Régine Crespin (1927-2007) was a French soprano and later mezzo-soprano, one of the great French singers of the twentieth century. She was admired in Berlioz, Wagner, Strauss, French opera and song.

In the Pristine catalogue she appears in Poulenc’s Dialogues des Carmélites, part of a cast deeply connected with the opera’s early performance history.

Crespin’s voice combined amplitude, colour and an unmistakable command of language. She brought grandeur to the stage, but also a very French art of phrase and inflection.

Her page deserves a full note even from a small catalogue appearance. Crespin’s name carries a whole climate of vocal nobility and perfume with steel underneath.