This is a bi-annual competition and seems to come round quicker and quicker each time and it was with a sense of shock at how fast the months vanish that I picked up this week's copy of the Radio Times and saw it was back. When this competition started back in 1983 which, let's face it, is a lifetime ago in the way we view television, it was hyped big time. Pages giving us pictures of all the contestants, potted biographies, each heat given two hours broadcast time each night and all on BBC1, yes folks BBC1. The grand finale more or less took over the schedule for the Sunday night and it was regarded as a Jewel in the Crown of BBC broadcasting.
Then of course the rot set in and over the years since its inception it has received less and less coverage and I remember one year it was not broadcast at all, only the final and then it was given a measly two hours. Same thing has happened to Young Musician of the Year. Big Brother and shows of that kind reigned supreme in the agendas of TV directors and anything remotely to do with classical music was more or less ignored. During this period we still had the Prom concerts but only the first and last nights were given much attention and other occasional recordings of the Proms were put on late at night.
Of course, now we have the digital channels and the BBC were thrilled to bits that they could hive all this intellectual rubbish over onto these stations that, in the beginning, hardly anybody could receive, but by saying they were broadcasting these programmes, the BBC could pretend that they were still committed to high class broadcasting.
Thankfully, these channels are now more widely available and with the advent of digital TV, the choice has widened and I am grateful for BBC4 which is showing each heat of the competition every evening this week and I gather the final will be given prominence on BBC2. However, it still means that the Beeb will not give this sort of programme time on the more mainstream channels and they should be ashamed of themselves. So while I am happy to be able to see this wonderful operatic week, my feelings towards the BBC remain the same, irritation at their persistent dumbing down of their output. This feeling was also confirmed by the trailer show on Sunday, half an hour at 4.30 pm (on a nice day beautifully timed so nobody would see it), with Petroc Trewlawny (always good) paired this year with a female presenter who being young, black, chirpy and ignorant ('I am new to this and have a lot to learn'), presumably ticks all the right diversity boxes, as well as the one marked Irritating. I look forward to the penetrating questions she will ask. And in case you think I am being a tad harsh, I would like to mention that at the First Night of the Proms last year they had in the BBC studio a lady from Dragon's Den, an sub-Apprentice type show, called Deborah whose sole qualification for being there appeared to be that the had Grade 6 piano. I am not joking. Lot of letters and complaints about this but needless to say all brushed aside with the usual BBC arrogance. I tell you, nobody does arrogance like the Beeb.
Have just nipped over to the 2009 website, and note that the first heat has already taken place but was shown only on BBC Wales. WHY?
OK well if you have made it this far and have read this rant, my congratulations. I suppose I should be glad that Cardiff Singer of the World is being shown at all and I am very much looking forward to watching it. In the past I have managed to pick the winner more or less immediately, much to the irritation of my then husband (himself a musician an opera singer) who dismissed this as amateur's luck. This may well be, but you can hear all the most wonderful singers in the world, they will all perform beautifully and sing magnificently, and then one will come along, open their mouths and that is IT. That is The One. They will have that extra something that is impossible to describe, impossible to put your finger on and yet you will feel the hairs on the back of your neck stand on end and know that you are in the presence of something special. Happens every time.
One winner of a few years ago, Marius Brencui, had left me fairly cold. Lovely tenor voice, nice bloke, but I did not think anything special and then in the final he came out and nailed it with a simply wonderful performance of Lensky's aria from Eugene Onegin by Tchaikovsky which brought tears to the eyes. Another year, Lisa Gasteen from Australia did the same with a performance of Pace Pace from Verdi's Forza del Destino which another soprano had sung earlier in the evening, equally beautifully, and yet Lisa had that extra something and she won. No need to mention Bryn of course, though he did not win the title, he won the Lieder prize that year as Hvorostovsky beat him to it in a brilliant competition entitled the Battle of the Baritones.
Anyway, I have ranted and waffled enough. I shall be sitting down in an hour or so and watching and seeing if I can spot the winner of each heat. It can look straightforward but sometimes the jury can make unexpected choices, and as they are all opera singers, teachers and conductors, they obviously look for different things than me sitting on my sofa in Colchester. Just to make things even more tricky, winning your heat is no guarantee you will make the final either, so it is all to play, or to sing, for.
Needless to say, if I am right I shall be letting you all know…
LATER – Well sorry to rant again but the BBC takes the biscuit. First concert was shown last night but it is only appearing on BBC4 tonight and though it has not been billed as 'live' the impression given is that this is how it is. I had thought that the first concert had not been broadcast at all and tonight's was the second. In fact, we are 24 hours behind and the BBC in their infinite wisdom have put the result on their website thus robbing watching each concert of its tension as the winner is already out there. I have (well of course I have!) fired off an email to the complaints department saying it was only sheer luck that I did not read the result beffore watching tonight. Why oh why oh why do the BBC behave in this crassly stupid way?
Be that as it may, I am going to stick my neck out here big time and say that the winner of this evening's concert will be in the final. Winning each heat is no guarantee of a final place, it is the best five singers over the entire week but Eri Nakamura who won tonight, was simply sensational and she had the IT factor, big time. Huge voice, totally in control, her characterisation and performance spot on and the sound she made brought goosebumps up all over. I think she could win it and I am aware that there are others to hear, but it is going to take somebody special to beat her – my opinion only, of course…
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