There are some moments in life which are so utterly sublime and exhilarating that they will take you to a higher plane that no amount of drugs could ever possibly get close too. When you are so overawed with what you are seeing and listening too, that you are actually black and blue pinching yourself to make sure it is real and not a something your fervent desires and imagination have drummed up.
Being at a Barbara Cook concert was exactly like this. Whether you were in the intimate space of the Donmar Theater in London, or in the vast Carnegie Hall, the moment Ms Cook started singing Sondheim the world became a totally different place. We couldn’t help but be transported by this stunning voice that weaved the lyrics with such passion and intensity that always made you feel that you were hearing these well-known songs for the first time, but more importantly, that she was singing them direct to only you.
I felt Ms Cook knew me as well as I thought I knew her even though we never met (well very briefly for a selfie), and I count myself so very privileged and so lucky indeed that I saw her perform more than once : occasions I can still remember in the most minute detail even now several years later.
Barbara Cook died last weekend at the age of 89 after transporting so many of us to heaven and back, and her legacy is this incredible wealth of recordings that will continue sending tingles down our spines for as long as we live. The video below is one of our all-time favorites
