Search - Jan DeGaetani, Gilbert Kalish :: Jan DeGaetani and Gilbert Kalish in Concert

To many observers, no artist has ever replaced the great mezzo-soprano, Jan DeGaetani, as an interpreter of contemporary song. Writing of her, New York Times critic Harold C. Schonberg called her the finest song recitalist that the United States has ever produced. DeGaetani, with her magnificent duo-partner, Gilbert Kalish, concertized together for thirty-years, the partnership ending with DeGaetani's death in 1989. This two-CD set gives us one of their final recitals together, and includes the wide-ranging repertoire that these two artists were known for. In addition, never-before issued concert recordings of song cycles by Haydn and Stanley Walden fill out this tribute to DeGaetani. Gilbert Kalish, writing of this performance, states: The concert presented on these discs took place in the midst of the leukemia that took her life. When I heard this 1987 concert and the variety of great works performed with such love, conviction, insight and beauty, I felt that it needed to be heard. Twenty years after her death, many young musicians, even singers, do not know the name or the work of Jan DeGaetani. It is my hope that these CDs will bring the art of this great musician/singer and extraordinary woman to a new generation of music lovers and young musicians.