Will Liverman: The Dunbar/Moore Sessions: Complete Collection
Lexicon Classics

On his Cedille Records releases Show Me The Way (2024) and Dreams of a New Day: Songs by Black Composers (2021), baritone Will Liverman dazzled listeners with his stunning vocal talents. Now, with the release of The Dunbar/Moore Sessions: Complete Collection, he showcases his considerable gifts as an art song composer as well as singer and pianist. While Liverman does sing on the release, he more often assumes the role of accompanist to a glorious vocal cast comprising mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard, coloratura soprano Erin Morley, tenor Martin Luther Clark, soprano Lauren Snouffer, lyric soprano Jacqueline Echols, tenor Joshua Blue, baritone Adam Richardson, soprano Ann Toomey, and singer/songwriter Mykal Kilgore, with violinist Lady Jess and cellist Lindsey Sharpe also featured.

The album was issued earlier as two separate volumes, but the two are now combined on this full version, which sets the late nineteenth and early twentieth-century poetry of Paul Laurence Dunbar and Alice Dunbar-Moore to Liverman's music. Both of these life-partners were writers and activists, yet while Dunbar died young, Moore-Dunbar continued to fight for women's rights, civil rights, and anti-lynching legislation until her death in 1935. Beyond everything else, the album's greatest surprise lies neither in the fact that it's Liverman's first full collection of art song originals nor in his having drawn for the writing from his broad background in classical, musical theatre, gospel, jazz, and other areas. No, the biggest surprise is that he produced these remarkable songs without ever having formally studied composition. The love he felt writing music blossomed during the pandemic when his love for melody, words, and storytelling catalyzed into full-fledged songs. Acknowledging the impact the poets' words had on him and how their words guided his musical treatments, Liverman states, “Their voices helped me find mine.”

His skills as a pianist are complemented by the artistry of his collaborators. While many of the singers are renowned for their work on the classical and opera stages, others have credits in other realms. Lady Jess, for example, is a soloing member of Beyoncé's band and has played on numerous soundtracks and performs with multiple orchestras, while Kilgore brings his vocal gifts to gospel, R&B, and country. In truth, each song registers as a Master Class in vocal artistry when every singer matches the incredibly high level of Liverman's own delivery. He sets the bar dauntingly high with the beguiling “Morning” and his impassioned outpourings. Snouffer extends the opener's early morning tone into “A Golden Day” with her lustrous soprano celebrating the beauty of the morning; the earnest "A Prayer” proves as impressive a document of her vocal artistry. “The Lesson” elevates the recording in pairing Liverman's baritone with Martin Luther Clark's tenor, and the contrast between their voices endows the alluring duet with clarity. As the subsequent "Life's Tragedy” shows, the rare song featuring Liverman alone is made even more special when every vocal gesture and inflection is thoughtfully considered. “Sonnet” indicates that a performance coupling him with an instrumentalist, in this case violinist Lady Jess, is as powerful. Kilgore's sultry voice is a perfect for “Night,” a brief yet nonetheless stirring meditation on the spiritual vastness of the cosmos.

At the album's centre is a three-song cycle titled A Threefold Heart, which features Blue partnering powerfully with Liverman on “Love and the Butterfly,” Leonard emoting poignantly through “If I Had Known,” and Liverman and cellist Sharpe elevating “A Love Song” with an intimate and yearning performance. Its wistful tone and slow pacing carry over into Morley's terrific contribution to “Farewell,” which weaves a subtle theatrical flavour into its presentation. With “Emancipation,” Liverman unleashes his gospel-spiritual side with a rousing performance. Following it, Toomey invests “Hymn” with a kindred kind of soul and passion. As exposing as an open wound, “A Plaint” sees Echols contributing a searing vocal to one of the album's most affecting settings. Matching Liverman's own vocal power is Richardson in his dynamic contribution to “To the Negro Farmers of the United States.” At album's end, Liverman partners again with Lady Jess on the tender lullaby “Good-night” to bring the album full circle, ending where it began.

August 2025