Judith Kellock displayed amazing talents as a dramatic reader and a singer of rare intelligence and vocal splendor.
Everything but... Barber's Hermit Songs means the rest of his substantial published output for voice and piano, and the impulse behind this is absolutely right because it focuses our attention on the less familiar but equally important songs that span the composer's career.
Judith Kellock has a voice of genuine quality. Her soprano is easeful in alt, as in the unaccompanied passage near the end of
Nuvoletta, yet has amplitude below. Her somewhat elegiac tone naturally suits a number of these songs, and she finds additional intensity for James Joyce's
I hear an army and Robert Graves' Despite and Still.
Xak Bjerken is in equal command of the liquid pianism and the more outward virtuosity... The recording balances bloom and clarity... It features singing and playing of distinction.
Stephen Pruslin, International Record ReviewShe brought the characters to life with the skill and cool command of a great actress, and she sang the difficult vocal pieces with a voice of indescribable beauty.
K.G. Schuller, St. Louis Globe Democrat
Kellock delivered this kaleidoscope of words, meaning, thoughts and climaxes with clarity and variety.
Her voice has size and beauty but no stridency, and she gives her audience a complete experience of sense, feeling and musicality.
Daniel Cariaga, Los Angeles Times
Kellock and Amlin did not perform the music; they became it. The notes, like the words, seemed to spring from the vivid feelings of each song's character, for it was in the realm of feelings that performer, composer and listener merged. With her light, clear soprano, rich in colors and nuances, Kellock proved fearless in her portrayal of the music's emotions.
Richard Buell, Boston Globe
The tireless Kellock sang four difficult works with a haunting quality of tone, impeccable musicianship and precision of pitch. Her technique is formidable—a prolonged messa di voce on high C holds no terror for her. She sings with completely compelling dramatic involvement.
Richard Buell, Boston Globe
It was to be plunged into another world, one of outright, risk-taking virtuosity, extremes of range and color—all of which Judith Kellock proved more than equal to.
Richard Dyer, Boston Globe
Judith Kellock is a soprano with a distinctive, beautifully controlled voice and heaps of style and imagination, especially in music that isn't easy and surefire. In Copland's Emily Dickinson Songs she created a world both cosmic and intimate, and held the listener in it from start to finish. (The capacity audience was still throughout.) This was richly inflected singing—some of the vowel colorations you wanted to take home with you.
Richard Dyer, Boston Globe
The most impressive singing in any of the productions was to be heard in this performance from the American soprano Judith Kellock. She displayed an almost unbelievable agility across an enormous range, and amazed the audience with her ravishing pianissimo tone in the very highest register.
Gwyn Pritchard, Opera Magazine
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