Dear Dame Kiri
If you are reading this, I want you
to know that ever since I first heard
a recording of your singing the early
1970s, I have been one of your greatest
admirers. Through the years I have bought
loads of your LPs and CDs – much to
my wife’s desperation; not that she
doesn’t like you. We have spent literally
hundreds of hours together savouring
the delicacies of your singing. When
on one of our arrivals in London we
were lucky to get hold of two late returns
to a recital in Barbican Hall, which
had been sold out for months, we were
in Heaven. The record collection however
threatened to push aside most of our
furniture and it was a happy day for
us both when I bought equipment that
made it possible to copy the LPs to
CD and wash away some of the wear and
tear in the process – and we saved a
lot of space. Critics have sometimes
complained about lack of expression
in your singing but I have always been
of the view that the rare beauty and
warmth of your singing more than compensated
for whatever under-characterisation
there may have been.
It has been a long time since there
was a new recording with you and I thought
that you might have withdrawn from the
stage. However when the present disc
appeared on our “request list” I jumped
at the opportunity to hear you again.
It was with some trepidation that I
put the disc into my player. One shouldn’t
mention a lady’s age but since I knew
you were born the same year as my wife
I didn’t have much hope that your voice
would have survived in the pristine
state it was in when I last heard you.
In my worst nightmares it might even
have been unrecognisable.
Since this is a review I have to be
honest and there is no hiding the fact:
the years have taken their toll.
There is today an incipient beat on
most sustained notes, not a Wagnerian
wobble, mind you, but it does disrupt
the smoothness of the line. The vibrato
has also widened and is less controlled
than it once was; not very surprising.
The tone is more frail, can sometimes
be a little unsteady, and the creamy
timbre from your heyday is nowadays
diluted. On the other hand your voice
is still easily recognisable, you turn
a phrase as memorably as ever and sing
a lovely pianissimo as you did in the
‘good old days’. Credit to you also
for not pressing the voice beyond today’s
narrower compass. While I believe some
of your signature roles are no longer
within your grasp – or at least not
as easily as they once were – in less
strenuous repertoire, as here, you make
your mark. And when, through the wonders
of multi-tracking, you sing with
yourself, it is gratifying to notice
how well the vocal lines blend.
It is quite natural that voices age.
That said, I believe that quite a few
of your admirers, delightfully conditioned
to have high expectations, will be disappointed.
If others read this I would advise them
to try to listen before buying. Different
ears react differently to voices and
what one listener regards as fully acceptable
can be completely ruled out by another.
It isn’t bad, but today it is in a lower
realm than it once was.
Redeeming factors? Well, maybe. The
choice of repertoire could be one. The
lovely songs by Carlos Guastavino are
to very much to my taste, especially
the four Flores Argentinas. Here
Karl Jenkins’ orchestrations are at
their best: fairly unobtrusive, not
so over-loaded as in some numbers on
the disc. Much of it, however, is of
that symphonic entertainment category
though certainly with extremely professional
playing. The LSO strings are as smooth
as satin, but to my taste there is too
much studio sound with larger-than-life
percussion and aggressive ethnic choral
singing. I didn’t care much for the
Allegrettango which feels like
a rape of the allegretto from Beethoven’s
7th symphony. The similar treatment
of a Chopin mazurka begins and ends
like a travesty of Rachmaninov’s Vocalise;
much more tasteful than the Beethoven,
though.
Everything I have written above is my
personal reaction and there can of course
be no absolute objectivity in this.
My reaction to the presentation of this
disc is, on the other hand, factual
and this goes back to one of my recurrent
hang-ups. I can’t understand how a designer
can think that any useful purpose is
served by having important information
printed in minuscule text, yellow on
dark brown, throughout. Absolutely mad!
Of course this is nothing you can do
anything about but I have to mention
it for the sake of potential buyers.
I am sorry not to be more enthusiastic
about this issue, but I have at least
tried to analyse why. Although
not everything was to my liking I must
stress that your singing is as tasteful
as it has always been. I doubt though
that I will return to this disc very
often. Instead, as soon as I have finished
this review, I am going to take out
your recordings of Canteloube’s Chants
d’Auvergne and Strauss’s Vier
letzte Lieder, the recording with
Solti. Those are amongst my desert island
discs.
Kindest regards
Göran Forsling
Dame
Kiri Te Kanawa (soprano) 
