Hello survivors,

As a person seriously interested in music, earlier I was taken by a very much improved Royal Variety show. I don't know if you feel the same as me, but for the last 10 years, I have been disappointed. Disappointed as a result of the quality of acts deemed good enogh to perform at a Royal performance.

They have in the past consisted of unknown poor comedians, poor magicians, a host of circus type acts, horrendous cabaret artists and so called pop singers. A little grace and allowance for the quickly deposited classical artist in shortest space of time and one or more excerpts from some of London's failing musicals. This year was a great improvement upon last years show.

My list of excellent performances this year came from

Nicola Benedetti an 18 year old award winning violinist alongside an equally graceful and double jointed acrobatic act.

Kathryn Jenkins whose performance far outweighed the ridiculous outfit and added to the poor quality choice of song, performed alongside a drumming troup and electronic backing musicians.

Will Young gave his best ever performance to date with ALL TIME LOVE, and i'm not a Will Young fan.

Finally Mc Fly who I have heard a few times to date, gave an entertaining and interesting live performance of a song they had written.

Not so good and could have been better were;

Brynn and Andrea, with a pearl fishers duet they originally premiered at a classical awards ceremony, Andrea was strained and Bryn tentative.

Ill Divo should have sang there version of Ave Maria to showcase equally all there voices and how well they can blend. (G4 who were not in the show could not have done better. They have yet to spend a few years learning how to blend and be equals. No lead singer.)

Of the hosts Parky was his usual cool self but Sharon unfortnately was very over the top in every avenue possible. Having no performing talent herself there was a desperate need to change outfits throughout the night.

Ozzy and co, gave an average performance of a Lennon song which I have heard done better, even by Ozzy.

Too much time was allocated to Joe Pasqualli albeit the only notable comedian present the others were unknown. The blue man group also had to much time appearing more than once through the evening to conduct meaningless acts with paint.

Also well below average was an excerpt from one of Londons Flagging musicals. Time to hear a good amateur or professional performance from the provinces, maybe next year.

The worst performances of the night came from Charlotte Church who has yet to re-discover whether she has a voice or not. Cliff Richard who was off and attempted to do 3 songs where 1 would have been enough. Likewise Shirley Bassey is well past her sell by date, but the latter two must be serious investers in the Royal Variety to have been at so many.

So there were some highlights, were they enough. Do you think it could have been better? Or did you switch and watch the Sports personality of the year instead?

If you switched, who was awarded the covetted title Sports person of the year? I'd like it to have been a woman. Ellen Mc Carthy round the world yachtswoman. What do you think?

Maureen
Northern angel

I already started a thread about the Royal Variety Show and looks like my views were pretty much the same as yours but summing it up I didn't think it was "much improved".

(G4 who were not in the show could not have done better. They have yet to spend a few years learning how to blend and be equals. No lead singer.)

Have you heard G4 live, singing close harmony?

Have you heard G4 live, singing close harmony?


Yes, I most certainly have plus numerous other trained classical soloists who actually sound better in a group situation, singing from various operas.

I also met one of there relatives on holiday last year, and she was concerned that the cute one, the blond lad always at the front - was too ahead of himself to worry much about the group. She feels its is only a matter of time before he leaves and attempts to go solo, as a commercial entity. Simon Cowell, is anxious about his release date from the current recording contract. For 3 or 5 album CD deals. Now as its not customary to sign up for a 10 year stint, which was often restrictive of not just the movement of the artist between companies/management but also the music they covered.

Furthermore, his aunt was saddened to tell me that the family would rather he had become a legitimate junior Operatic Tenor, (after having already completed some years of succesful music study at the royal schools of music) but she fears that as a serious classical music buff, she tells me in the real world of artists such as the wonderful warm and deep toned Brynn, Williard White equally brilliant, Placido who is a long way from retiring, Roberto Alanga English National opera's best ever Tenor since Domingo, and Jose Curas who is really the next Pavarotti - that the classical world of serious operatic performers would reject him.

I personally think there are a great number of jealousies surrounding the success of someone who sounds commercially classical artists by contrast with someone coming up through the ranks. The rank and file in this real industry are excellent and far better than the commercialised but there is some real understanding of why someone would opt for the more profitable route to becoming known rather than the struggles involved in being unknown with 3 to 33 roles under your belt.Lesley Garrett, is another commercialised entity. Especially when you hear can the difference. :sad:

Maureen
Northern angel

.......................I personally think there are a great number of jealousies surrounding the success of someone who sounds commercially classical artists by contrast with someone coming up through the ranks. The rank and file in this real industry are excellent and far better than the commercialised but there is some real understanding of why someone would opt for the more profitable route to becoming known rather than the struggles involved in being unknown with 3 to 33 roles under your belt.Lesley Garrett, is another commercialised entity. Especially when you hear can the difference. :sad:

Maureen
Northern angel


You know Maureen, I've read that paragraph over and over and I still can't understand it :(

You know Maureen, I've read that paragraph over and over and I still can't understand it :(

Hello Critique,

I probably used to many words. I apologise. These two comparisons should help,

Placido Domingo, has been singing and training his beautiful voice over the last 50 years. He gained recognition after about 25 years but he was not a commercial success until he had sang through about 35 years with his acquired and extensive repertoire.

Its a sad fact that there are a few Placido Domingo types in existence within provincial towns, members of choirs or theatre companies - also with the same length of service.

Russell Watson, has an excellent club come pop singing voice, but after 3 or 4 years of club work and no training whatsoever to tone in any lasting quality, he becomes a successful commercial entity.

There are hundreds of Russell Watson types, but the one quoted became lucky.

I don't know if that helps any.

Maureen
Northern angel.

"too many words" ... err no! They just weren't strung together in a coherent way and I had, and still have, difficulty in understanding what your point for discussion is.

I think we all know that it isn't the most talented or deserving people who achieve recognition in any field. It's nearly always a case of getting a lucky break by being in the right place at the right time.

As, I think you said, without their exposure on X-Factor G4 would not have achieved the success that they have. But who can blame them for what they are doing? They've achieved fame (and probably fortune) by being commercially successful and appealing to a wider audience than they would otherwise have reached.

I don't know about jealousy but I think there is a lot of snobbery regarding the current trend for "Popera" stars. I wonder if that's what prompted his relative to say that she would have preferred him to work his way up through the ranks in the classical world. Well I'm not ashamed to say that I like the Group and look forward to seeing a lot more of them.

As for him being rejected by the serious classical performers, I don't think he will lose any sleep over that - he'll be too busy enjoying his rich and famous lifestyle and good luck to him I say. If he's sensible with his money he will probably be quite comfortably off for the rest of his life and if he blows it all and disappears into oblivion in a couple of years he can always come back to work in our local Tesco's where he started off :)

Oh yes, I forgot to mention that he lives near me and put in an appearance at my grandaughters school. :wub:

Hello Critique

Yes you are right.

The x factors attribute is also the exposure the contestants get. Paid for in some degree by the voters.

With regard to your comment on Popera you are right here aswell, although I personally don't see anything wrong with this style of music at all, provided whatever is performed is performed well. Crossover music or neo classical performed badly will make the most ardent of listeners cringe.

With regard to G4 I don't dislike them, but I do think that had they not gone in for the x factor maybe a year or two down the line, they would have made it the Ill Divo way, which involved an incredible amount of learning, practice with tutors galore plus the learning curve gained through performance experience. All of that takes time and effort. I gather from the inside that Johnathan who had auditioned for Il Divo was turned down by Simon Cowell probably with that in mind. Johnathan had said on TV some time ago that Il divo were about 5 years a head of them in terms of experience and sound quality.

With regards to making it rich, I sincerely hope they do. Because for all the criticisms in the world levied at every type of artist, it is without question, the main motivator, the main purpose behind any time given to achieving a goal post and what finer one than a recording contract.

The only return to Tescos that should be acceptable is one to sign CD's when they've successfully got the third one off the press.As most contracts today are sadly shortened to 2 singles and an album or 2 albums.Against that climate a bit of continued good fortune wouldn't come in wrong.

Maureen
Northern angel