A catalogue of flaws in BBC Cardiff Singer of the World

The final round is now available to view worldwide on Operavision, but many both in the hall and at home are querying the judging of the Competition and the BBC’s edgy ambivalence about its placement.

Here’s Kate Calder’s critical review for the Edinburgh Music Review:

Surprise Winners in Cardiff
This year’s Cardiff Singer of the World produced surprise results in the Song Prize, the Main Competition, and, in the first year the online voting has been extended to overseas viewers, in the Audience Prize too. It’s been an intriguing week, with, as ever, a variety of styles and personalities on-stage, but, for those in St David’s Hall and at home, a sometimes frustrating event with strange decisions by the juries.

The BBC, which has sponsored the competition and covered it extensively for the last 40 years, seems recently – despite the hype during the broadcasts – to have become increasing lukewarm in its commitment to providing a decent experience for the television viewer, the paying audience in St David’s Hall and possibly for the singers themselves. Only 16 singers are now invited after audition to Cardiff – 25 until 2009 and then 20 – with a increasing focus on those whose ages and musical experience are much more alike than in the past. Karita Mattila was 22 when she won in 1983, Terfel and Hvorostovsky in their mid-20s in 1989, but this year all the competitors are between 28 and 32, the upper age limit. Most have had a musical education, a place on a Young Singers programme and considerable experience with good opera companies. The quality of their voices shouldn’t be in doubt, though sometimes individual performances are not as good as the presenters would have us believe, but there’s a degree of uniformity in much of the performance practice, and the programme choices.

Thankfully there are still singers who break this mould. So there are reasons to be cheerful that this year’s winner of the Audience Prize is Julieth Lozango Rolong, the first ever competitor from Columbia, whose zarzuela – with dancing – finale in the Third Round brightened everyone’s day. Add to that a sparkling performance, with a well-chosen programme, in the Song Prize heat, and you can understand why many people wondered why she didn’t make it through to either final. Julieth will be familiar to Scottish audiences from her role in Scottish Opera’s ‘Ainadamar’ last autumn, and is an exciting prospect for the future.

Television viewers this year required some stamina to keep up with the progress of the competition. Only the First Round on Sunday 10th and the Final on Sunday 18th were on BBC4 at a prime time. The Song Prize Final was due to be shown on Thursday 15th at 7.30, but was replaced at the last minute by two recorded programmes as a tribute to Glenda Jackson. (Jackson, a proponent of the importance of live performance, might have had something to say about that!) So most of the competition was shown at 10 or 10.30 on BBC4 . (Meanwhile, every morning Kate Molleson told us on Radio3 that we could “see Petroc introducing Cardiff Singer live from Cardiff!”) Yes, it was also shown on BBC2 Wales which I found impossible to access on TV, though easier on the laptop. But I wonder what programmes of great import are on BBC2 and BBC4 on weekday evenings. Another mystery. As was the decision in Cardiff to hold the six concerts in St David’s Hall at 5pm, (previously 7pm) – hardly a good night out for those who paid a lot to attend, and surely completely unnecessary for technical broadcasting reasons.

The Song Prize heats took place in the Dora Stoutzer Hall, part of the Welsh College of Music and Drama between Saturday 10th and Monday 12th, with the finalists announced in the hall that afternoon. Selections from these concerts were on Radio 3 in three lunchtime programmes between Tuesday 13th and Thursday 15th June, with announcement of the finalists embargoed on air till then. Ian Burnside and Rebecca Evans introduced these concerts and the Radio 3 broadcast of the Song Prize Final in an refreshingly adult fashion, showing their ability to empathise with the singers, while making clear judgements on their strengths and weaknesses. There was lovely singing on offer from – in no particular order Swedish soprano, Johanna Wallroth, Simone Mcintosh from Canada, the English bass, William Thomas, the Chinese-Mongolian, Huhegala, with that striking resonant voice-type we’ve now heard a few times at Cardiff, Julieth Lozano Rolong, as I’ve mentioned, and Scottish mezzo, Beth Taylor. South African soprano, Nombulelo Yende impressed the audiences in the hall and the radio presenters with her rich voice and stage presence in a programme of Strauss and Greig. Siphokazi Molteno ‘s mezzo had many admirers, but her programme consisted entirely of Mahler’s Ruckert-Lieder. In previous years it’s unlikely that either singer would have progressed further as singing in one language was deemed unacceptable, let alone one composer! As well as hearing all these performances, you can see them in the BBC’s online “International” coverage of each song prize heat BBC – BBC Cardiff Singer of the World, 2023, 2023 International Versions Why these are not more widely publicised by the BBC is anyone’s guess!

The jury announcement of the finalists last Monday took those in the hall by surprise. Nombulelo Yende and Siphokazi Molteno made the cut, along with William Thomas and Simone Mcintosh. The South Korean tenor, Sungho Kim, who’d sung a pleasant programme was also in, but there was no room for the Swedish, Chinese Mongolian or Columbian singers, and, most surprisingly for Beth Taylor. Beth had given a wonderful performance in a well-considered programme ranging from Britten’s arrangement of Purcell’s ‘What is Man’ through a fabulous Schubert ‘Lied eines Schiffers’ to Howell’s ‘King David.’ My friends who were at her performance said she was heard in that awed silence which rarely happens in concert halls, and her failure to be included in the final five was greeted with disbelief. Rebecca Evans, stating her opinion on Radio 3 just before the jury’s verdict, named Beth as her first choice as a finalist, and said after the announcement that it was a “heartbreak” that she was not chosen. Watch Beth’s performance 35 minutes in here BBC – BBC Cardiff Singer of the World, 2023, Internationg Prize Recital 1 and marvel!

The Song Prize final, which I listened to, but have watched only parts of, seemed to lack excitement despite decent individual performances. William Thomas, the English bass-baritone was my favourite and appealed to many in the hall. He has an easy-stage-presence, the still reflective quality which marks a good Lieder singer, an appealing bass voice, with great low notes, and he sang appealing programmes in the heat and the final. He shone in the Russian repertoire, and chose to end each recital with a parlour song from the turn of the 20th century, Stephen Adams ‘The Holy City’ and Katie Moss’s ‘The Floral Dance’ – both sung entirely straight. Delightful!

Again Siphokazi Molteno sang an unusual programme, as she chose recent works by South African and African American composers, all but one in English. Errolyn Wallen, the composer, who was on the jury commented that there had been a dearth of contemporary music in the competition, and on paper this selection looked like a breath of fresh air. Sadly, the compositions were on the dull side, and Siphokazi’s chances in the final were probably compromised by their narrow range. Simone McIntosh and Nombulelo Yende both sang well, and I gather that they, as with the others I’ve mentioned had their supporters at the live event. But it seems that everyone was surprised at the choice of Sungho Kim as the eventual winner. I’ve watched his performance online, and would say that although his Rachmaninov was a match for anyone, his earlier Vaughan Williams and Schubert songs were sometimes poorly articulated, and his final choice, a piece by a South Korean composer, was pretty conventional. Ian Burnside described his voice as inconsistent, with some great moments, but at other times fading away. Clearly for the judges the great moments overcame any doubts about the rest, but for most of the viewers his victory remains a puzzle.
Onward to the Main Prize Final. Rules dictate that the winner of each round is guaranteed a place in the final, plus the jury chooses a wild card, a singer overlooked in the rounds, Catriona Morison was the wild card in 2017, and won the competition. On Wednesday, Beth Taylor, singing last in the final round, turned in a dazzling performance. Her Rossini aria from ‘Bianca I Falliero’ was probably unknown to most in the audience. From an opera seria it was profound in its execution and characterisation and brilliant in its ornamentations. There are no marks for degree of difficulty, but it was by far the hardest piece that anyone sang all week. The jury demurred from choosing a fourth woman winner, picked Alfredo Corraro as the winner, then announced Beth as the wild-card.

The final on Sunday reminded me of short lists for senior positions in secondary schools some years ago – honour might be satisfied if more women were on the list, but it was the sole man who’d get the job! The women all sang well. Jessica Robinson, the first Welsh finalist in many years, had ‘Land of our Fathers’ sung in her honour when she won her round, and had chosen a varied programme. Although her Alcina lacked the magic touch of a sorceress, her aria from ‘La Fille du Regiment’ was sung with panache. She’s a singer who needs text to come to life, so the Rachmaninov Vocalise was a mistake. Neal Davies, commentating with Jamie Barton, pointed out that she was the least experienced singer in the final, and an appearance on the international stage would stand her in good stead in her future career.

Nombulelo Yende took a gamble by devoting most of her time to Tatiana’s Letter Scene from ‘Eugene Onegin’. It was a programme choice which paid off for the winner in 2009, Ekaterina Shcherbachenko, but it didn’t work tonight. As Jamie Barton pointed out, her first piece, by Polish composer, Moniuszho, was very similar in tone to the Tchaikovsky. Nombulelo has a secure stage presence, a big voice, and should have a fine operatic career, but her portrayal of the besotted teenager wasn’t a good fit for her, and she didn’t get going till the latter stages.

Siphokazi Molteno was the last to sing, and after three serious well-sung pieces, displaying some fine legato in the Strauss aria from ‘Rosenkavalier’, she ended with Rosina’s first act showstopper from ‘The Barber of Seville.’ Attractive though her voice is, she didn’t pull this off, throwing a kitchen sink of ornamental tricks at it, with some passages sounding gabbled rather than precise. Rian Evans in the Guardian disagrees and says she “showed herself to be a mezzo with a knockout coloratura – a rare talent.” See his review of the final here BBC Cardiff Singer of the World review – a surprise winner and unexpected vocal delights | Classical music | The Guardian

The mezzo who’d demonstrated on Wednesday what a knockout coloratura can do in Rossini, Beth Taylor, sang first in the round. Her ‘Julius Caesar’ ‘Il tacito’, was a chilling, character study of a wily politician, demonstrated both in the clarity of her text and her mobile facial expression. Jim Thorpe, on horn, stood beside her at the front of the stage, and their interplay was superb. In the da capo, Beth ornamented the notes in both her upper and lower register, demonstrating the range of her voice. Her Berlioz ‘La Spectre de La Rose’, was described as “spell-bindingly beautiful” by Rebecca Franks in the Times. But Beth admitted online later she felt she had made a mistake in not ending with a aria to dazzle the audience.

Nevertheless, the audience in the hall were apparently quite evenly divided in the their support for one or other of the women. (There’s long interval while the jury reaches its decision and plenty of scope for opinions to be exchanged) Jamie Barton and Neal Davies both plumped for Siphokazi Molteno. So the decision to award the prize to Adolfo Corrado was another surprise. Make no mistake – his programme was charming and easy to listen to. He has a secure bass voice, and his earlier career as an actor, makes him comfortable on the stage. Figaro’s ‘Il piu andrai’ and ‘La Calumnia’ from ‘The Barber’ went down a treat, and the rarer aria from ‘I Lombardi’ showed he could sing Verdi too. But all of his songs were in Italian. Alfredo Corrado will have a good career doing that and any opera lover might be pleased to see his name on a cast list in the future. But he won’t go down as the greatest Cardiff Singer.
As ever the singers receive outstanding support from the main accompanists, Simon Lepper and Llyr Williams, both celebrating 20 years’ service, and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, conducted by Ryan Bancroft and the Welsh National Opera Orchestra conducted by Michael Christie.