With their two Emmas, Romophone have chosen eminent but problematic recording artists for the launch of their series. Emma Eames (see below) was reputedly a cold singer, yet both voice and art seem amply warm on records; Emmy Destinn appears to have satisfied the most demanding critics and the most refined taste with her performances on stage yet the admiration prompted by her records is of a more qualified kind and one which would have to be expressed in different terms.
In London and New York, Destinn was adored by operagoers in the early years of the century. Her Aida and Butterfly impressed so deeply that for decades after she had gone, new sopranos in these roles still lived in her shadow. ''A voice wonderfully varied, in colour as in volume, and at the disposal of an artist who, like Maria Callas, was a great actress'' was the summary of Alec Robertson, who heard them both. Coming then to these records one is first likely to be surprised by a kind of unsteadiness unusual in singers of this period. It occurs on lower notes; the high ones are just as remarkably firm. The thought also arises that this is really rather too mature a voice for either Mignon or Butterfly. Then comes Aida, her most famous role of all, and, though her ''O patria mia'' has lovely moments, the rise to the high C (with its preparatory intake of breath) is not among them; moreover, one has to do some 'creative' listening in order to imagine how the legendary pianissimo As would float through the spaces of the opera house, for in the confines of the old recording studio and shorn of harmonics they tend to sound pipy and sometimes a shade under pitch.
To be placed against such doubts are many affirmations: the timbre is fascinatingly distinctive, the emotions are generous, and when the performances rise to greatness (as in Tosca's ''Vissi d'arte'') there is no mistaking it. It should be noted that these are exclusively Victor recordings, and that they start in 1914: earlier ones such as Butterfly's death and two excerpts from Salome, can be startlingly vivid and are probably more persuasive. The Victors include her single duet with Caruso (''Sento una forza indomita'' from Il Guarany), her Trovatore ''Miserere'' with Martinelli and Czech songs with her lover Dinh Gilly. The edition is a scholarly one and the transfers have remarkable clarity: listen for instance, to the chorus between verses in the ''Miserere'' and see if you fancy, as I do, that Martinelli decides the tenors need a bit of support about halfway through.'