Coming from a background in which 'classical music' was regarded as something monumentally boring and definitely to be avoided at all costs - like immediately switching off the radio if any got played - I've had to fight for much of my adult listening life against the powerful prejudices I learnt in that period. The single greatest problem I'm left with to this day is a mindless aversion to operatic singers, though, oddly, I've never had any problem at all with choral music. And I'm afraid it's those poor diva-ish sopranos I have the greatest problem of all with, amazingly even in pieces I love. I really have to work hard at losing myself in the textures of the music, sort of forgetting it's a voice I'm listening to, which creates a bit of a problem for me in entering into the dramatic qualities of performance.
But there's an exception to every rule, and mine is the wonderful Emma Kirkby. I've never heard her sing live but I can't think of a single recording of her I've heard when I started to think something along the lines of: a bit too fruity for me, a bit too Home Counties ma'am. (Talk about reverse snobbery - but, there you are, I'm afraid I suffer from more than my fair share of that debilitating condition.) I got in this evening and bunged on my treasured compilation of her work for the Hyperion label and, trust me, it was pure bliss.
In case you've never had the pleasure, lend an ear to her doing the business with Purcell's An Evening Hymn, and then tell me you don't think it's worth trying to get to heaven to hear more of this stuff. (Not that the wonderful lady is there yet; but when she arrives, a long time hence I pray, the angels will have a run for their money I can tell you.)
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