Eula Beal

[Guido]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gIdNBgyC88o&feature=BFp&list=FLY_eaZAZXh-o&index=3

Oh my god! I even forgive that this is sung in English. This is why I just can't accept counter tenors singing these slow Bach arias. It's just pouring out of her. I'm not so keen on Menuhin's rubato (it actually ends up sounding stiffer, not freer than the pliant supplenessof Bach's melody) , and it would be lovely to have the sighing strings and crispy continuo of (say) Ton Koopman supporting, but this voice is unbelievable. Where is her discography?!

[mjwal]

Well, she has a nice voice and plenty of breath - rather little variation of expression, though, something that becomes more apparent when you listen to her "Erlkönig", and less ability to project intensity of feeling, as is quite clear when she sings "None But the Lonely Heart". In the latter I immediately went to Lawrence Tibbett (YouTube is so convenient) for reassurance that it can touch one. Which Ms. Beal's Bach also utterly failed to do. As to the Schubert - I was diverted down a shady lane where divas of yesteryear applied their acting (ahem) skills to mask their failing techniques; both Ponselle and Lilli Lehmann were in their late 50s and produced some odd noises - I used to think that male diva impersonator's parody was exaggerated... (what was his name? a camp hit in the 70s) - nevertheless they get more of the demonic quality across than Ms.Beal. I'm not surprised she has no discography, actually; she lacks oomph.

[Guido]

I also watched the other videos, and I agree they're less impressive, but this Bach is to me extraordinary - no mannerism or artifice, the tone exactly right. Her wiki page says that she gave up concertising after 10 years to focus on her family. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eula_Beal

Surely you agree that the technique and sound is absolutely extraordinary at least.

[Wendell_E]

I used to think that male diva impersonator's parody was exaggerated... (what was his name? a camp hit in the 70s)

Michael Aspinall?

[mjwal]

Michael Aspinall?

Great, thank you Wendell_E, I had typed "Michael Aspen" into Google and got nothing about music. What was so memorably witty about his "Erlkönig" was his paternal "sei ruhig", which apart from meaning "be calm" also (more frequently nowadays) means "shut up" - the latter meaning deconstructs the good father/fearsome fairy dialectic from the start.
@Guido: The technique and sound - yes, if those things are in themselves sufficient, rather than just necessary and uninteresting if divorced from artistic vision.* As I said, the Bach aria failed to move me, but it is "lovely". It turns out, by the way, that those excerpts are the only ones she recorded and derive from a movie that was original in only presenting musical performances in this restrained manner. She did sing on the opera stage a few times but no live recordings have appeared, to my knowledge.
* There are two recordings of Tchaikovsky's song by Nina Koshetz; in the first her voice and technique, while not flawless, are at their apogee; in the second, the voice and technique have somewhat deteriorated - but the recording is just as emotionally stunning. Of course, in her later recording she does not make the same mistake of overstretching her voice that Ponselle and Lehmann do in the two examples I found on YouTube which undoubtedly inspired Michael Aspinall.