One of the nice things about TV programmes like Cardiff Singer of the World is that I am reminded that there are so many arias that I really like, and not just for the tenor voice.
I enjoy forming my opinion during the performance and I am pleased at how often I agree with the post-match analysis in the studio. There are times when I don't; it's also fun to predict who will win the programme.
Again, I will preface my comments by noting that TV is an inadequate way of measuring how a singer sounds live; disembodied arias performed concert-style are an inadequate way of telling how someone performs in a staged opera; and all of the singers are good enough that if I heard them in a substantial role I would not feel short-changed.
Two gentlemen dressed conservatively, one a little less so, daring to wear a long tie rather than a bow tie. Like last night, both women were thin. Not in a horrible flatchested way, but perfectly capable of fitting into standard dresses (need to watch this throughout the week; the law of averages demands someone plump, and we know how many fine voices come out of large women).
My least favourite was Octavio Moreno. Like Penny Smith I didn't care for the stand-and-deliver style. And, like John Mark Ainsley I was concerned by some technical issues near the top.
I had to agree that Dawid Kimberg was far from the finished article - when he was performing, I thought I would like to hear him in two years time when he has completed the Jette-Parker Young Artists programme. I did feel that he had a bit of a wobble and an uneven sound, a bit of a breath control issue.
I liked Anne Stephany in the Handel - Dopo Notte - but didn't particularly go for her in the Ravel or Bellini. She seemed a bit cold and too controlled.
I didn't care for Ekaterina Shcherbachenko's Come Scoglio. I didn't like her tone of voice, nor did I care for her interpretation. I thought her Tatiana letter scene was excellent, even though it is the one bit in the opera which tends to lose me.
My favourite was Ji-Min Park. Of course, I have heard him live several times; he was on my list of tenors to watch last year. I think much of what I said about Eri Nakamura last night could also apply to him. He's scheduled to sing Rodolfo at Covent Garden and Romeo at La Scala; I'm surprised he needs Cardiff. Indeed, an established and respected soprano (I've heard her at ENO) remarked on Facebook last night that she was declined entry back in the Nineties for being too experienced. I thought he brought a very individual interpretation to the Gianni Schicchi aria, and in the Dein ist mein ganzes Herz, I felt I was watching a well-established tenor of whom I read good things but for soem reason hadn't encountered before, not a 'young artist' under development.
