Among fringe-benefits here—but from what a rich prize among fringes—is Dame Eva's speaking-voice. Unquenchably resonant, its clarity undimmed, she speaks with characteristic warmth of colleagues and friends, pays tribute to the marvels of the Compact Disc, recalls how in Milan she was banished to a place behind the chorus while recording the Aida and Gioconda ensembles (but glad to say that she can still be heard—and how!) and signs off, in her 97th year, with loving greetings which all will wish to reciprocate. Another of the fringes is the restoration of a broken record: we can see it with our own eyes photographed with its clean break near to the middle and a nasty little triangle chipped out just to complicate matters. What we hear in John R. T. Davies's reconstruction is as Richard Bebb says in his sleeve-note ''nothing short of miraculous'', and abundantly worthwhile, for the performance, of Elisabeth's Greeting in Tannhauser, ranks among the finest of all Turner's recordings.
She was of course a Wagnerian soprano of great distinction, and yet up to the present she has not been heard in Wagner on records. The opening of the Tannhauser is magnificent in its power, and though the Lohengrin is more in the voice of wide-awake Brunnhilde than dreamy Elsa the tone is of most lovely quality. Also new, and from the same source, is the English Tosca, her voice beautifully caught, with the timbre more faithful to the impression she made in the theatre than is the formidably bright and penetrative tone of the earlier recordings. These include the ''Ritorna vincitor'' which gives perhaps the most comprehensive view of her art, the tenderness and intelligence of her singing as well as its sheer strength and brilliance on high. The Trovatore aria, with its finely spun trills, the Cioconda and Cavalleria rusticana so Italianate in their uninhibited passions, and of course the gleaming, invincible Turandot are triumphant examples too, and it is good to hear her voice in the Milanese ensembles, especially now that we can think of her rising out from behind the chorus. To all this the songs form little more than an appendage or footnote; and Homing with its horrid cinema organ accompaniment is a blot (the ''Vissi d'arte'' in Italian might profitably have gone in instead).
Transfers are again the excellent work of Keith Hardwick; and perhaps we might add a reminder of another of his good works, the excerpts from Turandot recorded live at Covent Garden in 1937 (EMI (CD) CDH7 61074-2, 9/88) which, paired with the new issue, commemorates so admirably this great Queen Mother figure among our singers. '