Well, I really enjoyed this evening's recital final: lot's of good, intelligent singing and (unusually!) I agreed both with the jury's decision and with the expert comments from Christopher Maltman (especially) and Mary King. 

Repertoire choices were generally interesting, but it was slightly disappointing not to hear anything earlier than Schubert.  In fact, I reckon more than 3/4 of the repertoire was post-Schumann.  Not sure why this was - perhaps singers think they need late-romantic and more modern songs in order to demonstrate their expressiveness and responsiveness to the text?  If so, I think they are wrong and some may be missing an opportunity to differentiate themselves effectively by dipping into the baroque era (e.g. a Purcell song) in order to create a more varied programme.  That said, it must be hard to design such a short programme for such an intense event.

Do people generally think that this recital final gave any pointers to the main final tomorrow?  I only heard a very few extracts from the semi-finals (missing all of the eventual finalists, as it turned out, except the American baritone this evening), so have no preconceptions from these.  On the basis of this evening, I would say that the Chinese bass-baritone seemed likely to impress on the larger stage (so long as he doesn't go woolly under stress).

Oh, and some good piano-playing too - some of those accompaniments sounded (and looked) pretty tricky!

Please forgive the randomness of these comments in my first post on these boards - I have been reading them for a while, but only just dared to dip my toe in the water.......

# 16        A most warm welcome to you, Rolmill.

I, too, have thoroughly enjoyed the transmissions from Cardiff and have been canny enough to record each programme so that I could also see "Springwatch".   Also helpful when I want to recap on a particular performance.

My vote for the finals is likely to go to Elizabeth Watts and her lieder programme tonight was really exquisite.   Such a complete performer, too.

Yang Shen, bass baritone, may yet surprise us tomorrow and I thought his performance of Duparc's Phidyle was spell-binding.

So encouraging to see such a wide range of talent this week.

Interesting line up for the Final tomorrow:

Miranda Keys – Australia
R STRAUSS: Frühling (4 Letzte Lieder, No 1)
SMETANA: Och, jaký zal!...Ten lásky sen (The Bartered Bride)
BEETHOVEN: Abscheulicher! wo eilst du hin? (Fidelio)

María Isabel Vera – Chile
VERDI: Stride la vampa! (Il trovatore)
VERDI: Re dell'abisso - È lui! è lui! ne' palpiti (Un ballo in maschera)
MASCAGNI: Voi lo sapete, o mamma (Cavalleria Rusticana)
VERDI: O don fatale (Don Carlo)

Shen Yang – China
VERDI: Studia il passo...Come dal ciel precipita (Macbeth)
MOZART: Mentre ti lascio, o figlia (K513)
RAKHMANINOV: Aleko's Cavatina (Aleko)

Elizabeth Watts – England
HANDEL: Amor è quel vento (Orlando)
PUCCINI: Oh! mio babbino caro (Gianni Schicchi)
BERLIOZ: Je vais le voir - Il me revient fidèle (Béatrice et Bénédict)

Levente Molnár - Hungary
LEONCAVALLO: Si può? si può? Signore! (Pagliacci)
VERDI: O Carlo, ascolta...Io morrò (Don Carlo)
MOZART: Fin ch'han dal vino (Don Giovanni)
VERDI: È sogno? O realtà (Falstaff)

I see the Hungarian baritone is finishing with Ford's monologue, which he also sang in his Heat. I didn't realise that was allowed. I see the Chilean mezzo's gone for a barnstorming quartet which looks a bit lacking in variation. I think it will be between Elizabeth Watts and Shen Yang; it will be interesting to hear how she sings the Puccini - it should have a light, comic touch (she's petulatly twisting her father's arm here), and I look forward to Shen Yang's Aleko, an unusual choice, although another bass also sang it this week.  I'm in London for the day, but will tape it so I can watch in the evening.

Stanley, thanks - I had my years mixed up, I was attempting to refer to Marius Brenciu, who won both the song prize and the main prize in 2001.  And I agree with you that comparing singers with very different levels (and types) of experience is hard - but then, so is comparing different types of voice anyway.......which is why we enjoy shouting our disagreement with jury decisions at the television!

Mary, I agree that Elizabeth Watts has a fabulous voice and, even more importantly, uses it beautifully and intelligently.

Do you think she'd have won tonight if she hadn't already won the recital prize? She's mature enough for all the work she'll be offered after this competition whereas Shen Yang (I really like his voice!) is too young for all the offers he'll receive. He may be tempted to perform roles he's not ready for and so ruin his voice. I do hope he has some wise guidance.

I did not listen too much, but I liked Elizabeth Watts. I did not like chinese man too much. May be I have to listen again.

It was an interesting conundrum for the judges - Elizabeth Watts was clearly the most finished and consistent singer over her programme as a whole but Shen Yang gave what I thought was the best performance of the night in the wonderful Aleko cavatina, which followed his rather dull Mozart.

But I think what I will take away from the evening and remember was the Rachmaninov - like Bryn Terfel singing Die Frist ist um, one of those iconic unforgettable performances.

T-p - I was interested in your reaction since I thought the Aleko performance sounded quite authentically Russian - but then perhaps it was my bent Anglo-Saxon ears!