Favourite Singers
I first read the name Eva Turner when I was looking through reviews of Turandot recordings (any fan of that opera is sure to come upon her name sooner or later). The reviews for Turner in this rôle were always glowing, so I decided I had to hear her. This proved a bit more difficult than I would have thought. I looked around the CD stores in Oklahoma with no luck and couldn't even find a place to order a CD with her singing anything (I hadn't discovered the wonders of the internet then). Once I moved to England, I thought the task might be a bit easier, but still it took quite a bit of searching in shops all over the country (and Scotland too - I was able to get a recording of the Callas Berlin Lucia in Glasgow).
Finally, in a Dillons bookstore in Birmingham, I found an EMI CD, "Dame Eva Turner: Opera Arias and Songs", which included "In questa reggia". I was very excited, and hearing the recording just intensified my search. I had never heard the aria sung like this before - solid (not a wobble in sight) and with such ease (I would later hear the 1949 Callas excerpts which are also wonderful). Luckily I have been able to find a couple more CDs devoted to this wonderful singer, but it is truly a shame that there isn't a recording of Eva Turner in a complete opera (the 1937 Turandot excerpts are the next best thing).
Turandot brought another singer to my attention, Dame Josephine Barstow, and another seemingly endless search for a particular CD - her recording of the original (Alfano I) completion of the opera. This one I found at Tower Records on my first trip to London. Although I love this recording, I didn't become a true fan of hers until I was lucky enough to experience her singing and acting live. What an experience!
The opera was Opera North's production of Cherubini's Médée (sung in English). I had "met" Andrew Cooper through the Opera-L mailing list, and we became good friends. He offered me tickets to the dress rehearsal of the production, and I was thrilled that I was able to join him for this wonderful opera. For me, it was one of those almost perfect evenings (it's too bad that my partner Andy couldn't be there too).
Since then I've heard Barstow as Marie in Wozzeck and Elizabeth I in Gloriana at Opera North, and Lady Billows in a concert performance of Albert Herring in Harrogate (this was in preparation for the recently released CD), and was always moved by her committed and dramtaic (or comic) performances. Although the move to Houston means that I probably won't have the opportunity to hear her again, I'm very glad to have the memories of these performances.
What can I say about Maria Callas, the first and foremost of my favourite singers? Well, I'm thinking... check back later.