American composer Peter Lieberson's closing-in on the premiere of his "Songs of Love and Sorrow" a new song cycle inspired by the poetry of Chilean writer Pablo Neruda. It's the fifth work commissioned by the Boston Symphony Orchestra since 1981 for the composer, and will be presented by James Levine with the BSO, and Canadian baritone Gerard Finley. The last Lieberson work that premiered with the Levine/BSO dreamteam was in late 2005: his Neruda Songs, inspired similiarly from the Chilean poet, where the composer took five of the love sonnets and set them to music to honor his wife mezzo-soprano Lorraine Hunt Lieberson (above as photographed by Avedon). Although the mezzo died in July 2006 of breast cancer, she sang the premiere. Lieberson's new work takes five more poems from Neruda’s love sonnets from a male perspective, which he considers a companion piece to his 2005 song cycle. There will be four performances starting on March 25th (with an open rehearsal on the evening of March 24).