Birgit Nilsson RIP

Birgit Nilsson has died at the age of 87. She was one of the greatest singers of the second half of the twentieth century.

I am (just) old enough to have heard her live. It was as Strauss’s Elektra at Covent Garden in the 1970s. Gwyneth Jones was Chrythosemis – so the decibel levels were sky-high - and the performance was unforgettable.

Nilsson was the epitome of the Hoch-Dramatische soprano. She had a voice with both steel to it but also a hint of northern sunlight. She seemed vocally to be utterly tireless. Yet she was not just a ‘noise machine’: often she revealed great dramatic insight and subtlety.

Probably her most famous recording is her Bruennhilde on the Decca “Ring”. Yet for me that is not her best Wagner. I prefer her recording of the Ring conducted by Karl Boehm. She responds brilliantly to Boehm’s more vital and dramatic conducting and the effect of this being a live recording (recorded at the Bayreuth Festival) gives the whole thing a thrilling edge.

Well away from Wagner, there is a fantastic live recording of “Turandot”: a performance from La Scala Milan in 1964 with Franco Corelli as Calaf and Galina Vishneskaya as Liu. Goose-bumps all the way!

Undoubtedly my favourite commercial recording is her “Elektra” with Solti. This is a part that suited her extraordinary talents like no other. The strength of the voice and its slightly metallic edge suit the deranged daughter of Agamemnon to perfection. Listen to her opening solo and be amazed.

Celebrating Mozart's 250th with the Greatest Singer in the World

January 27 is reckoned to be the 250th anniversary of the birth of Mozart.

I will be marking the occasion by making my first visit to Tenerife and the Canary Islands Music Festival. The concerts of the festival take place in the new Auditorio de Tenerife, a fantastic looking structure designed by Calatrava.

I will be going to a concert performance of "La Clemenza di Tito" but the highlight of the visit promises to be on Mozart's birthday itself with a recital by Juan Diego Florez, who will just have celebrated his 33rd birthday. Although I have seen Florez several time in opera I have never heard him in recital. By all accounts, his concerts are hugely exciting events.

A bit like barristers, opera fans tend to be great devotees of "The Golden Age". The language is different but the concepts are often the same. Whereas the Bar Gadgee will talk wistfully of Undefended Divorce, the old Opera Fan will speak with inordinate affection of the Carl Rosa Opera Company. When in the robing room you will still hear people saying 'Myrella Cohen would have sorted this out' so in the Floral Hall at Covent Garden you will hear voices saying 'but of course no-one has sung this properly since Zinka Milanov'.

It is a very special event, then, when a singer appears on the opera circuit who actually has even the Golden Agers saying 'this is something special'. This happened with the spectacular rise of Juan Diego Florez.

He first came to my attention when he sang Rodrigo in Rossini's "Otello" at Covent Garden just after it reopened. He returned to the Royal Opera House as the tenor lead in Rossini's "La Cenerentola" and Bellini's "La Sonnambula". His speciality is the music of the early nineteenth century, which requires a tenor with a voice of clarity and flexibility, considerable coloratura skill and good high notes.

I next heard Florez at Covent Garden in "La Cenerentola". His singing that evening was not just a joy to hear, it was a privilege. At this performance everything was in place. His voice seemed to have more warmth and sweetness to it than it had. He sang a beautiful legato line. He decorated scrupulously and apparently effortlessly and without obscuring the musical line. His high notes were clear, true and bold. His diction was clear, he acted naturally and convincingly and he looked fantastic.

In 2004 I undertook the enormous hardship of travelling to the Rossini Festival in Pesaro to hear him in "Matilde de Shabran". This was the work in which Florez had his first big break at Pesaro back in 1996 and he returned in total triumph in the leading role of Corradino. "Matilde" is a fascinating piece in that its only solo arias are for minor characters and so almost the entire opera consists of ensemble pieces. The venue for this performance was the Teatro Rossini, a beautiful little gem of a theatre with clear acoustics and a wonderful sense of contact between performers and audience.

It is tempting to say of this performance that Florez was Florez. But that is to take for granted something that is very special. He looked terrific and had an easy and attractive stage manner. He acted well, particularly in the comic moments of the first act. His incredible technical expertise was completely on display as were his ringing and clear top notes. What struck me more then anything in this performance, however, was the sheer beauty of his voice, particularly when singing quietly. At times in the second act it was almost as if one's ears were being caressed with the softest velvet.

His most recent appearance at Covent Garden was last season in “Don Pasquale”. It was difficult to say which was the more amazing: Florez's pyrotechnics in the second act aria or the beauty of tone and perfectly clear legato line in the serenade. What was so impressive about the second act cabaletta was not just the high notes and obvious stuff but the precision of the staccato notes and the incredible delicacy and accuracy of the decorations in the second verse.

I think he is one of the great opera stars of our time. Further than that, going back through my memory and my recordings, I think he stands comparison with the greatest singers from the past in this repertoire. His performances take me back, before recordings, to accounts of the great tenors of the nineteenth century Rubini, Mario and David.

Santiago de Compostela

I have started reading one of my Christmas presents: "The Templar's Penance" by Michael Jecks. It is a mediaeval 'whodunnit' set in and around the great pilgrimage city of Santiago de Compostela in North West Spain. The first few chaopters have already stirred in me vivid memories of my own pilgrimage there in the summer of 2004.

Here is the account of it that I wrote at the time.

Santiago de Compostela, the resting place of the relics of the apostle St James in the northwest corner of Spain, was (along with Rome and the Holy Land) one of the three great Christian pilgrimage sites of mediaeval times. In terms of numbers, it has now been overtaken by more modern shrines such as Lourdes and Fatima but it remains probably the greatest proper 'pilgrimage', with great significance attached to the journey, not just the fact of visiting the city itself.

I would love to be able to report that I had taken up my pilgrim's staff, filled my gourd with water, slung a scallop shell around my neck and walked the pilgrim's way or "Camino". Sadly (but you may think not surprisingly) I have to report that my pilgrimage was accomplished with the assistance of an air-conditioned coach and four-star hotels.

Our group of twenty-two, led by a flamboyant Irishwoman, and including pilgrims from Trinidad, Australia and Hong Kong, started off from Bilbao in which we only had time to view the outside of the famous Guggenheim museum

Our first stop on the Camino proper was at Burgos, which has a cathedral regarded as one of Spain's three finest examples of Gothic architecture. I was not quite as enthralled by this as I thought I ought to be: too much had been added on over the centuries leaving a rather 'mix-and-match' feel to it.

Leon, our next overnight stop, impressed me much more. The Cathedral is a truly magnificent example of Gothic architecture in the French style, filled with superb stained glass windows. We were fortunate to be shown around by a guide who did not just tell us the history of the place but explained the symbolism of many of the statues and, particularly the windows. They are laid out so that, first thing in the morning, in the north aisle, scenes from the Old Testament are illustrated. Then, as the day wears on and the sun becomes stronger, it is New Testament images that are highlighted. Having a priest in our party, we were able to have our own early morning Mass at the High Altar, at which I was invited to sing. That Mass, with the morning sun just starting to break through the fabulous stained glass and with Gregorian Chant bouncing around the acoustics of the empty Cathedral remains one of my greatest memories of the pilgrimage.

By now we were less than 200 miles from our destination and stopped at Astorga to visit its Cathedral and Bishop's palace. The Cathedral was a total mix-and-match mess but the palace is extraordinary. It is one of only three buildings that Gaudi designed outside of Barcelona and has the outside appearance of a fairy-tale castle with an inside that displays Gaudi's genius for shapes and arches that look as if they should not be able to stand.

By now we were really hitting the Camino and there were regular sightings of the true pilgrims walking along the road. After another day's travel and Mass in a tiny 9th century church set among mountains shrouded in mist, we were in sight of our goal.

As the feast of St James (25 July) fell on a Sunday this year, which makes it a special 'Holy Year' for Santiago, I expected it to be busy. When we arrived, we were told that the King and Queen were to be there for Saturday evening and Sunday, so for 'busy' read 'insane'. It did mean that is was a very exciting time to be there. The place was crowded and packed with bands playing, folk dancers dancing and then there was a huge and spectacular firework display over the Cathedral to mark midnight and the start of the Saint's Day. I decided that discretion was the better part of valour the next morning and stayed in my air-conditioned hotel room to watch the Mass attended by the King on the telly.

I was very fortunate in that a distinguished early music group called "Organum" was in Santiago to sing for the Feast Day. I was able to attend their Lauds (morning prayer) in the Cathedral and also a concert reconstruction of a Pilgrim's Mass from the 12th century. The latter was particularly interesting and impressive as the choir roared out the mediaeval pilgrim's hymn to end the Mass, complete with early harmonies and droning basses.

The modern "Pilgrim's Hymn" is rather less thrilling, rather more sentimental and, alas, is sung in Spanish rather than Latin. But it does accompany the unique experience of Santiago: the swinging of the "Botafumeiro" at the end of the Pilgrim's Mass. This giant thurible (incense burner) hangs at the crossing between the nave and the transept and is the size of a small dustbin. Suspended on a single rope, it is first lowered to be filled with incense by the officiating bishop; then it is set gently swinging. As a group of men pull on ropes to lift it, the speed of its swing increases until it is soaring across the whole width of the cathedral, reaching almost up the roof. After my pampered and air-conditioned journey, I found this a stirring moment. I suspect that if you had been walking for six weeks and this was the climax of your pilgrimage, the experience would be overwhelming.