Crystal clear tones from another age

Many of us were introduced to the joys of Early Music through the ground-breaking L'Oiseau-Lyre albums of the early 80s. The covers were all white elegance, booklets offered scholarly background and assurance, and the company's house band was one of the best - Christopher Hogwood's Academy of Ancient Music.

More often the singer with the band was Emma Kirkby, whose career is exquisitely documented in a new Decca double album, So Lovely Blooming. This is an Australasian release, to coincide with the English soprano's recent visit over the Tasman.

Australian reports on the 60-year-old Kirkby have been glowing, even if one critic did commiserate with her having to cope with a trumpet obbligato that sounded "like a bugle from F Troop".

There are no such worries here. Crispian Steele-Perkins is a noble partner in their 1983 recording of Bach's Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen. Kirkby is the epitome of brilliance in its Alleluia, while Hochster, mache reveals the tonal purity that was her signature.

This singer's vibrato-free vocal approach was not to everyone's taste, even back then. Now it can seem to come from another age and time alongside the visceral thrust of Cecilia Bartoli. Still, Kirkby brings a rare intimacy to Purcell's Sweeter than Roses, Bach's Bist du bei mir and two Tudor lute songs.

Curiosities abound. From 1980 comes a soprano version of But who may abide from Handel's Messiah and, from 1988, Nehmt meinem Dank, ihr holden Gonner!, a charming thank-you aria, written by Mozart for his sister-in-law. Here, Kirkby's voice is joy incarnate, among a flurry of pizzicato strings and boisterous wind instruments.

Kirkby can deliver flourishes with the best of 'em. If the fiery central section of But who may abide is not evidence enough, sit back and thrill to the martial flourishes in Arne's Rise, Glory, Rise.

There is also history here, with Vivaldi's cantata Nulla in mondo pas sincera, as used in the David Helfgott film Shine.

The cool transparency of Kirkby's performance may well be seen by some as a valuable and viable alternative to today's lustier brand of virtuosity.

* So Lovely Blooming: The Voice of Emma Kirkby (Decca 476 8216)