Appalachian Liebeslieder for soprano, baritone, and piano duet Op. 54 (1996) c.20'00"
poems by Laren Stover
I. Roy Meetin (Volkswagen Volkswagen und Die Augen Blau)
II. Nice Eyes
III. Frau Turbosupercharger
IV. Real Food
V. Schwarzen Hosen Woes
VI. Too Blue
VII. Little Heaven
Commissioned by the New York Festival of Song
First performed on January 15th, 1997 at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall in New York City by Christine Goerke, soprano and William Sharp, baritone with Michael Barret and Steven Blier, pianists
Published by Theodore Presser Company
Recorded by Brenda Rae, soprano and John Hancock, baritone with John Musto and William Hobbs, piano on Albany
RECORDINGS
REVIEWS
“There is no other song cycle in the world quite like Lowell Liebermann’s Appalachian Liebeslieder…Liebermann produced music of wit, anger, bewilderment and soaring, ecstatic lyricism - not to mention a parody of the German lieder tradition.”
The Washington Post
“Liebermann’s writing is so deft and his text setting so accurate that at first the music seems utterly subservient to the bathetic and quirky drama. But gradually, the music asserts itself, taking seriously the inner lives of these seemingly hollow characters - and the gap between what these two losers must feel and what they are able to articulate is brilliantly made evident.”
Johanna Keller, Andante.com