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Why the soprano? Most of us would agree that she occupies a very powerful place in classical music. From an imperious onstage presence to an often similar personality offstage, the great diva has an air of daunting mystery about her.<\/p>\n
And while it may be less so these days, the soprano can occupy the same pedestal as many Hollywood actors. We worship and adore them for who they are and what they do, but we\u2019re ultimately petrified of them.<\/p>\n
So who are \u2013 or were \u2013 the most magnificent? A tricky one, to be sure. When we asked 22 major opera critics for their top ten sopranos back in 2007, our final list contained over 90 different singers.<\/p>\n
Many names, of course, were instantly recognisable, a large number no longer alive and several were what you might call \u2018forgotten gems\u2019. Now, you\u2019ll find out which have meant the most to them, excited them and moved them. Let the show begin\u2026<\/p>\n
Born in Rotterdam in 1933, the legendary Dutch soprano charmed audiences worldwide with her Lieder recitals for over four decades, before retiring to teach.<\/p>\n
Though I never heard her live, Elly Ameling was the patron saint of my musical youth. I can\u2019t remember the recording I heard first \u2013 her light-as-air performance of Schubert\u2019s Seligkeit, her deeply-felt St Matthew Passion, her creamy Mozart<\/a> Concert Arias, or her hilarious rendition of Cole Porter\u2019s \u2018It Don\u2019t Mean a Thing\u2019 \u2013 but my love of her voice has never faded.<\/p>\n In Schubert<\/a>, Mozart<\/a>, Haydn<\/a>, French Song, and particularly in Bach<\/a>, she was the standard-bearer for light sopranos: a singer with a natural smile in her voice, and one that could change from a beam of girlish glee to consolation.<\/p>\n In decades progressively intoxicated by larger voices, the candour, delicacy and charm of her singing was uniquely touching. And how can you not love a soprano who preferred the intimacy of Lieder recitals to the rough glamour of opera? Anna Picard<\/p>\n In her own words: \u2018I felt moved at the beginning of the concert, when I got a warm reception. This happened when I did my first recital at Alice Tully Hall in 1970 and I didn\u2019t understand what was happening. I thought they liked my dress.\u2019<\/p>\n