Doug DeLoach’s New Music Top 5 rates LIVING IN LIGHT among the top 5 albums of 2017
Doug DeLoach’s new music top 5:
“The debut release of works by New Hampshire-based Heather Gilligan, a rising star among younger American composers, points to the robust health of the ‘art song’... through six song cycles for soprano voice and varying instrumentation, Gilligan demonstrates deft control across a spectrum of styles augmented by a deeply empathetic ear for the poetry, which serves as inspirational framework both for the composer and soprano Margot Rood.”
Heather Gilligan, composer, Margot Rood, soprano | Living in Light
The debut release of works by New Hampshire-based Heather Gilligan, a rising star among younger American composers, points to the robust health of the “art song,” an often-overlooked subset of the contemporary classical music scene. Through six song cycles for soprano voice and varying instrumentation, Gilligan demonstrates deft control across a spectrum of styles augmented by a deeply empathetic ear for the poetry, which serves as inspirational framework both for the composer and soprano Margot Rood. “Finer Points,” a three-song cycle based on poems by Lisa DeSiro, was written for Rood and percussionist Caleb Herron, artistic director of Atlanta-based Chamber Cartel, who performed the cycle at Orpheus Brewing in August. On Living in Light, the duo gives Gilligan’s composition a poignant, beautifully evocative rendering distinguished by Rood’s luminous, crystalline intonation and impeccable articulation and Herron’s sparkling precision on xylophone, toms, cymbals, and other instruments.
Doug DeLoach has been writing about music for Creative Loafing since the early 1980s. He is also a regular contributor to ArtsATL.com, Georgia Music, and Songlines, a London-based world music magazine. Currently, DeLoach lives in Decatur with Ellen Poulsen and their feline and canine companions, LC, Pete, Hank, Pearl, and Buck.