Exhilaration - Dickinson and Yeats Songs

Adriana Zabala, Gregg Kallor | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD
• Original Release Date: 2008
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: GKM Records
• ASIN: B0019Z7V1Q
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #123,584 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #62 in Music > Classical > Historical Periods > Classical (c.1770-1830) > Vocal & Song > General AAS

Editorial Reviews

This album is the premiere recording of Gregg Kallor's richly imaginative settings of poems by Emily Dickinson and William Butler Yeats, featuring mezzo-soprano Adriana Zabala and Kallor at the piano. Kallor and Zabala premiered these song-cycles at Carnegie Hall's recital hall in 2007. Also included on the album are "Song" (a setting of Christina Rossetti's poem) and Kallor's original "Lullaby."

"[These songs] are simply beautiful and poignant works... Well crafted? Definitely. Entertaining? Yes. Well performed? Absolutely. Lyrical? You bet."
-Sequenza21

"Kallor knows how to make these words sing, and Zabala gives perfect flight to them."
-Opera News

"Kallor's compositions are as touching, lilting, and vulnerable as the poems he sets."
-American Record Guide

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must for fans of great singing and great poetry, September 29, 2008

By 

Acquisitrix (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Exhilaration - Dickinson and Yeats Songs (Audio CD)

MOVING & BEAUTIFUL.
Adriana Zabala sounds magnificent in this album of fresh, beautiful new songs.
The Yeats set takes some well-known and some more obscure lyric poems of the great Irish master and sets them to music that is remarkably colorful, romantic and even, at times, jazz-influenced. (And funny! Make sure you check out "The Drunken Man's Praise of Sobriety.")
And still, the Dickinson cycle that gives the CD its name is the real gem here. It combines some of Emily Dickinson's most profound (and rather abstract) poems and sets them to beautiful, tonal (thank you!) music that is searching and heartfelt. I loved every one of these songs singly, but especially appreciated how well the texts were chosen to flow from one to the other and create meaning across the whole song-cycle. The first and last songs both begin with the word "Exhilaration" , but that word is imbued with the kind of unusual emotional shading that is pure Dickinson. And Kallor is uncannily able to follow Dickinson's every nuance; when you get to the end you really feel that you've arrived somewhere.
Kallor is someone to watch. Zabala, recital fans know, is a gorgeous singing actress -- a real treasure on the NY recital scene, who also turns up in interesting opera roles around the country. She got national attention for Philip Glass's 'Waiting for the Barbarians' when it was premiered in Texas. Sadly, I haven't heard of any NY premiere forthcoming. But I am very happy to have this album in the meantime.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Bravo...What a joy!, November 24, 2008

By 

D. Bonifacio (Patterson, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Exhilaration - Dickinson and Yeats Songs (Audio CD)

Gregg Kallor's music is a sheer delight and an inspiration, and Adriana Zabala's voice is magnificent. Looking forward to future "exhilarating" performances!