Was shown on TV tonight. The official version is here.
We had a split vote in Gert Cottage, with Jimmy agreeing with the Official Jury and Pretty Blonde Spenceboy in nominating Elizabeth Watts - she is writing Liz's Cardiff Blog.
My favourite was Luciano Botelho, a Brazillian tenore di grazia. I thought he had the most beautiful voice, especially at the top, and he reminded me a lot of Juan Diego Florez,especially in the piece from Rossini. I liked all of them, up to a point. I have already written the following on a newsgroup:
I thought Sae Kyung Rim was too screachy on top and had a bit of a wobble, but otherwise had an attractive sound, but zero personality. I loved Luciano's gorgeous sweet tone, especially right at the top. He reminds me to some extent of Juan Diego Florez, especially in the Rossini. I felt he struggled when moving chest to head. Ante Jerkunica did the least for me. I noticed an absence of top (indeed I seemed to anticipating most of Pretty Blonde Spenceboy's remarks), and he seemed to lack charisma, which Levente Molnár had in spades. Toby Spence described his act as "Rants and Variations" and I would certainly have liked to hear how he coped with something more lyrical. I felt he was a bit rough around the edges but woth bags of potential. I think probably Elizabeth Watts was the best technically, although her Massanet did very little for me. Certainly the Szymanowski was a startling change in the rep.
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