Allein?
Don’t say that! No one is alone for the weekly chat during the Saturday Met broadcast!
Today the performance is Elektra, starting at 1:00 pm.
Cher Public
- Camille: What a marvelous voice, so in tune, perfectly placed, and wobble and tremolo free it was in her youth.... 12:04 PM
- Sonofamoll: I really enjoyed Patrick’s review. Interesting how Target is cutting exclusivity deals. I have... 12:03 PM
- MontyNostry: Does the headline on YouTube say “Future Netrebko”? She makes a prettier sound than Nino... 11:57 AM
- louannd: We have had problems with Target not having an advertised item on more than one occasion. The last time... 11:55 AM
- Camille: Is there any question???? 11:51 AM
- Camille: Yes, Clita I went to the piano to check for you, too. Yesterday I watched “The Story of Esther... 11:45 AM
- lorenzo.venezia: Clita, that’s true about Target. However: “Just as debate over the Obama... 11:39 AM
- SacredMonster: Agreed…Pleas e add! 11:37 AM
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No vituperation, no invective, no name calling, no foul language, no verbal abuse, no vulgarity, no expletives, no attacks ad hominem (or ad homoinem) -- just a moment of happiness.
Happy New Year.
Terrific. For those who can’t read Spanish, the sign at the end says “See how you do like opera?” Love the way the audience got carried away with the music.
Thank you, Manou!! That was lovely.
Valencia of all charming friendly places.
Those people are all very lucky to be
there. I wish some of us were!
They can’t hold a candle to Izzy Anderson!
Oh my. Simmer down, you obese bitter old queen. R Strauss and his waltzes will be celebrated and live on long after you choke on your super-sized stack of pancakes.
Schweeeeig’ und Taaaaaanze!
I have two Goltz Salomes on CD. The first one is the one to have from 1948, Keilberth conducting and Josef Hermann and Aldenhoff. The other one is too late IMO. Suitner conducts and this recording is from 1964. Both Staatskapelle Dresden. Her second recording is under Krauss with Patzak, Braun and Dermota is from 1954. This is the one I don’t have but must pick up soon since I am a big Goltz fan. I adore Grob-Prandl as Elektra. For me her ‘was bluten muss’ is the best by far. She holds onto those notes forever with that huge voice. Her Isolde also shouldn’t be missed.
Feldmarschallin, please
What label(s) is either Grob-Prandl’s Elektra or Isolde on?
Thank you.
Feldmarschallin – Gertrude Grob-Prandl must have been a phenomenon. She did sing Elektra but curiously never at the Wiener Staatsoper her main house for 28 years. Irmgard Seefried, who had sung with Flagstad, Nilsson, Rysanek, A. Konetzni and most of the hoch dramatische Sopranos of the day said in an interview with Lanfranco Rasponi, that “when Grob-Prandl sang Turandot, the walls shook. What an immense voice she had – it just poured out. There are none today (1979) that I know of that size and power.” Grob-Prandl seems to have made few recordings – Donna Anna on an old Haydn Society disc, and in Idomeneo and as Isolde – nothing much on major labels.
She was much in demand though, in Vienna, Germany, all over Italy and in South America with a few appearances in San Francisco. I suppose today she would be one of the most illustrious major stars of the current firmament. When Boehm was about to re-open the Vienna Opera in 1955 with Fidelio he conducted Rysanek, Moedl and Grob-Prandl in the previous season sort of auditioning them for the assignment and chose Moedl. Grob-Prandl however was the first Fidelio in the re-opened Berlin Staatsoper the following month.
Oh thank you very much for this further discussion of Grob-Prandl.
She was spoken of by an oldtimer, twenty plus years ago, in such awed terms that I’ve always meant to search her out but have been waylaid by inertia and, in the old days, the paucity of recordings available to me.
Thank you, Bill, always so knowledgeable.
Grob-Prandl is on another recording as the First Lady in Die Zauberfloete live from Salzburg 1949 under Furtwaengler – available on several underground labels and also more officially on Orfeo in their series of Salzburg Festival Performances.
In those days the First Lady was always sung in Vienna and Salzburg by leading sopranos, Welitsch, Grob-Prandl, Jurinac, della Casa, Goltz, both Anny and Hilde Konetzni, Zadek, Kupper, a bit later Janowitz and even later Pieczonka. I heard Claire Watson do the First Lady in Munich. Can you imagine the Vienna premiere in 1948 with Welitsch as First Lady, Jurinac as Second Lady and Elisabeth Hoengen as Third Lady all under Krips. The rest of the cast was also at the highest level throughout. Seefried, Lipp. Loose, Dermota, Kunz, Schoeffler, Ludwig Weber, Doench, Klein, Treptow. Of course in the next 6 years in Vienna you could also hear Schwarzkopf, della Casa, Cebatori, Gruemmer, Gueden, Jurinac, Reining, Rethy, Stich-Randall as Pamina to back up Seefried who was the most frequent Pamina. All members of the ensemble. Maybe those were really the days !! Even Rysanek sang the First Lady but only once in Vienna.
As far as I know there is no complete Elektra on CD but you can get ‘was bluten muss’ on her MYTO recital. There are two Tristans with her. The first is from La Scala with Max Lorenz and de Sabata conducting from 1951 and the second one is from Wien with Lustig and von Milinkovic, Cluytens conducting. I prefer the first one myself. There is also a Walkuere Bruennhilde from Genf 1951 under Robert Denzler. Apparently there is at least one Turandot from Wien as well. And of course the Moralt Ring (Siegfried and Goetterdaemmerung). The top of the voice is amazing for its size and how she always lands right on the note. She was quite popular in Italy and also sang in Spain and at the Colon. The Wiener Tristan is on Walhall and the one from La Scala on Archipel. She sang from the mid 40′s to the early 70′s.
Danke sehr, meine gnaedige Frau Feldmarschallin!!
Gertrude Grob-Prandl’s Turandot from Venice (1953) has been issued on the Walhall label. Franco Capuana conducts, Renata Ferrari-Ongaro is Liù and Antonio Spruzzola-Zola is Calaf.
Grob-Prandl is DA BOMB!
Thanks, Killian.
Last night I listened to an astonishing array of Grob-Prandl selections (YouTube), whilst feeling extremely foolish to have not done so before.
The greatest Walkuerenruf, EVER. A gorgeous example of bel canto in Robert der Teufel! Thank for, ALL, for your input. I will be ordering all the albums cited above, posthaste.
I’d avoid that Turandot, which is improbably bad. Possibly something to do with the miking, which is very crude in an unflattering acoustic and possibly an off day for all concerned (it was evidently a broadcast, no retakes) but nobody is any good in it, including G-P.
If you know the pirating sites on line you can find a Tristan act two in good sound with Windgassen, Klose and Frick (the De Sabata performance is heavily cut but remarkably conducted however the sound is terrible on every pressing I’ve heard). There is also a complete Elektra, which is a little late but still very thrilling. Finally there is the Martini-Rossi concert, which has circulated on various labels and can be found, and which contains stunning samples of what she could do at her best.
Many thanks, Mme. Claggart for the Warnung. I shall probably venture the de Sabata Tristan first, and am very interested in hearing her Erste Dame in that Zauberflote, which is easily obtainable. I appreciate your advice about the pirating sites, as well, but I am not only hopelessly, but also now, notoriously, incompetent and disabled when it comes to downloading. I truly am, although much scoffed at, as 19th century as my name would imply.
Thank you for your very great erudition, a rarity much to be observed, admired, and cherished on this site.
Having listened to my own recommendation for a bit now, I must agree with mrsjohnclaggart´s comment above (or below) that the Turandot is not the best way to enjoy Grob-Prandl. The miking is very odd (very close to the voices and with the orchestra struggling to be heard) and Grob-Prandl is not as exciting in it as in other recordings I have heard.
Camille!!!!! Go to Berkshire Record (on line) they have the Matini-Rossi concert, the De Sabata Tristan and the (be warned) Idomineo DIRT CHEAP. They are the usual pressings. I haven’t listened to the idomineo in forty years but I seem to recall Gertrude makes quite an effect — and if Helltorgard Burntendz could be ACCLAIMED for the damage she did — why NOT Gertrude???
Einmal, mit schlage, DANKE!
I am SO HAPPY to have received all this magical manna regarding die Grob-Prandl.
Since the Rasponi book, twenty-five years ago, I have been delaying my acquaintanceship with this artist, partially because I did not care to be disillusioned, but also because of the few recordings available on this side of the pond.
A wonderful Magi trio and the inimitable Mme. Claggart has brought me an epiphany!
None of those Viennese First Ladies could seriously be compared to Hale, June, Haywood or Glanville.
Ava June and Lorna Haywood were fine members of English National Opera in the late 1960s and early 1970s and were occasionally borrowed by Covent Garden to sing Ladies in the Flute and Valkyries. They weren’t international stars, didn’t make significant international recordings, but had honest, worthy careers singing a wide range of standard repertory in London’s second house. I haven’t seen anyone – not even British critics – comparing Seefried, Della Casa, Jurinac, Grümmer or Cebotari to any of these singers. So why denigrate them with snidey remarks here? I agree with Armerjaquino – it’s deeply boring. Every country has bad singers, many of them a lot worse than good artists such as Shuard, Collier, Haywood or June.
I don’t think Vicar John is putting down the singers, he’s putting down that attitude one (sometimes) used to find in Opera magazine, when Harold Rosenthal would go all Pomp and Circumstance.
Mr. MontyNostry is, I believe, right on the money with his observation.
The Vicar provides some much-needed comic relief from the occasional blood-bath and/or scatological rampages we must all witness here, some of which are amusing, some of which, not at all.
Where is Mistress Quickly, indeed???
Wicked.
The attitude a magazine nobody reads used to have in the 1960s. How immensely worthwhile.
No one said Jurinac was a “bad singer”, my good man.
After all, she must have gleaned some advice from Audrey Mildmay on proper Mozart style, and have learned by working alongside artists of the calibre of Hervey Alan.
I also adore the Vicar for two reasons: he(?) does occasionally remind us of wonderful but easily overlooked British singers such as the great Shuard and the very impressive Tinsley who was a thrilling Dyer’s Wife at the ENO in a great Frau in English — one of the better sung and possibly the best acted I’ve ever seen.
Secondly, I love his send ups of the idiots who had a strangle hold on music related commentary published and b’cast in England for a long time, not only Rosenthal but Blythe and the improbably revered Steane. The Jurinac comment above is only slightly exaggerated in terms of that once inescapable (and far too influential this side of the pond) mentality.
Steane is not an especially nationalistic writer. He can be a little stuffy at times (and one does tire of his obsession with ‘a layer of surface wear’ on modern voices), but he knows his singers back to the beginning of the era of recording and he can evoke the colour and character of a voice. His almost unconditional praise for Schwarzkopf is worrying, but Blyth was pretty much a hack by comparison (he certainly didn’t bring voices alive in his writing), while Rosenthal was an old nit-picker.
Well, since JBS accompanied my teenage opera arousal, I have a soft spot for him. At least he’s not a bluff and a bore like Alan Blyth, with his washed-out slogans – “Elektra’s predicament” etc. Being Israeli, I managed to acquire some decent English from Steane. And you can immediately “get” his style. I used to read Andre Tubeuf, too.
J’aime Andre Tubeuf.
JBS has been one of the most knowlegeable writers of voices and singers in the English language – he truly seems to have listened in depth to almnost everyone from the earliest recordings to the present. He admits his prejudices. It is so that he idolizes Schwarzkopf sometimes to the detriment of others of her fach -when JBS writes about Seefried (another singer he admires) he writes more about Schwarzkopf than about Seefried. But I have had great pleasure listening (or seeing) both and would love to hear any soprano singing today who could be even half as effective in Lieder as either Seefried or Schwarzkopf. Alan Blythe never bothered me at all either – What I have read from Andre Tubeuf (mentioned by CerquettiFarrell) has been extremely astute.
I AM Irmgard Seefried!!!!!!!!!!
I wanted to post Seefried’s 1950 recording of my favourite Mozart concert aria, Vado, ma dove, and probably my favourite Seefried recording, but, alas, not on Youtube.
So here is the wonderful Helen Donath in a VERY successful attempt.
How I LOVE the way Mozart elaborates the first cadenza, than has the simpler arpeggio for the sequenza. Now, this is sheer genius for you! Any other composer would have switched the order. Mozart tells us something by using this particular order. Make things simple!
I once thought Ruth Ziesak might be the kind of Seefried-like “communicator” onstage but of course the voice was whiter and smaller and the colour palette much more restricted. Still, she had her moments and there’s a beautiful taped Salzburg concert with Horst Stein and her singing Vado and Bella mia fiamma, very beautifully too. And she had these very German / Austrian high aristocratic cheek bones which Kirchschlager also has.
I expect a great deal from Genia Kuhmeier, one of the most interesting girls on the block, there’s a bit of Gruemmer in her!
CF, you are right about Steane’s style. It shines through after half a sentence. Blyth was always on about a singer ‘making a role very much his/her own’, ‘grateful lines’ and ‘the very epitome’. He was also very heavily Callas-biased. Tubeuf’s style is too precious and florid for my taste. Still, he did fall out spectacularly with Schwarzkopf when he wrote a book about her without her permission.
To my ears, Kuehmeier’s sound is far more attractive that Seefried’s, which always seems rigid and squeezed to me. She’s one of those singers I just don’t get. But, in general, I’m not keen on the legendary ‘Viennese’ Mozart sopranos of her generation — Schwarzkopf, Stich-Randall, Jurinac, even della Casa. Gruemmer’s appeal I can understand, however.
That’s because Seefried is not about sound at all. It’s about inhibiting the music from within. Of course, you’re probably familiar with her Karajan Komponist. I don’t think Seefried sang with anything we might nowadays call “technique”. And she lost her A’s and above pretty much near 1957 or so. But I really don’t care, I don’t think of her in terms of voice or technique.
Here is that Ruhe sanft
The legato is unbelievable. Not ‘produced’, simply there, arising from the music itself.
And I do like the Vienna bunch. Not Schwarzkopf, but certainly Della Casa -- live, not in studio. Jurinac is a phenomenon, unique and not always heartwarming but impressive and at times sublime.
Karajan said about Seefried “She was one of the most gifted singers I ever worked with” and he worked with almost all the great singers of the 1940′s into the 1970′s She started with Karajan who more or less discovered her, then Boehm took her up, then Krips and the older generation – she was a favorite of Furtwaengler, Clemens Krauss, Bruno Walter (to be sure), used by Klemperer, Solti, Reiner, Muench, Jochum, Fricsay, Knappertsbusch, Kempe, Keilberth, Kertesz, Ansermet, Szell, Beecham, Cluytens, Elmendorff, Markevich, Menuhin, Ancerl, Kubelik, Leinsdorf, a number of composers such as Hindemith and late in her Career Carlos Kleiber (Wozzeck), Maazel (Missa Solemnis) and Mehta (Das Lied von der Erde) – a formidable but not complete list. The naturalness of her singing made her essential for Haydn’s Creation and Seasons. Samuel Barber wanted her to introduce his Hermit Songs, Karajan wanted her for the title role in Carmen, Hilbert for Arabella, and Richard Strauss recomended her for Chrysothemis which would have been very unsuitable (though earlier he wanted Elisabeth Schumann for Salome). She stuck to about 40 roles (including all 3 in Tales of Hoffmann), almost every possible Oratorio and lieder from Gluck, Haydn and Mozart to the most modern pieces – CerquettiFarrell is correct, after 1957 or so her high notes hardened and after 1963 she had to forego most of her earlier roles sticking to Komponist, Oktavian, Poppea, Figaro Countess, Dido, Judith, Marie in Wozzek, Marenka and a limited few others – no more Fiordilgis, many more lieder recitals. She was very impulsive on stage – when not in the best of voice, overacted (a la Rysanek). She had great charm – after she died the Wiener Staatsoper had a large memorial for her, a matinee in the opera house with Schwarzkopf, Jurinac, Kunz and Dermota on stage, Welitsch, Goltz and many other former colleages in the audience. Jurinac hit the nail on the head stating that ” When she sang, Seefried was always saying something” – isn’t that the sign of a great artist ? To communicate ?
CerquettiFarrell Genia Kuehmeier is a lovely soprano – her Zdenka in Arabella last season in Vienna was top drawer (so was Anne Schwanewilms as Arabella) – I do not know why Kuehmeier did not sing the Paminas she was originally scheduled to sing at the Met this season. In interviews in Austria, Kuehmeier seemed to indicate that she is heading for the Gruemmer/Janowitz/della Casa roles rather than continuing with Michaela and such.
By the way, even if Seefried’s Vado ma dove is not to be found, I think you may hear her wonderful “Ruhe sanft mein holdes Leben” (from Zaide) on Utube – I listened to a slew of performances of that aria liking Seefried the best of all and closely followed by Lucia Popp. Curiously, I was not so impressed with Diana Damrau in the aria – the voice was spreading a bit in the higher regions (and this is a lovely aria for a lyric – very expressive – not a florid aria). You might want to post the Seefried “Ruhe Sanft” instead. It is from 1953 I believe. from England when she was at the Zenith of her career vocally.
Incidentally in 2010 Orfeo is releasing two live complete performances of Seefried from Vienna , “Die Verkaufte Braut” and “Wildschuetz” plus a new recording of Seefried’s lieder from Vienna performances or tapes from 1943 to 1952 including songs of Cornelius, Marx, Brahms, Strauss and others with several different pianists. None of these performances were ever released before (not the same Cornelius Christmas songs which were on DGG). These when Seefried’s voice was lightest and extremely bright and fresh – but still with her characteristic sound and expressiveness and clear diction. I hope sometime soon Orfeo will also release her 1964 live Schubert Recital from the Wiener Festwochen – all Goethe Lieder including some songs not in her normal repertory. The Erlkoenig strains her (and Werba) to the utmost but it is riveting.
It doesn’t surprise me that Damrau is not so impressive in ‘Ruhe sanft’. She is a fine and discerning artist (if you like that slightly exaggerated kind of expression), but the voice is really rather unsympathetic and glary when it goes into the higher registers. Her Mozart arias album is very impressive interpretatively and technically, but I would never listen to it for pleasure.
Agreed. She’s terrific in things like Queen of the Night which she dropped relatively early, but I’m not at all convinced by anything where she has to sing beautifully. The voice loses its interest for me in say, Pamina or Rosina (a major miscalculation in my book.) It’s strange the Met has been pushing her as a prima. I just don’t hear it. She’s an interesting sort of dramatic coloratura with some steel in her sound, but she’s not a lyric anything.
I was extremely puzzled by Ms. Damrau in a recent performance of La Fille du Regiment in San Francisco, so your comments above are interesting to me as I have been mulling around for a couple months now what seemed so OFF.
First, I felt sorry she had to do another Dessay imitation.
Second, I was seated in one of the front rows of the orchestra and the voice did not travel at all, excepting when she went over the pasaggio and then it became twice or thrice its size.
Lastly, everything was calibrated to such minute detail, that the effect came off extremely mechanical, which to me is soooo boring, but that is my taste, ergo, my problem.
The audience thought they were getting something great and she is to be praised for the diligence and hard work it took to learn all that schtick and sing, without fault or error, all those acuti.
Somehow, and I don’t know why, there is something there that just didn’t work. Perhaps another performance, in a role where she doesn’t follow Dessay? I don’t know what to think of her at this point.
Maybe I’ll try again.
What kind of roles should Damrau sing? I loved her as Queen of the Night, but all over her coloratura roles (which she seems to sing after Dessay) are not convincing. In the future she plans to see Donizetti’s Tudor Queens (probably in the Met productions after Netrebko and DiDonato), all 3 soprano roles in Hoffmann, and Massesnt’s Manon.
Camille –
There’s a reason the sound didn’t carry – The sound in the first few rows of the War Memorial is AWFUL. Nothing, and I mean nothing, carries at all. Try further back, or, better yet, the cheap seats up in the balcony, where the sound is perfect.
I thought Damrau’s Marie was stellar. She had to do a lot of the same shtick as Dessay, of course, and it didn’t come as naturally to her, but she made it work, very well in fact. Having seen Dessay in the role as well, I definetly find in favor of Damrau; Her voice is prettier, she has a more solid technique, and she’s more reliable (awful word again!) and less “dememnted” as an actress.
Oh thanks, Baritenor for the tip about the front rows!!
UH-OH — I now remember that I was seated in the same place, or thereabouts, for the Verdi Requiem, and had no trouble hearing Blythe and Melton. Okay, I’ll take your word for it, but I still think maybe Damrau’s voice is not substantial enough.
I did sit in the balcony for that godawful Sallymae and heard everything I didn’t want to hear. Great dancer, though.
I will definitely give Damrau another try but not following up as Dessay’s second, as I want to see and hear her demonstrate her own personality. tkx, b.tenor.
Camille, I had no trouble upstairs hearing Damrau in that SFO “Fille,” FWIW. I’m sorry that I missed the Verdi Requiem this year.
Camille, are you really trying to compare the carrying power of a lyric coloratura with the carrying power of Wagnerians? Blythe and Melton are ridiculously loud. Damrau’s got a comparitively smaller voice. I hold true to my statement: the front rows are awful. There are serious dead spots in the center, if you sit too far to the right, all you can hear are the timpani, and if you sit too far to the left, all you can hear are the strings. (This is like through row F we’re talking about) I should know; I work there.
My hope-for roles for Damrau: Donna Anna, Elektra (Mozart’s), Vitelia, Fiordiligi, Costanze, Daphne, Zdenka, Daphne, Octavian. I gather she was a success as Lucia. If so, the three queens may be a possibility. This is a singer I expect to tackle dramatic roles later in her career. Yes, Elektra (Strauss’s) and Salome. To my ears she has the makings of a dramatic coloratura. Bet she tries Norma at some point.
Mme. Cerquetti/Farrell, please!
Your phrase above, “It’s about inhibiting the music from within” has me so intrigued; would you care to expand on it a little, should you read this posting? Yes, her Komponist just hardly can be equalled. My favorite.
perhaps the word “inhibiting” should have been “inhabiting” in Cerguetti/Farrell’s post. I agree with Camille – Seefried’s Komponist was unequalled and both Schwarzkopf and Jurinac (the other great Komponist methinks and one I enjoyed immensely) have stated exactly that. I think it is interesting that from the ealiest post war years at least 5 Richard Strauss roles have been sung by one singer where the standard set by each was so high that it is almost impossible to equal them – Seefried’s Komponist, Rysanek’s Kaiserin, Welitsch’s Salome, della Casa’s Arabella and arguably perhaps, Nilsson’s Elektra. To get into the finest Marschallin would be a nest of worms – there have been so many who have been superb since WW II.
“To get into the finest Marschallin would be a nest of worms –” — how wise of you to desist!
I do love Maria Reining’s very much, though, as it is so Viennese. I would absolutely agree with each and everyone one of those choices, above, as well. I am very partial to Inge Borkh’s Elektra, when the voice is not too out of control, she was a wonderful woman and singer.
Sure I meant ‘inhabiting’ – thanks Bill. And a reminder I should be inhibited from writing after 1 AM or so
Oh please don’t be inhibited at any time, I just love your posts! I just thought, perhaps, there was some arcane significance to your wording and was hoping for more goodies to follow.
What you did yesterday, in Der Fall Fleming, with the process you go through every time you listen to her, ran parallel to my many attempts to do the same, and was so wonderfully and succinctly put. I am so terribly frustrated with her as I had heard her very early in her career (1990 Rusalka) when there was just none of that sloopy, cooing, gooey mess, and it was truly lovely. I have no idea where or when she started all that messing around, and as a singer with the kind of musical background, i.e., the parents, etc., I just don’t understand her musical choices. Baffling. Perhaps she was advised by someone to “work it”; I just can’t sort it out myself.
Happy New Year to you, Mme. Cerquetti/Farrell, and to you, too, the wonderful Mr. Bill, as I think your new year will be coming on a bit ahead of ours here in NYC. I thank you very gratefully for your marvelous reflections on this beloved art.
Happy new year dear Camille, and dear all!
I really, truly love Parterre.
” Genia Kuehmeier is a lovely soprano – her Zdenka in Arabella last season in Vienna was top drawer”
Not by the standards of such fine artists as Ann Robson and Lillian Watson!
Those “bored” by plain truth can surely look elsewhere for what I believe to be called “infotainment”.
And speaking of chummy stylistic disasters in the British classical press, nothing was so annoying as to read the descriptions of Callas’s portrayals as “flashing-eyed” in the Penguin Guides. It was repeated so often I could only start to think of neon, or one of Jeff Tracy’s boys reporting back to base from Thunderbird 3.
The Penguin Guide has been so sloppily edited that, after his retirement, Carreras was still hailed as a “fresh, young tenor” and Ricciarelli was lauded for giving her “best performance to date.”
I read JBS faithfully but always detected in him, Seckerson, Blyth, Rosenthal, Greenfield et alia, a certain inability to rise above personal taste. After all, all the erudition in the world (some of which appears on this site, after all) cannot escape personal preference in the most personal of art forms.
The Penguin Guide is a tome I have not consulted for many years. It was always pretty parti pris — Edward Greenfield’s toadying penchant for anything by Sutherland being one of the indicators thereof. (I love Joanie, but not in everything!)
Personal taste is fine as long as it does not preclude more objective judgement. There are singers I don’t like whom I can still admire — and there are singers I like who I know are guilty of bad practice, sloppiness or just plain overambition!