recording reviews
Phenomenon
“Phenomenal Woman gets a hybrid treatment of various styles that the poetry of Maya Angelou seems to inspire... mixing jazz, rock, blues, and more into seven individual songs with no related context. Lisa Delan eats them up and presents them in a fully persuasive manner. Those who love art songs will salivate over this one. The fine surround sound only seals the deal for me. Highly recommended!”
— Fanfare
“The seven poems by American poet Maya Angelou... seethe and burst with emotion and resonate with the spoken Black idiom... Garner employs a variety of popular music types: blues, jazz, rock ‘n roll, and music theatre are all present here (and superbly rendered by soprano Lisa Delan, I might add).”
White Election
“In this recording [Lisa Delan] achieves an excellence that only a cycle of such breadth can draw from her. The recitative, sometimes with a suspenseful accompaniment, is here the realm of the exquisite artistry of Lisa Delan. This disc is very beautiful, and although essentially tonal, it is a quintessential collection of the work of the poet and musician.”
“Another winner featuring the charming presence of Lisa Delan! These 32 poems that Gordon Getty has set to music have the thematic and musical unity to constitute a real cycle.... Delan’s vocal artistry is well adapted to expressing the shifting, swiftly surging emotion in such run-on lines as “The bell within the steeple wild / The flying tiding told: / How much can come, / And much can go, / And yet abide the world!” As a song interpreter she may well be unequalled.”
“Miss Delan adds luminescence... with a creamy, soothing tone that can be spellbinding.”
— Opera Online
“Soprano Lisa Delan, a Getty favorite, performs the cycle with attractive facility and understanding.”
“The White Election stands as a clear masterpiece... you'll hear a kind of melodic quaintness that suits the poems quite well - more of the 19th than the 20th Century. The physical sound has a spatial fullness, yet the miking on Ms. Delan's voice is precise and intimate. Delan projects well... Each work here is a small jewel and should please just about anyone, whether you're familiar with Emily Dickinson's poetry or not.”
“Getty consistently captures in music the spirit of Dickinson's poems, amplifying or commenting on the words without ever detracting from their power or their beauty. Lisa Delan has a lovely, bright soprano voice that she can color appropriately...”
— Fanfare
“Getty...steps into Dickinson's world and ushers us in there, too, by making us linger on the words instead of read them, more fleetingly, on the page. It's touching how he takes her words to heart. It's also impressive how Delan steps into her character, even dressing for a performance in period clothing.”
And If the Song be Worth a Smile
“And if the song by worth a smile... In this case, it is. Even chuckles and loud approval. The soprano Lisa Delan is a singer with a sharp voice, penetrating but light. But she is also an actress with a comic persona that is revealed aurally, hinting at what it must be like to see her live... This is an attractive lighthearted recording, and is sure to bring you some smiles... Each composer and also each performance given by Lisa Delan merits interest and great praise... We strongly recommend this CD.”
“This recital by the wonderful American soprano Lisa Delan created pleasant peril for me, and I don’t mind admitting it. Lord, but there’s so much diversity here! These seventeen songs by six composers – William Bolcom, Gordon Getty, Jake Heggie, David Garner, John Corigliano, and Luna Pearl Woolf – range from cabaret and blues to genuine art song and modern folk-inspired. The lyrics cover the whole poetic spectrum... thoroughly enjoyable and provocative...”
“Even though she is presenting music by the most varied compositional voices, soprano Lisa Delan holds the program together with a personality that's strong enough to make you forget the example of Bolcom and partner Joan Morris in the Cabaret Songs and also in John Corigliano's satirical Dodecaphonia, which was also composed for them.”
— AllMusic
“An attractive recital of songs by six living American composers... The performance by Lisa Delan reveals her to be a singer with an unusually versatile voice, ranging from rich operatic tones to Broadway belt, with excellent diction and imaginative characterization. Delan has the ability to tell a story through song very effectively, and this is put to advantage throughout this recital.... This is an interesting and enterprising programme, consistently well performed by all concerned, recorded in fine, well-balanced sound, and with a booklet that includes detailed notes and complete texts.”;
— International Record Review
“If ever a collection of new, American songs could put a smile on your face, it's surely this one, sung by the versatile soprano Delan. Her singing is full of thoughtful detail and rings clear (yes, you can actually hear the words), plus her acting is dramatic enough to be direct but is never over-the-top. William Bolcom's Four Cabaret Songs is Broadway bound as is Gordon Getty's Poor Peter, accompanied by Delan's claps and stomps. John Corigliano's Dodecaphonia makes fun of 12-tone music and composers and his Marvelous Invention is a rhapsody on a woman's new iPod.. Hence, his work is tonal and very funny.”
— Rochester Democrat and Chronicle
“I am not sure I have heard a finer American song album since Songs of America made its debut on Nonesuch about 20 years ago. .... Here we have four lovely examples sung to perfection—perhaps one may even say acted—by Lisa Delan… [She is] fully appraised of the requirements of each of these songs, and easily offers a consequent expressive nuance....”
“Delan [has] an attractively robust, flexible soprano and easy access to a chesty belt. .... Getty gives her room to soar, particularly in "Where is My Lady?" and her vocal beauty and facility stand her in even better stead in the high-lying lines of Woolf's beguiling, undulating tone poem... Delan expertly dispatches the difficult demands of rhythm and range in three complex, compelling songs of Garner's to texts by nineteenth-century German writer Annette von Droste-Hülshoff...”
Joan and the Bells
“Delan... sang Joan handsomely, her soprano as true and steady as the character would want.”
— San Francisco Classical Voice
“Lisa Delan evocatively recreates the role of Joan in a moving account that goes some way to prove you can't beat a good old fashioned burning at the stake to get the adrenalin flowing.”
— HiFi+magazine
“Joan's soliloquy as she awaits her execution is dramatically and movingly sung by Lisa Delan...”
— Musical Opinion
“Getty's music is fluent and well orchestrated... [It] is beautifully sung by Lisa Delan...”
— International Record Review
“Lisa Delan gives a tender portrait of the maid in her cell, repentant for having forsaken her spiritual "voices" at the time of her trial.”
— Classik Reviews
“Soprano Lisa Delan has the right instincts for the title role as well as a sweetly innocent timbre...”
— ClassicsToday.com
“Lisa Delan sings beautifully and with absorbing drama.”
— MusicWeb
Young America
“Special praise goes to baritone Chernov, soprano Delan, and bass Hunka for their clear, committed singing...”
— Fanfare