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By Matthew Westphal
03 Jan 2007
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Neruda Songs, the final recording by the late mezzo-soprano Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, made its debut on the final Billboard classical chart of 2006 at no. 2. The disc, containing a song cycle written for Hunt Lieberson by her husband, composer Peter Lieberson, features James Levine conducting the Boston Symphony Orchestra in performances from November 2005; it was released on December 19 by Nonesuch Records.
Continuing in the top spot for the 12th straight week was Songs From the Labyrinth, the disc of John Dowland lute songs performed by the veteran rock star Sting. Joshua Bell's Voice of the Violin rose from fourth to third place; crossover violinist André Rieu's Christmas Around the World and The Homecoming! slipped from second and third place to nos. 4 and 5, respectively.
Three titles re-entered to the classical chart last week: pianist Leon Fleisher's The Journey (no. 22), violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter's Simply Anne-Sophie (no. 23), and film composer Danny Elfman's orchestral disc Serenada Schizophrena (no. 25).
There was little change on Billboard's classical crossover chart last week from previous weeks. Josh Groban's Awake remains at no. 1; the rest of the top 10 is dominated by various titles from Andrea Bocelli and the quasi-operatic boy band Il Divo; spots 10 through 20 include three separate titles by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. Re-entering the crossover chart were The East Village Opera Company's debut disc on Decca (no. 16) and a "Strung-Out" release offering arrangements of tunes by the group Panic! at the Disco.
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