From the Diary of Virginia Woolf

Dame Janet Baker

1997 "CRITICS CHOICE" Timothy Lovelace -American Record Guide

One of this centuries greatest singers in a hitherto unreleased performance. The premiere of Dominick Argento's 1975 Pulitzer Prize winning composition, The Diary of Virginia Woolf, features Dame Janet Baker, soprano, and Martin Isepp, piano, in a stunning performance of this haunting work. The disc also includes songs by Hugo Wolf, Gabriel Faure, Henry Duparc and Claude Debussy. Prior to her retirement, Dame Baker was greeted with sold out audiences and critical accolades in the Major music centers of North America. Among her many honors are honorary Doctor of Music degrees from Oxford and London, Hamburg's Shakespeare Prize, the Grand Prix des Affaires Culturelles, and Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. Chief among these is a distinction granted by Queen Elizabeth II to only a handful of singers before her: the title of Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire.

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