Music that stopped me in my tracks …

Music that’s stopped me in my tracks recently:

1. Maria Callas – the Casta Diva aria, from Act I of Bellini’s Norma, on Radio 3 on Sunday morning’s Private Passions. It was so powerful that I had to sit down and listen carefully, to catch every last syllable. Great music, great voice, great acting: it just doesn’t get any better than this.

2. Amy Winehouse – the Valerie single, while in a shop later the same day. The whole shopful of customers simply stopped shopping for the duration. What a soulful interpreter; what mastery of a lyric; what swing. Here’s hoping the gel deals with her demons and goes on to produce a lifetime of great work – both for her sake and for everybody else’s.



Gerry Smith