This morning I bade farewell to the Suffolk coast with a wander around Aldeburgh and up to Thorpeness. Seeing the House in the Clouds reminded me of the only time I've been inside it, which was for Eileen Poulter's 70th birthday celebration.
Eileen had a beautiful clear lyrical soprano voice, and her musicianship was astounding. She sang mainly early music, with the Deller Consort, the Purcell Consort of Voices, and with other singers like Janet Baker, Robert Tear and Ian Partridge. I was fortunate to have lessons with her for several years. She was very patient with me, although clearly unable to understand how I could fail to read the dots on sight, or be unaware of exactly how the music progressed through key changes without having to do the musical equivalent of counting on my fingers. Looking back at some of the things I achieved with her help I wonder if it was really me!
By the time of her 70th birthday she was already ill (she died not very long afterwards), and though she put together a marvellous programme and sang in a couple of ensemble pieces herself, she sang alto rather than soprano. It's one of the boasts of my life to say that I sang with her.
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