That's right, to fall in love IN, not fall in love TO...
I confess I've always been strangely attracted to voices. It started out as a childish thing I could look back on and smile to myself, but it persisted and even today I have these "voice crushes".
You can laugh now.
But it is true and in this context I'm a proud polygamist. Sometimes I can listen almost exclusively to one singer and sometimes I listen to a lot of people, rediscovering their voices in the process. Having said that, let me present my current "voice crush": Richard Croft.
The funny thing is that I had actually heard and seen him several times in various videos (again, I think youtube is one of the world's best inventions) before I saw him in Theodora in a Glyndebourne production from the mid 90's and wondered why on earth I hadn't been so impressed with him before. One theory is perhaps that that particular Händel piece hypnotized me in general and I loved the arias he did as Septimius, not just his performance but the compositions as a whole..and the combination turned out to be just perfect.
However, when I started to revisit the videos where I had seen him previously (not knowing who he was at the time) I was no less impressed. Like his opening aria in the great (and first ever fully staged) version of the Messiah:
(aria doesn't start until a few minutes into the video, there's the overture and a recitativo first)
In addition to that I started looking up more youtube videos and his recordings on iTunes, and I'm still just as enthusiastic. Of course I'm in no position to be 100% objective or give my opinions on technique etc, but I will say that to my ears, his voice has that certain inexplicable something that can soothe and give strength at the same time and just strikes a chord within you. And that is a very valuable quality.
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