 1976 for Boulder, Colorado to continue his studies with Chogyam Trungpa, a Tibetan Vajrayana Buddhist master. It was there he met and married Ellen Kearney, a fellow student of Chogyam Trungpa. At the request of their teacher, the Liebersons moved from Boulder to Boston, Massachusetts to co-direct Shambhala Training, a meditation and cultural program.

He attended Brandeis University, from which he received a Ph.D. From 1984-88 he taught at Harvard University. He then became international director of Shambhala Training in Halifax, Nova Scotia.^{[citation needed]}

Since 1994, Lieberson devoted his time entirely to composition. He met his second wife, mezzo-soprano Lorraine Hunt Lieberson in 1997 during the Santa Fe Opera production of his work Ashoka's Dream and they married in 1999 after he and his first wife were divorced. He wrote his song cycles Rilke Songs and Neruda Songs for Hunt Lieberson. The Neruda Songs were co-commissioned by the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Boston Symphony; the world premiere was given on May 20, 2005, by the Los Angeles Philharmonic with Esa-Pekka Salonen conducting and Hunt Lieberson as soloist.

The Boston Symphony performed the work in November 2005 with Hunt Lieberson as soloist and James Levine conducting, followed by performances with the Cleveland Orchestra, Robert Spano conducting. Lieberson and Hunt Lieberson remained married until her death from breast cancer in July 2006, aged 52.

Nonesuch subsequently released a commercial recording in 2006 of the Boston/Levine performance of the Neruda Songs.

In December 2007, he won the 2008 Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition for Neruda Songs. The Rilke Songs have also been issued, in separate studio and concert performances by Hunt Lieberson, both on the Bridge Records, Inc. label.

Lieberson was commissioned by the Boston Symphony to compose another cycle of Neruda songs, which became the Songs of Love and Sorrow. When he returned to the work, it was no longer simply a memorial to Hunt Lieberson and personal farewell, but also reflected the influence of his daughters and his third wife, Rinchen Lhamo.

Lieberson had three daughters from his first marriage. Shortly after Lorraine Hunt Lieberson died, Peter Lieberson himself was diagnosed with cancer. He battled lymphoma and was thought to be in full remission. According to his publisher, he died of complications of the disease. He had married, thirdly, to his longtime friend, Rinchen Lhamo, and was living in Santa Fe, New Mexico at the time of his death.

Selected works

Opera

• Ashoka's Dream (1997)

Orchestral

• Drala (1986)
• The Gesar Legend (1988)
• World’s Turning (1991)
• The Five Great Elements (1995)
• Processional (1995)
• Ah (2002)

Concertante

• Concerto for Four Groups of Instruments (1972)
• Concerto for Violoncello with Accompanying Trios (1974)
• Concerto for Piano (1980)
• Viola Concerto (1992)
• Rhapsody for viola and orchestra (1994)
• Horn Concerto (1998)
• Red Garuda for piano and orchestra (1999)
• The Six Realms for cello and orchestra (2000)
• Piano Concerto No. 3 (2003)

Chamber music

• Flute Variations for flute solo (1971)
• Accordance for 8 Instruments (1975)
• Tashi Quartet for clarinet, violin, cello and piano (1978)
• Lalita, Chamber Variations (1984)
• Feast Day for flute (also piccolo, alto flute), oboe, cello and harpsichord (or piano) (1985)
• Ziji for clarinet, horn, violin, viola, cello and piano (1987)
• Raising the Gaze for flute (also piccolo), clarinet (also bass clarinet), violin, viola, cello, piano and percussion (1988)
• Elegy for violin and piano (1990)
• Wind Messengers for 3 flute, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets (also bass clarinets), 2 bassoons and 2 horns (1990)
• A Little Fanfare for flute, trumpet, violin and harp (1991)
• A Little Fanfare (II) for clarinet, violin, viola, cello and piano (1993)
• Variations for violin and piano (1993)
• Rumble, Medley for viola, double bass and percussion (1994)
• String Quartet (1994)
• Three Variations for cello and piano (1996)
• Free and Easy Wanderer (1998)
• Piano Quintet (2001)
• Remembering Schumann for cello and piano (2009)

Piano

• Piano Fantasy (1975)
• Bagatelles (1985)
• Fantasy Pieces (1989)

1. Breeze of Delight
2. Dragon's Thunder
3. Memory's Luminous Wind

• Scherzo No. 1 (1989)
• Garland (1994)
• The Ocean that Has No West and No East (1997)
• Tolling Piece (1998)

Vocal

• Three Songs for soprano and chamber ensemble (1981)
• King Gesar for narrator and chamber ensemble (1991)
• C'mon Pigs of Western Civilization Eat More Grease for baritone and piano (2001)
• Forgiveness for baritone and cello (2001)
• Rilke Songs for mezzo-soprano and piano (2001)
• Neruda Songs for mezzo-soprano and orchestra (2005)
• The Coming of Light for baritone, oboe and string quartet (2009)
• Remembering JFK (An American Elegy) for narrator and orchestra (2010)
• Songs of Love and Sorrow for baritone and orchestra (2010)

Choral

• The World in Flower for mezzo-soprano, baritone, chorus and orchestra (2007)

External links

• Biography at Schirmer
• Neruda Songs, new album on Nonesuch
• Article in Shambhala Sun Magazine
• Alex Ross remembrance
• David Weininger on Lieberson & Songs of Love & Sorrow