Norma Procter 1928-2017

[Guest]

Obituary in today's Times for contralto Norma Procter who died on May 2 aged 89. She was the soloist in my first Mahler 3 - Haitink/LPO, RFH 1972 - my very first Mahler either live or recorded, a life-changing event.

[HighlandDougie]

And the contralto soloist in Norman del Mar's recording of Nicholas Maw's 'Scenes and Arias' - a desert island disc for me. Plus Horenstein's Mahler 3, Kubelik's Maher 2, Ansermet's Beethoven 9, Bach, Handel and so on. Wonderfully versatile singer with a fine voice. She will be much missed.

[Alain Maréchal]

I saw her many times, in fact she seemed a fixture. Utterly reliable, she was the obvious choice for many conductors. I last saw her towards the end of her career when Norman Del Mar asked her at short notice to replace a singer in Mahler 3. The control was not impeccable, but the tone was still glorious.

[seabright]

And here she is in a 'Messiah' duet with the equally radiant Sheila Armstrong ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xT2UNbVb14

[BBMmk2]

Sad to hear but not a bad innings! Heard quite a few performances by her, though, thankfully.