This triumvirate of composers represents an essentially lyrical impulse in American music. Leonard Bernstein’s Arias and Barcarolles was completed in 1988 but had existed in some form since 1955. The cycle of songs about love and marriage was written for voice and piano (four-hands) but orchestrated, under Bernstein’s supervision, by Bright Sheng, and premièred by Gerard Schwarz. Eclectic, exciting, jazzy, and Mahlerian, it reflects Bernstein in all his multi-faceted glory. Barber’s concert overture is a vibrant work, fizzing with energy, whilst Diamond’s Elegy offers a poignant, noble and at times violent lament for Ravel.
