Singer Kyra Vayne dies
Philstein
Kyra Vayne from liver cancer at the age of 84. No actual date of death
was given. Although I've never heard her, she was very kind about
Richard Tauber, under whom she sang in London, so she was obviously a
woman of superior taste and discrimination.
Cheers,
Phil Wilson
Anglesey
N. Wales
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HenryFogel
>Subject: Singer Kyra Vayne dies
>From: Philstein gerr...@my-deja.com
>Date: 01/14/01 6:10 AM Central Standard Time
>Message-id: <93s4v4$84d$1...@nnrp1.deja.com>
>
>Thw London "Observer" today reports (P.5) the death of Russian singer
>Kyra Vayne from liver cancer at the age of 84. No actual date of death
>was given. Although I've never heard her, she was very kind about
>Richard Tauber, under whom she sang in London, so she was obviously a
>woman of superior taste and discrimination.
>
>Cheers,
>
>Phil Wilson
This is very sad -- she was a wonderful singer and a marvellous character. My
wife and I were privileged to spend an afternoon with her a few years ago,
during which she played us some tapes that showed her remarkable dramatic
soprano qualities. She enjoyed the fact that in her late years she received
some recognition, due to the Preiser CD recital that was issued first, taken
from tapes in her own collection, and others that followed.
When I reviewed her first Preiser recital for "Fanfare", I wrote the following:
"How to describe Vayne? The annotator brings up the names Nina Koshetz and Oda
Slobdskaya and those are reasonable comparisons. Her voice has a Slavic
quality to it -- prime Milanov comes to mind as well -- but in the Italian
repertoire there is a warmth and glow that one would not associate with Eastern
singers. In the end, she sounds unlike anyone else, and she was, on the basis
of this disc, one of the great ones. I have no idea why she did not have a
superstar career."
After I wrote that I received a lovely letter from her, and when we were in
London she invited us to lunch at her home. After spending a few hours with
her, I have no better an idea as to why she didn't have a major, highly visible
career. She said that she was "done in" by some jealous singers, but her talent
was such that it is very hard for me to believe that jealous singers could have
kept her from the limelight. Perhaps she didn't play her cards right in terms
of management, perhaps she was more difficult to work with than was apparent in
a perfectly charming afteroon, or perhaps she somehow didn't have the drive and
ambition to achieve stardom.
Whatever the case, she was a dramatic soprano of enormous importance, and news
of her death saddens me a great deal. If you don't know her singing, find
either of the two Preiser volumes and be prepared to be thrilled and
astonished.
Henry Fogel