Joanna Newsom's voice in just the right place

Two songs into the second half of Joanna Newsom's appearance Friday at Disney Hall, she had to deal with a heckler. "Turn your vocal mike up!" shouted the well-meaning fan. Newsom, stationed behind her harp, seemed ready to comply. Then she paused. "Is that really necessary, though?" she asked. The crowd response was evenly mixed. "You guys can discuss it while I play this next song," Newsom said with a laugh, not changing a thing.

She made the right decision. Since releasing her 2004 debut album, "The Milk-Eyed Mender," the 25-year-old musician has dealt with an irritating stream of words describing her -- elfin, childlike, chirpy, twee -- that diminish the complexity and singularity of her music. It's mostly because of that voice, a hyperbolically girlish soprano often compared to Bjork's but more reminiscent of forgotten jazz babies such as Ruth Etting. Her singing frees Newsom from the yoke of personal authenticity, helping transform her songs from confessions into golden tales. But it can also distract from her equally startling song structures and lyrics.

This stop on Newsom's first American tour with strings (featuring a local chamber ensemble on each of its six dates) put her voice in its proper place.

Instead of being forced forward by the amplification and compromised acoustics of a club setting, her voice rested within fully fleshed-out, perfectly audible settings. Any strangers present might have sometimes wondered what words Newsom was garbling (A bear shedding its skin? Sassafras and Sisyphus?), but the devotees filling most of the seats got a chance to refresh their understanding of her sound.

The first half of the concert featured the lush string arrangements written by celebrated pop composer Van Dyke Parks for Newsom's second album, "Ys." The second half offered older and newer songs in the rootsy, world-music-influenced settings Newsom has devised with her touring quartet. Making a puckish joke about propriety in the classical world and in pop, she wore a full-length black gown for the first part and a candy-pink minidress for the second. In both configurations, Newsom took advantage of Disney Hall's acoustics to give equal weight to every element of her multifaceted compositions.