Albany Times Union‘s Joseph Dalton reviews Herschel Garfein’s new Mortality Mansions recording in his “Classical Notes” column:
“The American poet Donald Hall, dubbed by the New York Times as the ‘laureate of rural life,’ died on June 23 at age 89. That very same week, Delos released ‘Mortality Mansions,’ a unique collection of songs based on Hall’s late poetry.… The handsome performances are by tenor Michael Slattery and pianist Dimitri Dover. [Composer Herschel] adds just enough music to give the poems a new artistic touch without taking away their intimate scale and inherent humanity. The songs don’t overreach for stylistic statement, but hew close to the words that deal with simple observations of time and place. The interpretations by Slatery and Dover are excellent, sometimes possessing a burning intensity but always sensitive to the tender moments. … [Hall’s] spoken words are so many treasures, his images precious and fleeting.”
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