Album Notes

"Once again, soprano Janeanne Houston and pianist Robert Jorgensen have collaborated on an exemplary collection of modern art songs, featuring the work of some of our finest current composers…these are approachable, accessible songs that are highly expressive and largely tonal. And yet this does not feel like a safe or especially conservative collection.
Janeanne Houston’s soprano is a brilliant yet rich instrument which she has under excellent technical control through even the most challenging passages...Houston has a technique that allows her to sing these songs with impressive expressiveness and ease, even when the melodic line is at its most angular. As for the timbre of the voice, it displays a radiant shimmer reminiscent of Spanish soprano Pilar Lorengar, and also sounds a bit like Beverly Sills in her prime. The tone always sounds fully alive, and Houston knows how to draw the voice through even the most complex phrases. Robert Jorgensen is a superb pianist and sensitive accompanist, and he rises to every interpretive and technical challenge as though every song were written with him in mind." - THE JOURNAL OF SINGING, Gregory Berg, November/December, 2006


"The Shining Place," Janeanne Houston (Elmgrove Productions): On this new CD from this polished and very communicative soprano, Houston continues her stellar discography.

With oboist Shannon Spicciati and pianist Robert Jorgenson, Houston's clear, high-flying voice is right on target in readings of contemporary songs, many of them of an elegiac nature. Lee Hoiby's settings of Emily Dickinson poetry (the title song set) are especially fine; songs of Lori Laitman and Stephen Paulus are also among the more exceptional tracks. Houston, who teaches at Pacific Lutheran University, has another winner here." - SEATTLE TIMES, Melinda Bargreen, February 10, 2006