The Voice

By Thomas Quasthoff. Pantheon, 226 pp, $27.95, hardcover

Thomas Quasthoff is one of the world’s most celebrated bass baritones, whose depth of tone, expressiveness, and musicality made him a household name first in his native Germany, and later throughout the world. He also stands only four feet tall, the result of his mother being prescribed thalidomide before his birth in 1959.

He has severely stunted arms and deformed hands; his legs are short and underdeveloped, lacking knees. It’s a life story that simply begs for the book treatment, and in his memoir, The Voice, Quasthoff reveals himself to be not only a gifted artist, not only a person with a disability struggling for acceptance, but an erudite and outspoken humorist.

Quasthoff begins his story not at the beginning but in 1998, with his first performance with the New York Philharmonic. For someone who refuses to be defined by his disability, it’s an appropriate opening; readers are given a vivid inside look at the backstage fussing and drama behind a large-scale concert, where Quasthoff clearly feels most at home.

When he does lead us to his early childhood, it is wretchedly Dickensian. There are the 18 months spent isolated in hospital in a body cast in order to straighten his feet; the harsh years spent in a boarding school for the physically and mentally disabled; and the devastating refusal of a music academy to grant him entry because of his inability to play the piano.

But there is also the unerring support of his parents, who refused to treat him any differently from his older brother; the development of his talent with a vocal coach; and his recent marriage to journalist Claudia Stelzig, whom he fell in love with “at first sight”.

Into his life story Quasthoff weaves delicious anecdotes featuring his encounters with a world-renowned cast of characters that includes conductor Simon Rattle and cellist Mstislav Rostropovich. He also expounds on his theories of performance, and rants about crossover artists such as Andrea Bocelli and Vanessa-Mae, about whom he writes: “these entertainers should not be mistaken for artists.”

If there is one thing missing from Quasthoff’s tale, it’s an anecdote or two set in Canada. It’s time this remarkable man paid us a visit. Bramwell Tovey, are you listening?