Radio 3 Carol Competition

[Rupert P Matley]

Even though I don't personally rate it as highly as others on here, congratulations to Ann Burgess of course.

[french frank]

I am pleased tp see that Ann Burgess has won this year's competition! The BBC Singers seemed genuinely pleased too - their applause did not sound merely polite.

I only listened to this one and a bit of another which I switched off when I heard the bouncy piano. I thought the Singers sounded good :-/

[oddoneout]

. I thought the Singers sounded good :-/

I tuned in in time to hear the announcement of the winner, and was about to walk away when BBCS were due to sing Away in a manager, not wanting to hear a screeching soprano version. However it was, I thought, an excellent rendition(who wasn't singing today?!). Very, very frustrating though as it just goes to show they are capable of performing so much better than they do so much of the time.

[jean]

...I don't know why my choice would have any bearing on your choice of a favourite. It's such a matter of personal taste, surely?

It wouln't have influenced my choice in any way, but it is interesting to hear the opinions of people who know more than one does oneself, or just know different things.

Earlier I said

One stands out for me, probably because it sounds suitably modal in places...

so I was pleased to hear David Hill describe it as 'modal', because I'm speaking just from a love of early music and he knows what he's talking about. If

...the Burgess setting...sounded like a cut and paste of several 20th C. carol settings to my ears...

that's probably because some C20 composers rediscovered that earlier tradition.

(I did think after a couple of hearings that I had heard exactly the first six note of the piece somewhere before...)

[jean]

I still haven't learnt that posting something does not reveal the 'tone of voice' which it was meant to convey.

I should say that it was teamsaint's post rather than yours that I was replying to...but I see he's added an emoticon to it now...

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I tuned in in time to hear the announcement of the winner, and was about to walk away when BBCS were due to sing Away in a manager, not wanting to hear a screeching soprano version. However it was, I thought, an excellent rendition(who wasn't singing today?!). Very, very frustrating though as it just goes to show they are capable of performing so much better than they do so much of the time.

Perhaps they've been reading this forum.

[teamsaint]

I should say that it was teamsaint's post rather than yours that I was replying to...but I see he's added an emoticon to it now...

Sorry if the nuance wasn't clear,pre smiley addition Jean.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I thought the Singers sounded good :-/

I tuned in in time to hear the announcement of the winner, and was about to walk away when BBCS were due to sing Away in a manager, not wanting to hear a screeching soprano version. However it was, I thought, an excellent rendition(who wasn't singing today?!). Very, very frustrating though as it just goes to show they are capable of performing so much better than they do so much of the time.

Whenever I listen to a concert with the BBC Singers, I am pleasantly surprised by how good they sound at the beginning. But then things begin to slip - it's as though they do try to sound like a blended choir, but then slip into their natural mode.

Maybe?

[Flay]

Yes, I voted for Ann Burgess yesterday afternoon! Her setting is far and away the best and I am pleased to see that most people with formal musical training agree with me. I fear, though, that Alec McGregor's ultra-conservative setting may win the audience vote.

To be fair, I could not imagine the local church choir doing the Burgess, but they could manage the McGregor.

[Padraig]

Good result all round. The 'learned angels in scholastic skies' are in agreement with the earthly band. I was sure that Michael Silk would have gained the laurels as that was my favourite, and I expected to be among the lowly. I was last year.

[Historian]

I should say that it was teamsaint's post rather than yours that I was replying to...but I see he's added an emoticon to it now...

Thank you for the kind clarification.

I have now had the relevant training from Cali and may be using emoticons myself in future.

[Don Petter]

Thank you for the kind clarification.

I have now had the relevant raining from Cali and may be using emoticons myself in future.

He rains on all of us from time to time ...

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

He rains on all of us from time to time ...

???

Long may he ... do so!

[antongould]

I only listened to this one and a bit of another which I switched off when I heard the bouncy piano. I thought the Singers sounded good :-/

I too, with my cloth ear, thought the Singers sounded good and I think the Burgess was a worthy winner .... On the fate of last year's winner did The Squire not say it was was to be published(?) for public performance?