The cycle is a setting of poems by twentieth-century Chilean poet and diplomat Pablo Neruda.
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.
[2] Nonesuch subsequently released a commercial recording of the Boston/Levine performance of the Neruda Songs.
[3] In December 2007, Lieberson won the 2008 Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition for Neruda Songs.
[4] The Rilke Songs have also been issued, in separate studio and concert performances by Hunt Lieberson, both on the Bridge Records, Inc.