The exceptional nature and musicality of Emily Dickinson’s poetry has attracted many composers. A Certain Slant of Light features musical settings of Dickinson poems by four outstanding American composers: Aaron Copland, Gordon Getty, Jake Heggie and Michael Tilson Thomas. The collection of songs featured on this album reveals the diversity of Dickinson’s oeuvre, as well as the rich 20th- and 21st-century tradition of American art song composition. These songs are interpreted by the renowned American soprano Lisa Delan, together with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Marseille under the baton of Lawrence Foster.

Delan has been featured on varied Pentatone releases, including three American song recitals. Reviewing Delan’s 2016 recording Out of the Shadows, critics praised her “musicianship and responsiveness to the text” (Gramophone), “scrupulous and passionate accounts” (New Music Connoisseur), “liquid emotion and straightforward braininess” (Blog Critics), and “clarity and rhetorical relevance” (The Rehearsal Studio). Opera News noted “It's gratifying to find a singer involved so intimately and actively with the music of her time” and Music Web International added “Lisa Delan is probably one of the most versatile singers now before the public”.