BBC Cardiff Singer of the World, 11/06/2023 (2)

Main Prize - Concert 1

Welsh National Opera Orchestra

Michael Christie

Sungho Kim, tenor (32, South Korea)

Mozart : "Die Bildnis ist bezaubernd schön" (Die Zauberflöte)

Puccini : "Che gelida manina" (La bohème)

Donizetti : "Una furtiva lagrima" (L"elisir d'amore)

Massenet : "Pourquoi me réveiller" (Werther)

When there are enough tenors in the competition (and there are three this year, two of them from South Korea) there is always one who produces a tenorissimo programme, all the staples of the repertory, and inviting the most invidious comparisons with legendary names like Pavarotti.  It has to be said that Kim acquitted himself well.  The voice is bright and fresh, the sentiment sincere, the diction in all three languages clear.  The Werther extract began shakily, tenor and conductor not quite in accord with their tempi, but although he brought nothing new to this music, I'd certainly be more than happy if my local company could book him in for a couple of seasons.

Simone McIntosh, mezzo-soprano (31, Canada)

Handel : "Si, la voglio e l'otterrò!" (Serse)

Donizetti : "All' afflitto è dolce il pianto" (Roberto Devereux)

Strauss : "Sein wir wieder gut" (Ariadne auf Naxos)

Berlioz : "Que viens-je d'entendre?... Il m'en souvient" (Béatrice et Bénédict)

This, on the other hand, was just the sort of varied programme I really like to see - Baroque, bel canto, 20th Century, and Berlioz, who is musically unclassifiable, and vocally demanding.  McIntosh delivered very nicely on all counts, with easy coloratura, good phrasing in the Donizetti, ardent vibrancy in the Strauss, and a wide range of expression, not to mention excellent French (though I expect that of Canadians) in the Berlioz.  This was a vivid, attractive programme from a singer I hope to hear much more of in future.

William Thomas, bass (28, England)

Bellini : "Vi ravviso" (La sonnambula)

Handel : "I rage... O ruddier than the cherry" (Acis and Galatea)

Mozart : "In diesen heil'gen Hallen" (Die Zauberflöte)

Stravinsky : "Come. Master, I was never saner... In youth" (The Rake's Progress)

In the last ten years of the competition, the average age of the finalists has distinctly shifted, from about 26, to nearer 30.  The upside is the quality of the voices and performances, these are more finished artists, no question about it.  The downside is the same thing, we are no longer hearing promising future stars, we are hearing the rising stars of the present.  Thomas is a case in point.  Although one of the younger performers of this year's crop, he is already a BBC New Generation artist, and he will be making his debuts with La Scala, Milan, and Covent Garden within the year.  No disrespect intended to the singer, but he does not need this competition, he is already making his mark.  Justly so, this is a fine bass voice all round.  He perhaps lacks the paternal warmth for Sarastro, but that will come with a little more age and experience, and his Nick Shadow was not incisive enough for my liking, though that last spoken "Well?" was impeccably timed.  His Bellini (the first of, I think, three to be heard this year) was elegant, and his Polyphemus suitably brutish and entitled.  However, I will be unhappy to see him advance to the finals, he has clearly progressed beyond this level by now.

Nombulelo Yende, soprano (31, South Africa)

Bellini : "Sediziose voci... Casta diva" (Norma)

Mozart : "Crudele!... Non mi dir" (Don Giovanni)

If you're like me, you'll have taken one look at that proposed programme, and sucked your breath in sharply.  That is what is called going big, or going home.  Two items only, both 'blockbusters', to all intents and purposes.  It took a whole lot of confidence to programme that, and Yende did manage to pull it off.  She is the only singer of this group I have already heard, I was aware of the quality of the voice, and she had the intelligence to begin with the recitative of the Bellini, so as not to have to launch straight into those floating melodic lines.  Similarly, in order not to cool down too much, the orchestral introduction to the aria was cut - rather to my annoyance, but I understand the logic behind the decision.  The sound of "Casta diva" was undeniably beautiful, but I preferred the emotion behind "Non mi dir", it was more direct, more present.  However, in both cases, I noticed missing trills - it's probably better not to attempt them than to fluff them, but it's a serious element to be missing.  

Absent trills aside, Yende's showstoppers were enough to earn her the first place in tonight's round, and therefore a place in the Finals.

[Next : 12th June - x2]