A Singer’s Guide to Voices: Soprano Pt3
In this final article about sopranos, I thought I would look at some of my favourites, and also at the best I have worked with. Since the main Italian operas featured rarely in my career, I have never worked with the most famous divas of the Italian repertoire, except when they occasionally stepped into a different repertoire themselves.
In my series, A Singer’s Life, I wrote at some length about my mentors, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf and Galina Vishnevskaya. I refer you to Chapter 13 of A Singer’s Life. Suffice to say here, that these sopranos were two of the greatest of all time, and I count myself hugely fortunate to have met and worked with them.
My favourite lyric soprano was the wonderful Mirella Freni (1935-2020), who I heard on several occasions at Covent Garden in the 70s and 80s. With a voice of limpid beauty and a glorious gleaming quality, she was as far from my earlier caveats about screaming sopranos as possible. Her recordings of Puccini heroines, especially Mimi, are as near perfection as one could imagine. Her many partnerships with her childhood friend, Luciano Pavarotti, were wonderful, and their Mimi and Rodolfo were a match made in heaven. She was also wise enough to know her limitations, as was Pavarotti actually, and she never sang roles on stage that she considered too big for her. She recorded some that she would never sing on stage, like Butterfly and Tosca, and consequently her voice lasted much longer than some others. As an actress, she was very restrained in her gestures and inhabited a role more naturally than most. With her elfin figure and girl-next-door face, complete with high cheekbones, she was a perfect fit for some of the great tragic soprano characters.
Her near contemporary, Montserrat Caballé (1933-2018), the Catalonian soprano, was one of a very rare breed who sang several of the soprano types. Starting as a coloratura, she matured into both Lyric and Spinto roles, and even ventured into Dramatic territory with Sieglinde, Salome and Isolde. Of course, she became famous outside opera, with her extraordinary duet with Freddie Mercury, ‘Barcelona’, which became the official song of the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, something which chimed with the times, as the 3 Tenors had attracted a worldwide audience with their concert at the 1990 World Cup. I have never been convinced that these were good things for opera, as the wider public saw stereotypical ‘Opera Singers’, especially Caballé and Pavarotti, conforming to the overweight, stilted norm of legend, rather than the fine actor-singers that I knew and worked with. I fear it put our profession back several decades in the public consciousness. I must confess to having been less than thrilled by Caballé when I heard her sing live at Covent Garden, but I have grown to appreciate her wonderful voice and fine interpretations since her death, as I have listened to quite a lot of recordings. I think I was put off by her size and obvious lack of dramatic ability, but, again like Pavarotti, the actual quality of the voice comes over brilliantly on record, in a multitude of roles. I must also say here that, when she died in 2018 it became clear from many friends who had known and worked with her that she was a special human being, with a great warmth of character and, apparently, she was enormous fun to be with.
Another of the great generation of 20th century singers, happily still with us, is the amazing Anja Silja (born 1940), who also progressed from lighter roles to the big dramatic ones. Starting off singing Rossini and Mozart, she graduated over the years to the weighty Wagner and Strauss roles, and was famous as much for her visceral acting ability as her singing. I never heard her in those parts but was lucky enough to be cast alongside her at the Théâtre de la Monnaie in Brussels in Kurt Weill’s ‘Die Sieben Todsünden’ (The Seven Deadly Sins). I sang in an ambitious and rather wonderful double bill of the Weill and Viktor Ullmann’s ‘Der Kaiser von Atlantis’, staged by the young German director, Sabine Hartmannshen. We had been playing the Ullmann for a few years in various European cities, initially promoted by the Monnaie, but not performing there. When it was decided to play it in the big home theatre, it was decided to partner it with the Weill piece, and also to bring a couple of star names into the cast. I have to say that the “stars” in the Ullmann were pretty average, but to sing on the same stage as Anja Silja in the Weill was amazing. I sang the role of the Mother (complete with enormous female curves in a body suit), who appears as part of the protagonist Anna 1’s family. Two tenors sing her brothers and a baritone sings the Father, and we all sing as a quartet throughout, commenting on Anna 1’s journey through life. She shares the stage with her alter-ego Anna II, who is a non-singing ballet dancer, and Sabine and her brilliant designer, Bettina Neuhaus, had created a sort of courtyard on the wall of which we sat and sang. It meant that we could also watch and marvel at the excellent performance of the nearly 60-year old Anja Silja!
A happy coincidence, for me at least, was that not long after the Monnaie Double Bill I was contracted to sing in a concert version of the Seven Deadly Sins in the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. This is one of the finest and most magnificent concert halls in the world, gazing across the great Museumplein at the famous Art Gallery, the Rijksmuseum. Built in 1888, it has a fabulous acoustic, and seats nearly 2000 people. To get to the stage, the performers have to come down a great red staircase, a journey I would struggle to take nowadays with my bad back (the audience would be asleep by the time I got on stage!). Anja Silja was again booked to sing Anna I, but was ill and, to my delight, I found out that her replacement was the Scottish soprano, Marie McLaughlin. A near contemporary of mine, I had never met her before, but we got on very well, and she sang wonderfully. A light Lyric soprano, Marie has had a fabulous career, singing in all the great opera houses of the world. Sadly, like me, she has sung only rarely in Scotland (as readers will know, this is one of my eternal bugbears), but she is well known and loved worldwide, and it was another joyful experience when I sang with her again, relatively recently, in Covent Garden in Puccini’s ‘Gianni Schicchi’. Her voice has a lovely smooth quality, even throughout the range, and capable of a limpid beauty, rare to find.
In that Schicchi, I was delighted also to meet, and sing with, the great Welsh soprano, Rebecca Evans. Rebecca is the most famous and most successful pupil of my first important teacher, Laura Sarti, who taught for decades at the Guildhall School of Music in London, only retiring when she hit 90. I’m glad to say that Laura is still going strong, living in Lewes in Sussex, having made her Glyndebourne debut in 1961! Rebecca, also a light lyric, has had a great career worldwide, singing especially the roles of Susanna in Mozart’s ‘Figaro’ and Zerlina in ‘Don Giovanni’, but returning regularly to sing with Welsh National Opera. Living in Penarth, she is recognised as a major star in Wales. If only Scotland could recognise its stars, I would be a happy man, but flying pigs are more likely to be seen over Edinburgh Castle.
Speaking of Welsh sopranos and noting in passing two of the greats in Gwyneth Jones and Margaret Price, I have always enjoyed singing and working with Susan Bullock, born in Cheshire but of Welsh ancestry. Sue is the exception which proves the rule as, when I first met her, she was singing Gilda in Jonathan Miller’s famous production of ‘Rigoletto’ at ENO, in which I sang Monterone, but has spent the last couple of decades singing Dramatic Soprano repertoire, like Brünnhilde, Isolde and Elektra. I don’t know anyone else who could sing Gilda and Isolde in one career, and obviously she would never sing Gilda now, but it is testament to her superb vocal resources that she has those roles in her collection. She is also great fun to work with, as I must say are almost all of the contemporary sopranos I know. The age of the stroppy Diva is thankfully behind us!
A singer who I admired very much, who has had a second career as the head of the National Opera Studio in London (actually a third career, as she started as a TV presenter), is Kathryn Harries. Now, Kathryn is really a mezzo soprano, but has an upward extension that allowed her to sing certain soprano roles. I first met her when she sang Leonore/Fidelio in Beethoven’s ‘Fidelio’ at Scottish Opera in the early 80s, and then a couple of times in the late 80s/early 90s, when we took part in performances of Act 1 of Wagner’s ‘Die Walkure’; she sang Sieglinde to Alberto Remedios’ Siegmund, and I was the grim Hunding. Tall and athletic, Kathryn was perfect both visually and vocally for these two hefty soprano roles, and I only realised that she was in effect a mezzo when we worked together at the Netherlands Opera in Amsterdam, where she sang Kostelnicka in Janáček’s ‘Jenůfa’. I was singing the relatively minor role of the Mayor, so I could watch Kathryn’s performance closely, and she was marvellous. Mind you, she was responsible for my non-appearance on stage many years ago in Edinburgh. Scottish Opera was performing Beethoven’s ‘Fidelio’ in the Playhouse, to a full house of over 2000, and I was preparing to come onstage at the end of the opera as Don Fernando, the Minister, to save the day and provide the happy ending. Sadly Kathryn, who was singing Leonore, took ill at the interval, and the show was cancelled halfway through, meaning that my intervention never happened. The Deus remained firmly in his Machina!
I realise that I can’t continue to burble my way through a catalogue of sopranos I have loved, as it were, without losing a certain amount of interest on the part of the reader. Consequently, I offer you a quick résumé of those I remember best, with the proviso that some of this is a long time ago and my memory is fading a bit, and so, if I have missed anyone out, no offence is intended!
In Scotland, the wonderful Patricia McMahon, Pat Hay, Marie Slorach, Margaret Marshall (still the best Pamina I ever heard) and Isobel Buchanan stand out. In Europe, Leontina Vaduva, Soile Isokoski (wonderful ‘Figaro’ Countess), Catrin Wyn Davies, Cheryl Barker, Nelly Miricioiu, Camilla Tilling (marvellous Susanna), Susan Chilcott (taken far too early), Petra Lang, Carol Vaness (outstanding Tosca), Jill Gomez, Jane Eaglen, all these excellent sopranos have been lucky enough to sing on stage with me!! In North America, in Canada, there have been several splendid sopranos, including Joni Henson (who I operatically lusted after as Alice in ‘Falstaff’), Rachel Fenlon, Suzanne Rigden (who I operatically lusted after as Tytania in ‘Midsummer Night’s Dream’) and the great, and much missed, Erin Wall, my Countess in ‘Capriccio’ in Victoria and in the cover ‘Capriccio’ cast at the New York Met. I remember telling Suzanne Rigden, as we lay in each other’s arms as Tytania and Bottom, that she was my first romantic stage partner in nearly four decades as a professional Bass, and I was stuck wearing an Ass’s head! Oh to be a tenor!
Finally, I would like to draw your attention to some of the up and coming sopranos, in my experience, to look out for. Again, this is not a definitive list, and there are bound to be omissions, for which I apologise.
From my recent work at Covent Garden, I would say that the two stand out singers I have worked with are the Australian, Lauren Fagan, and Jennifer Davis from Ireland. Lauren has a sound and technique which remind me very much of Mirella Freni, and I can give her no higher compliment. She looks good on stage and acts very impressively. Jennifer has made a huge impact recently as Elsa in Wagner’s ‘Lohengrin’, at Covent Garden, and has a whole host of fabulous- looking appearances coming up all over the world, including Vienna, San Francisco and Australia. A lovely, natural actor, with a warm and voluptuous voice, this is one to watch.
I have been enormously impressed by the tall Canadian soprano, Kirsten MacKinnon, who sang Helena with me in Beijing in ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ and who I saw singing a brilliant Fiordiligi (Cosî) at Glyndebourne when I was in ‘Hamlet’ there. Another stunning and tall soprano is the Belgian, Tineke van Ingelgem, with whom I sang ‘Peter Grimes’ in Monte Carlo in the exceptional production by José Cura. She is singing the Marschallin in ‘Rosenkavalier’ now and will be pretty impressive.
I have also been greatly impressed by the Welsh soprano, Natalya Romaniw. She sang Tatanya in ‘Eugene Onegin’ recently at Garsington, when I was singing Arkel in ‘Pelléas’, and was simply fantastic. My favourite young English soprano is Jennifer France, who I have sung with several times now. She was a notable Lauretta in ‘Gianni Schicchi’ at Opera North, and a fabulous Ophelia in ‘Hamlet’ at Glyndebourne. An excellent actress who has a stratospheric top which she seems to control with ease, I can safely predict that she will enjoy a great career.
It was my privilege to be Honorary Professor of Singing at St Andrews University for 10 years, and several wonderful sopranos passed through my hands there, as it were. Look out for Caroline Taylor and Catherine Hooper at a theatre near you soon, as well as the fine Danish soprano, Kristel Vinter Knudsen.
What is most clear to me is that all these young sopranos possess wonderful voices, look good on stage and can act brilliantly. The day of the Fat Lady is well and truly over. The heavier roles need a bit of physical strength and body mass, but all in proportion and in the right places. It is simply impossible now to have a career and waddle about the stage. Thank goodness for that, and for our new generation of wonderful singers!
