We all know that Jessye Norman had superpowers, but does anyone else remember her actually foiling a crime? It’s on the cusp of memory, something that happened within the past decade or so (unfortunately too recent to be within my wheelhouse), but I just can’t find anything right now, doing an internet search, beyond her countless obituaries. Norman, of course, died yesterday at the age of 74.
This afternoon on The Classical Network, we’ll celebrate this great soprano’s artistry through a number of her recordings, including – to coincide with the Jewish High Holidays – Maurice Ravel’s “Deux mélodies hébraïques.”
For variety’s sake, we’ll also enjoy performances by pianist Paul Badura-Skoda and hornist Myron Bloom, both of whom also died within the past several days.
Norman’s voice was powerful yet creamy, at once opulent and seductive. She never made an ugly sound. I was lucky enough to hear her live a couple of times with the Philadelphia Orchestra, back in the 1980s. It seems as if I have the uncanny ability to remember everything from 30 years ago (that’s MY superpower), but I can’t remember what happened last week.
In particular, her performance of Berlioz’s “Les nuits d’été” (“Summer Nights”), part of an all-Berlioz evening I attended at the height of my Berlioz mania, was exquisite. And boy, did she have presence.
Her recordings are presents I can’t wait to share.
First, on today’s Noontime Concert, we’ll have something completely different. We’ll travel the Silk Road from China to Spain with the Eurasia Consort in a program titled “On the Road through Dunhuang: Music from the Dunhuang Caves, the Ottoman Empire, and Medieval Spain.”
The concert was recorded on January 3, 2018, at St. Bartholomew’s Church, 325 Park Avenue, in New York City. Free Midtown Concerts are held at St. Bart’s every Thursday at 1:15 p.m.
Today’s broadcast is another made possible in part by Gotham Early Music Scene, or GEMS. GEMS is a non-profit corporation that supports and promotes artists and organizations in New York devoted to Early Music. For more information and a complete events calendar, visit gemsy.org.
It’s all silk and velvet this afternoon. Prepare yourself for another Norman conquest, from 12 to 4 p.m. EDT (with more to follow with David Osenberg, from 4 to 7 p.m.), on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.