There comes a point in time listening to the classics that you start being able to distinctly tell by listening who’s the person singing a particular role. Funnily, the two vocal ranges I have difficulty with singer identification are Alto and Tenor. Soprano and Bass is easy – I wonder why LOL.
In any case, there several Sopranos I enjoy listening to: there’s Kiri Te Kanawa, Kathleen Battle, and Eva Lind. By far though, the singer I most admire is Lucia Popp. Her voice isn’t expansive and at times almost seems a little ‘small’. But there’s an incredible elegance and passion evident in her voice, and of a very distinct timbre.
She’s especially well-known for handling lyric coloratura soprano repertoire. When she sings in operas of the comedic variety, there’s infectious fun in her voice. Of the recordings I have of her, everyone of them is a favorite: her part as the feisty Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro which I’ve blogged about here before, Pamina in Die Zauberflöte, and Rosalinde in Johann Strauus II’s comic opera Die Fledermaus.
Called “one of the most gifted, attractive and intelligent singers of her generation”, she sadly passed away from brain cancer in 1993 at the age of 54.
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