Beniamina Pinza, St. Andrew’s Hall, February 1938

As noted elsewhere on this site, Beniamina Pinza and Ida Haendel performed at St. Andrew’s Hall on the 16th of February 1938.

 

In a review of both performers, in The Glasgow Herald, on the 17th of February, page 13, the paper’s Music Critic commented:

 

“Beniamina Pinza is probably more at home on the stage in Italian opera than on the concert platform. Her voice is of beautiful quality in softer singing, especially in the lower part of her range, but in more strenuous work some of the beauty goes out of it and she shows a tendency to get above pitch. A lack of colour variety in [sic] a handicap. This made itself felt in the first two numbers she sang – Beethoven’s ‘In questa tomba oscura’ and Caccini’s ‘Amarilli’ – and remained to give a rather level quality to her various interpretations. Her voice is not quite flexible enough for Rossini’s Tarantella. She was at her best in Mimi’s song from the first act of ‘La Boheme’ sung as an extra.”