Emma Kirkby

[Mark]

Whatever you think about the British Honours system, surely you'll agree that Dame Emma Kirkby has earned hers?

[sunnyside_up]

Definitely agree, I think it's fabulous!!!

[Harry]

Well since she is my top soprano of all times since her early beginnings, I am certainly more than convinced, that she deserved this honour much earlier. But better later as never right?
I will play some nice things of her today!

[Joan]

Yes, congratulations to her!  I think Anthony Rooley should also be in line for similar honors.
Her name always reminds me of a dear friend, now passed away, who used to refer to her as "Emma Chirp-by" (I know that sounds awful, but he really meant it as a compliment in reference to what he thought was a bird-like quality in her voice!)

Harry, do you have this DVD?

[Harry]

Yes, congratulations to her!  I think Anthony Rooley should also be in line for similar honors.
Her name always reminds me of a dear friend, now passed away, who used to refer to her as "Emma Chirp-by" (I know that sounds awful, but he really meant it as a compliment in reference to what he thought was a bird-like quality in her voice!)

Harry, do you have this DVD?

Yes Joan, and much I like it, played it at least a hundred times!

[jochanaan]

A much-deserved honor for one of the finest sopranos ever to sing early music.

[Valentino]

I get a lump in my throat every time I hear her sing Mozart's Laudate Dominum with Hogwood conducting. Truly magnificent. An outstanding voice.

[Guido]

What is the purpose of honours? To recognise the talents of famous people? I ask this as a genune quuestion as well as a flippant one.

[jochanaan]

What is the purpose of honours? To recognise the talents of famous people? I ask this as a genune quuestion as well as a flippant one.

In this case, it's a recognition, not of mere talent or ability, but of significant accomplishment, especially that which benefits the United Kingdom.

[Antoine Marchand]

A friend sent me today this excellent link:

Emma Kirkby: The Unsung Heroine
The South Bank Show
ITV Productions
22.07.2007.
Presented by: Melvyn Bragg
Produced and directed by: Mathew Tucker

A documentary about my favorite singer, Dame Emma Kirkby, the artist who almost single-handedly changed the way we listen to voices in early music. Her pure soprano features on almost 200 studio recordings and she is well known to almost every admirer of medieval, renaissance and baroque music for her beautiful voice and amazing artistry. The show features works of Henry Purcell, Johann Sebastian Bach, George Frideric Handel, Jean-Baptiste Boësset, Claudio Monteverdi, Hildegard Von Bingen and John Dowland.


http://www.youtube.com/v/mzm4Oad6pGo

http://www.youtube.com/v/tGOwJ4RICDI

Another four parts exist on You Tube.

[Coopmv]

Well since she is my top soprano of all times since her early beginnings, I am certainly more than convinced, that she deserved this honour much earlier. But better later as never right?
I will play some nice things of her today!

Totally agree.  I have been wondering all these years why Emma Kirkby has not received this honor earlier.  She is still the gold standard for me when it comes to baroque soprano.  Her Handel's Italian Cantatas conducted by Hogwood is superior to the recording by Kozena and Minkowski.  So much for those who think newer is always better ...

 

[Rod Corkin]

Whatever you think about the British Honours system, surely you'll agree that Dame Emma Kirkby has earned hers?

Not really. I have quite a few of her recordings but I bought them more out of necessity rather than choice (ie there were few other options for the music). These days her name on the credits is enough on its own to make me reject a CD. Her shrill school-girl tone is enough to strip any music of whatever gravity is posesses.

And I'd chose Kozena over Kirkby any day.

[Harry]

Not really. I have quite a few of her recordings but I bought them more out of necessity rather than choice (ie there were few other options for the music). These days her name on the credits is enough on its own to make me reject a CD. Her shrill school-girl tone is enough to strip any music of whatever gravity is posesses.

And I'd chose Kozena over Kirkby any day.

You are just jealous my friend, that you are so unimportant that you have to make yourself emperor, in order to get attention.

[Rod Corkin]

You are just jealous my friend, that you are so unimportant that you have to make yourself emperor, in order to get attention.

You're behind the times Harry, I have long passed the Emperor stage, I've been Zeus for over a year!  

[The new erato]

Yesterday I listened to some of the relatively early recordings of Eanglish Madrigals done by the "consort of music" including Emma Kirkby, and what struck me, quite independetly of this thread, is how far madrigal performance have advanced since those times. And regrettably, Dame Emma sounds at times quite shrill on those 2 discs.

[Coopmv]

I firmly stand behind my earlier post.  Hogwood and Kirkby beat Minkowski and Kozena hands down in Handel Italian Cantatas.  Just do a comparative listening for yourself.

[zamyrabyrd]

Not really. I have quite a few of her recordings but I bought them more out of necessity rather than choice (ie there were few other options for the music). These days her name on the credits is enough on its own to make me reject a CD. Her shrill school-girl tone is enough to strip any music of whatever gravity is posesses.

And I'd chose Kozena over Kirkby any day.

I don't disagree with you. It depends on to what extent one is willing to accept a "manufactured" tone. The counter argument for that is whatever singing one does is a choice of range and overtones, anyway. 

When unusual timbres don't interfere with musicality as with countertenors singing repertoire that was never intended for a falsetto without a chest range, then is it still a matter of taste, not mine--similar to Kirkby downplaying or almost eliminating the lower overtones.

ZB

[Harry]

I firmly stand behind my earlier post.  Hogwood and Kirkby beat Minkowski and Kozena hands down in Handel Italian Cantatas.  Just do a comparative listening for yourself.

And me too, Kirkby is for me a icon, a voice of great beauty, shrillness is not one of its attributes, let alone manufactured.
Emma Kirkby is simply singing what is noted down by the composers.

[zamyrabyrd]

And me too, Kirkby is for me a icon, a voice of great beauty, shrillness is not one of its attributes, let alone manufactured.

Hi Harry. To rephrase what I wrote above, any singing tone is manufactured in the sense a choice being made for a couple of parameters. How much vibrato, head or chest register to include? My singing teacher said it was like putting cream in coffee. Do you want it near black or creamy? This is most apparent in the lower middle of a soprano where she may sing can belto appropriate for "Toujours la mort" in the Card Scene from Carmen or light, in any coloratura where one needs only to scoop down and just touch the lower notes.

Crossover singers for musicals, etc., blank out the full range of overtones. And so on. The latter is what I believe Kirkby was doing most of the time, emphasizing a nearly vibrato-less top while not including most of the lower overtones. This is the typical timbre one expects from choirboys, nice for a lot of Renaissance and Baroque music, but I'm not sure this was the kind of sound Handel got from his own sopranos.

Emma Kirkby is simply singing what is noted down by the composers.[/i]

It's really not as simple as that, not at all...

ZB

[Tapio Dmitriyevich]

A friend sent me today this excellent link:

Emma Kirkby: The Unsung Heroine
The South Bank Show
ITV Productions
22.07.2007.
Presented by: Melvyn Bragg
Produced and directed by: Mathew Tucker

Many thanks. After listening to "Full fathom five" in Pt1, I think it's once again time to listen to the "Music and sweet poetry" CD with her/Jakob Lindberg.
The music coupled with her voice, often Baroque and earlier music in general, let me really come down, calm down and relax.