Prolific American art song composer Juliana Hall has composed a new song cycle for the Contralto voice. Titled Of The So Sweet Imprisonment, the cycle is set to seven poems from James Joyce's early book of poems, "Chamber Music." Hall says of the poems that make up the song cycle:
"There is a gentle narrative from the first to the last poem, following love (Orpheus perhaps) to the speaker’s desire to find her love, a declaration of wanting to be “imprisoned” by this love, a longing to be in a special place of love, a movement away from being a girl towards becoming a woman, a scene of harp music celebrating love (heaven perhaps), and finally a simple scene of lovers being together forever in a place special to them – all of which promised to elucidate Joyce’s beautiful vision of human love through the exquisite prism of the textures and colors of the contralto voice."
 Juliana Hall, Composer |  Stephanie Blythe, Mezzo-Soprano |
When Hall approached Mezzo Soprano Stephanie Blythe and asked if she could write her a song cycle, Blythe responded immediately: "YES!" She added:
“All I ask is that you consider writing the piece for the contralto voice. It is where I live so happily now, and there is just not enough out there for this particular voice type.”
The result was this haunting and mesmerising series of sings which reach deep into the soul, conjuring a deep and complex emotional response from the listener. It is a wonderful addition to the Contralto repertoire, and we are thankful to Hall for her creative magic, and Blythe for her suggestion to compose for the Contralto voice.
Blythe's masterful delivery of Hall's haunting music can be heard in the video below. Copies can be ordered (and previews seen) by clicking here.
Blythe's masterful delivery of Hall's haunting music can be heard in the video below. Copies can be ordered (and previews seen) by clicking here.
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