The excitement is over, and we have a new winner of the Cardiff Singer
of the World. The BBC4 TV coverage gave a great opportunity to see and
hear the competitors in the bulk of their material, and mostly in
complete performances. Cheesy interviews, cliched presentation and the
execrable, relentlessly repeated theme music aside, the whole week was
a treat for opera fans and students alike.
As ever, repertoire choice was the most fascinating subject. Almost all
the competitors were uneven across their chosen range, so it was a year
of memorable performances of individual arias, many of which are rarely
heard in competitions. Stravinsky’s Rossignol (Irish soprano),
Poulenc’s Mamelles de Tiresias (Israeli soprano) and Gounod’s Queen Mab
(Andorran baritone) were three particular highlights. The Italian and
the Slavs all excelled in home repertoire, but only the English mezzo
sang equally well across a range of styles - her superb Handel, Bellini
and Ravel was worthy of more credit.
This year’s Handel performances proved that the battle for period style
is finally over, both for singers and orchestra. Energetic, clean of
tone and articulation, unfussy in delivery (the odd final orchestral
ritardando notwithstanding) and as far from the old way as you could
want. No-one uses the word “Handelian” any more.
The battleground has
shifted to Mozart, and in Cardiff it was divided along gender lines. On
the one side, the young Argentinean and Croatian basses, full-bodied
without overpowering as Figaro and Leporello (both more successful than
in Verdi) and the Canadian and Chilean baritones, bursting with
character as Papageno and Count. On the other, the women (and I include
the countertenor!), uniformly failing to differentiate between Mozart
and, by turns, bel canto/verismo/Brunnhilde, in just the way Handel
used to suffer. Tempi were slow, top notes climactic, lines uneven,
delivery heavy. Only the Israeli soprano took a stylistic view to
tempo. If you read Rene Jacobs’ notes about conducting Mozart opera,
and then the British critics’ reactions (it’s all on the internet) you
can tell it’s going to take a long time to reclaim Mozart’s position in
the 18th century.
Mozart topped the composer list with 15 arias, above Verdi’s 13. In a
surprise equal third Gounod matched Puccini with 10 apiece. Then after
Rossini (7) and Donizetti (6) came Handel and Massenet (5 each) and
Tchaikovsky and Bizet (3 each, though Bizet’s 2 Zurgas and a Micaela
were all omitted from the TV broadcasts). This put French repertoire in
2nd place to Italian, way above German, and Roméo et Juliette tied with
Don Giovanni as the most chosen opera, with a greater selection of
arias.
This year’s TV broadcasts featured an increased emphasis on the expert
opinions of guest professionals. It’s been a regular feature for years
to have someone with insight imagining what the judges’ private
deliberations might be but this year there was full-blown discussion on
each singer’s merits and failings with a pair of pundits, in a style
mirroring perhaps the Proms broadcasts where two guests join the
presenter during scene shifts to explore the ramifications of the
music, perhaps the half-time analysis of ball-play from a soccer match,
or more sinisterly, like Diane Abbott and Michael Portillo
trawling through the day’s political dirt whilst flirting with each
other.
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These pundits have free reign to influence the audience’s memory
and opinion of the young singers, as if there isn’t enough pressure on
them already, so the duty of care is immense. Each brought a different
style and level of criticism that was of independent interest in
itself, and since they may have felt safe from being evaluated
themselves, here is a summary of their own talents that week:
Neil Fisher. Very much the trained Times Critic. The manual states
nothing should ever be directly praised, everything could always have
been a little different. Has developed the technique of smiling sweetly
to give an impression of niceness whilst wielding the hatchet. Pundit Points 4/10
Gerald Finlay. Everyone’s favourite baritone and genuine nice guy. In
contrast with the previous candidate, gives positive comments with a
facial expression that implies negative ones are just about to follow.
They don’t, but he’s succeeded in creating the impression of a balanced
response.
Pundit Points 7/10.
Tom Randall. Another male singer from the other side of the Atlantic,
but there the similarity ends. Exceedingly grumpy (they did say he’d
just stepped off a plane) and incapable of a single nice word about
anyone, he even criticised one singer for being “cocky” in the most
cheerful and fun of Rossini’s Figaros. Considering many singers were
condemned for appearing nervous, this seemed spectacularly
inappropriate.
Pundit Points 2/10
Penny Smith. Breakfast TV presenter, who has apparently also hosted an
opera programme on Classic FM, despite demonstrating no knowledge of
the subject or insight into its performance. Could not keep her hand
off John Mark Ainsley's leg. Pundit Points 0/10
John Mark Ainsley. British tenor, amiable and informative, ably gave
positive and negative comments without ever getting personal or
unpleasant.
Pundit Points 8/10.
Rebecca Evans. Started out well with objective support and helpful
criticism, but ended up expecting them to do just as she would have.
Pundit Points 5/10.
Susan Graham, the third North American guest, was appreciative and
knowledgeable though it could be argued she had the easiest job since
the finalists had all won their rounds. The most supportive of the
singer guests, without any apparent axe to grind. Pundit Points 8/10
Mary King, a voice coach from Operatunity series, was
fair and put across her opinions succinctly. Criticisms were
made only after highlighting positive attributes of a performance.
Nearly lost her footing when, valiantly attempting to defend one singer
from a Tom Randall trouncing, said “This aria is very difficult to put
across out of context” as if that wasn’t a good enough reason not to
have done it. But unlike the Cardiff Singer of the World, she emerges a
clear favourite and unanimous choice for winner.
Pundit Points 9/10
Andrew Sparling
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