# The World in Flower by Lieberson



## ZombieBeethoven (Jan 17, 2012)

I will be attending a performance of Brahm's Ein Deutsches Requiem (familiar) and Peter Lieberson's The World in Flower (unfamiliar) in a couple weeks. I am having trouble finding much information on The World in Flower. Just the few hits from google. It would be nice to find a recording, but perhaps it is new enough that it has not been recorded? Any of you gurus have any thoughts on the piece? Thanks.


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## Lunasong (Mar 15, 2011)

From Lieberson's publisher, Schirmer:

Like Beethoven's optimism or the spirituality of Olivier Messiaen, Peter Lieberson's music is a herald of his compassionate worldview. On May 7 (2009), the New York Philharmonic presents Lieberson's newest work for mezzo-soprano, baritone, chorus and orchestra - _The World In Flower_, his reflection on ecumenical tolerance and what it means to be human.

Throughout his oeuvre, Lieberson offers a trancendent picture of the world - making audible an abstract, yet ideal vision. In _The World in Flower_, Lieberson explores how spiritual life (and not just religious spirituality) can flourish in many ways.

Having seen in the world, "a tremendous intolerance toward people with beliefs by people who have different beliefs," Lieberson was compelled to create a work that would express understanding about life and the common human experience.

To that end, Lieberson set the text of eleven different authors with different frames of reference including Rilke, Neruda, Whitman, a traditional Navajo poem, a poem from an Uvavnuk (an Inuit Shaman), and the Bible.

For Lieberson, the most interesting thing about setting so many disparate texts was the similarity of "understanding expressed within" each text. This understanding, to Lieberson, is in profound contrast to the world's current predicament. To him, the world is faced with so much intolerence bred by people, "sticking to their own conceptual framework and not what's behind it" - rather than the similarities in humanity.

Composer Note:

In general I like writing to texts very much. In fact, most of what I've written in recent years has been vocal music. It has opened up a new world for me. I've always loved poetry. I wanted to be a writer when I was younger, but then music took over. The style in which I write now has been very affected by being with Lorraine [Hunt Lieberson] and hearing her sing, and realizing one has to give weight to words. Very often, my tempi would be faster than those she sang in performance, [with her] needing time to enunciate words, and also to give expression to the emotions contained in the words. ... I sometimes think that composers write at a faster tempo than [a piece] is performed [at]. What takes place in the mind is a different thing from what is articulated by performers.
I am always a little worried about calling a musical piece spiritual or religious. Rather than being so concerned about writing a piece that is spiritual or religious, which one might think one must listen to in a certain way, with this piece I set texts that are the utterances of a fully developed human being. We are in a very intolerant age. The less space we have to live in, it seems the less tolerance we have; the way points of view are expressed in language seem more important than the essence that is expressed.

- Peter Lieberson

Movements:

Prelude
(orchestral)

1. I Live My Life in Widening Circles
Text: Rilke
SATB chorus

2. Owl Woman's Song
Text: Juana Maxwell
Mz

3. That Nature is a Heraclitean Fire and of the Comfort of the Resurrection
Text: G.M.Hopkins
Bar

4. From The Odes of Solomon
Mz, SATB chorus

5. Excerpts from Rumi and Mechtild of Magdebur
Mz, Bar, SATB chorus

Prelude - The Great Sea...
Text: Uvanuk
Mz

6. Oceana
Text: Neruda
Mz, Bar

Prelude
Text: Marguerite Porete
SATB chorus

7. From Leaves of Grass
Text: Whitman
Bar

8. Prayers from the Navajo
Mz, Bar, SATB chorus

Orchestration:
2 flutes/piccolo
2 oboes
2 clarinets/bass clarinet, alto sax
2 bassoons
2 horns
2 trumpets
timpani
percussion
harp
piano
strings
http://www.schirmer.com/default.aspx?TabId=2422&State_2879=2&newsId_2879=1603
The link includes an audio file of Lieberson describing his composing process for the piece. It was commissioned by the New York Philharmonic. I am sure you have already read the 2009 premiere review, I'm including it for the interest of others.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/09/arts/music/09phil.html


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## Stargazer (Nov 9, 2011)

Totally jealous, hope you have fun! Reading Lunasong's information got me curious to hear it as well.


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## ZombieBeethoven (Jan 17, 2012)

Thank you for the links, Lunasong. A couple days after the performance, I don't have much to add to the NY Times review of the piece. The reviewer did remark that Lieberson may have been trying to reach a wider audience. That may be true, but I also wondered if he was intentionally relying on more familiar techniques in order to be more comforting. This might make sense if you consider the situation Lieberson was facing when he was composing the piece. The conductor mentioned that he did not want to discuss the backstory at that time because he was likely to become "verklempt". It struck me as a tender message to his wife. I found it quite touching.
I have still not found any recordings of The World in Flower. If anybody runs across one, please keep me in mind.
We also had fun, Stargazer. This was part of a pleasant weekend with the family.


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