Yes, not just watching it, but actually being here. It's very exciting.
St David's Hall, where the main competition, as opposed to the Lieder prize, takes place is lovely. Fittingly, since this is Cardiff, it's a bit like the Tardis and seems much bigger on the inside than the outside would lead you to believe. We couldn't take much of it in yesterday as we were focussed on
a) getting there on time and
b) finding our seats
but I'm sure we'll get to see more of it as the week goes on. Meanwhile the thing that impressed me most was how comfortably cool it was. It had been a hot day in Cardiff and the place was more or less full and our seats were quite high up but it wasn't hot at all. Wish I could say the same about every music venue I've been in.
Anyway Round 1 for the main prize was last night. I'm limiting myself to 3 comments on the men and 4 on the women ( the extra comment being for the frocks, naturally!) So in order of appearance:-
South Korean Bass
1 Good rich voice
2 Struggled with his low notes
3 Should have started, rather than finished, with his Verdi piece, since that was the one he would have done best, but by the time he reached it he was obviously tiring. And he massacred Gremin's aria from Evgeny Onegin, by totally failing any attempt at a line.
Norwegian Mezzo
1 Very safe, if you cast her you would never worry she would miss a note.
2 Too reliant on stock operatic facial tics.
3 Everything she sang sounded the same, except possibly for the Sibelius song at the end where she found a bit of emotion and colour for the voice.
4 The OH and the woman on my left were very taken with her frock which was a sort of lemon-y lime colour. Personally I thought it looked like something her mother could have run up on a domestic sewing machine.
German Bass
1 Got off to a very bad start, only half his voice seemed to be working.
2 He wasn't at all suited to the humorous piece he chose to sing from Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail
3 He will make a great Wagner bass one day, but as Aragorn says, 'That day is not this day', whatever the singer himself believes to the contrary.
Byelorussian Soprano
1 Beautiful voice, and it's not often you hear me say that about a mezzo. Rich, smoky, gorgeous.
2 Technically very assured, like the Norwegian you never had a moment's worry about whether she would hit the note.
3 The only singer all evening to give me 'that' prickle at the back of the neck, that says 'Here is great singing'
4 Loved the frock; like the woman wearing it, elegant, and understated.
Ukrainian Tenor
1 Nice light tenor voice, perfectly suited to the repertoire he chose.
2 He had one surprising piece, which is always good amidst all the Mozart and Verdi and Puccini. His was Gluck and he sang it very well.
3 He came across as a bit 'by the numbers'; you could almost see him counting as he held his notes, and he might as well have had a bubble over his head with 'ff' 'dim' etc written in it at the appropriate times. He was enjoyable to listen to though.
I called it for the Byelorussian mezzo, as did the OH, the couple on our left went for the German bass (!), and the jury, who are the ones who matter on the night after all, gave it to the tenor. Interestingly, this was a decision which none of the audience that we heard on the way out agreed with.
