A graceful art
To commemorate the 80th birthday of the American diva Grace Bumbry in January, Deutsche Grammophon reissued hard-to-find recordings and greatest hits. Benjamin Ivry assesses the singer’s varied career from its beginnings in the 1950s to her prime as a star of the opera stage and a notable interpreter of lieder
Serious glamour: Grace Bumbry
TULLY POTTER
In 1957, a young mezzo called Grace Bumbry featured in a musty recording of Israel in Egypt led by Maurice Abravanel, the first of a series of Handel oratorios which marked her early career in the studio. Aged just 20, the singer already had glamorous timbre and admirably homogeneous vocal technique. She displayed a natural gravity, even in ‘Their Land Brought Frogs’, where harpsichord leaps evoking a batrachian plague can provoke giggles. Bumbry gives us the minimal agility required without showing much potential for coloratura. Overall, the performance lacks zing due to complacent orchestra, soloists, and choir.