"One of today's great exponents of contemporary vocal music ... Sperry is one of a handful of living singers who caress the English language in a way that gives the words a life of their own."

---Robert Croan, Pittsburgh Post Gazette

"Whether it was oracular declamation or drained-dry neutrality that was demanded, veteran Paul Sperry came through with total undersntanding."

---Richard Buell, Boston Globe

"Sperry's every word is clear, and he delivered his story with furious force."

---Peter Dobrin, Philadelphia Inquirer

"Sperry is a unique artist, and his 40-minute performance was a spectacular display of musical and dramatic virtuosity. He read the English lines with clarity, differentiated the characters by sybtle vocal nuances and dug into the German arias with profundity and understanding."

---Robert Croan, Pittsburgh Post Gazzette

"The centerpiece of the disc, Louise Talma's tenor song cycle Diadem, is simply a gem ... I found it the hit of the record. The performance of all five pieces are exemplary ... Sperry's performace, in particular, shines."

---Elliott Schwarz, 20th Century Music

"Mr. Sperry also plays an American reformer who tries to clean up the tango and rechristens it 'the paragon.' He gave a hilarious performance."

---Tom Sime, Dallas Morning News

"Sperry delivered each of the songs Sunday in characteristically commanding style, belting out the powerful phrases with panache while coaxing softer, expressive phrases with thoughtful sensitivity ... Sperry hasd lost none of his ability to dominate the stage with his presence."

---David Abrams, Syracuse Hearlad-Journal

"Sperry portrayed a large cast of weird characters that he brought to life with clear diction, subtle actions and expressive vocal inflection."

---Wilma Salisbury, Cleveland Plain Dealer

"Sperry, long a superb character actor, gave a no-holds barred performance, while conductor Murry Sidlin and the members of the Third Angle New Music Ensemble caught the tango fever themselves."

---David Stabler, The Oregonian

"Paul Sperry has surpluses of songfulness, curiosity, and intelligence. These have commended him to dozens of composers, eminent collaborators such as James Levine and Zubin Mehta, hundreds of students who have been brought through his master classes, and a specialized, enthusiastic segment of the musical public. We long ago lost count of the important premieres Mr. Sperry has given, but we have not lost the recollection of his engaging, generous platform manner or of his unaffected enthusiasm for the neglected corners of the song literature."

---The New Yorker

"Sperry's voice had no trouble sailing high above the chamber orchestra, and his high pitches -- of which there were many -- were right on target."

---David Abrams, Syracuse Herald-Journal

"In this new Albany CD, Sperry offers a varied selection of works by six Americans. What gives the album its unity are both the very high quality of the different pieces, and Sperry's skillful and often witty interpretation of them."

---William Wians, Fanfare

"Sperry convincingly demonstarted why he is considered the nation's foremost tenor interpreter of contemporary music. Sperry, during both the Milhaud and Bolcom compositions, used his crisp, concise diction and agile voice to precisely match the intensity of the musical imagery to that of the poets' words."

---Julie Ridenour, Grand Rapids Press

"Both pieces were sung by Paul Sperry, a splendid lyric tenor who brings to new music the same convistion that he would to Schubert."

---Stephen Wigler, The Baltimore Sun

"Sperry is that rare singer who imbues each word with subtle meaning, and in this performance his enunciation of the English textx was crisp, proving that our language indeed can be discernible when sung so intelligently."

---Donald Rosenberg, Pittsburgh Press

"Paul Sperry has given some memorable performances at these festivals, but none more powerful or, in some ways, more subtle than this. His verbal clarity was as incisive as ever, and his singing as powerful in its expression of the poet's passion, irony and heartbreak."

---William Glackin, Sacramento Bee

"Tenor Paul Sperry gave a warm and moving performance that eloquently painted the soul-tearing images of Montale's poetry."

---Willa Conrad, Baltimore Evening Sun

"On this occasion, tenor Paul Sperry applied himself with characteristic skill and convistion to eight of the songs. He put his bright, clear voice firmly in articulate, sensitive service of the varied texts, easily delivering the heavily ironic, often bitter, exigent emotions of both poetry and music."

---John Henkin, Los Angeles Times