> Can you believe it?? $150 to hear a 12-year-old girl with a quite
> unexceptional voice and an absolutely miserable technique squeal songs and
> arias approximately on pitch.
Well, there is no accounting for taste, I guess. I don't think stupidity
or idiocy is involved - I think it's part of a larger cultural trend, and I
can see it in "real" opera singers too.
There are a few opera singers who are currently in vogue, and when I hear
them I hear beautiful technique, but am hard-pressed to hear any real
expression, soul or warmth, yet they are lauded up and down the papers and
mags for just these attributes. I cannot understand where the writers are
hearing these things, but I think it is because technique and appearance
somehow has become an acceptable substitute for passion and heart. They like
the appearance, and so project all the deeper emotions onto it.
In a sense, I think this is what is happening with Charlotte Church - it is
the sensation of a very young, pretty girl, with a kind of pretty voice, who
is singing pretty songs, and people see and hear this and they like it.
It's unusual, and they are charmed by her, just like many are charmed by
some of the young singers out there today who are skilled in technique and
blessed in looks, but ring shallow in the passion and feeling department.
I don't think it means people are just stupid, I think true feeling and
passion are out of fashion, and are considered corny and overdone nowadays.
Therefore, those with the attractive walk and talk get the attention, even
if they don't have much else!
My $ .02!
Karena Aslanian
San Francisco, CA
|
|  |
