Jessye's in town

Jessye Norman - Royal Festival Hall, 21 May 2012

Birgit Nilsson once described the chief requirement for singing Isolde as “comfortable shoes”. Jessye Norman went one step further at last night’s recital, dispensing with shoes altogether in favour of fluffy mauve socks, a perfect colour match for the shimmering silken tarpaulin swathing her generous curves. With a huge sparkly brooch competing with her dazzling smile, she filled the stage. And I don’t mean in the Johan Botha sense.