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Greg Pritchard, Male Soprano? on YouTubeDate: February 16, 2010
Nessun Dorma on Britains Got Talent. YouTube. Cowell's Cowed
S Replies (12): Threaded | Chronological
Lisa Paglin on February 21, 2010 5:33pm
Hello,
I noticed that you posted a thread without comment, just a question mark after Male Soprano.
Is there a reason for this?
Are you asking for comments? Or just wishing to share?
Lisa
on February 21, 2010 9:58pm
Lisa,
I think that I just wanted to share the several spectacals going on: the unexpected voice of the singer, the panels' awestruck reactions and Simon Cowell being cowed.
The voice seemed like a male soprano but after all of these years, I'm still flumoxed by these kind of voices. Besides this, he hardly ever sang anything but the melody with a few Italianate sounds thrown in.
I'm slightly interested in how he makes it in the rest of the contest.
But I was absolutely dismayed by the whole thing. I thought John Howell would take a swing at this one.
Steve
on February 22, 2010 11:22am
Friends,
The is the web address of the Greg Pritchard performance on Britain's Got Talent nine months ago.
S
on April 26, 2010 5:45pm
Thanks, Stephen. And you're right, I have an opinion, which might be just SLIGHTLY more informed than the panel's!!!
Sounds like quite a decent sopranist (countertenor or male alto whose natural range falls into the higher soprano range), and I don't hear it as strained or forced in particular. Of course it's a tenor aria, not soprano, and Puccini didn't compose for countertenors or sopranists as did, for example Britten, but to me Greg's voice is a lot more "natural" sounding than either of the English countertenors who started the modern revival of that voice type (whose names--father and son--have temporarily escaped me. It's obvious from his speaking voice that Greg is a falsetist, as is my son, although Ian would object to the word or the concept of "falsetto" or a "false voice."
And it would seem (and no surprise here!) that no one on the panel is acquainted with the high male voice either in pop music, early music, or contemporary classical song. But I would have to suggest, very gently, that Sally's finding Greg's voice "completely unnatural" is an attitude that I associate with the '50s, when people complain that Clark Burroughs in the Hi-Los "sounded like a girl." Those prejudices have largely disappeared among people with wider experience of voices that all on the ends of the bell-curve, whether unusually high or unusually low. Those voices exist, and both the Eastern and Western churches took full advantage of them for several centuries.
As to Greg's diction, it could certainly be better, but so could that of a huge number of opera singers whose concetration on vowels almost precludes understanding their words in any case. Musical theater performers, in general, are MUCH better at this sort of thing. But singing operatic arias using a microphone and sound amplification is a fusion of art and techology that has not been explored as has, for example, the same thing with jazz singers.
All the best,
John
on October 23, 2011 4:54am
John - are you possibly thinking of Alfred Dellar (sp?)? Vanguard just re-released a great number of the works he recorded with the Dellar Consort in the sixties and seventies on compact disc, and it is a revelation how far things have come in the intervening fifty or so years in the field of interpretation of music of the High Renaissance.
As for Cowell, well, a little astonishment could be a very good thing for a very arrogant person. Problem is, I doubt he stays astonished for very long in any event. He's far too "knowledgeable," isn't he?
on October 23, 2011 12:46pm
Ron: Yes, Alfred Deller and his son, Mark. Thanks! Both came out of the British Cathedral tradition of male altos, and both were falsetists with no apologies. And Alfred was crucial to the 20th century revival of the countertenor voice, with music written for him by both Michael Tippet and Benjamin Britten. My son has sung the role of Oberon in "Midsummer Night's Dream" that Britten wrote for Deller.
At about the same time Russell Oberlin was singing countertenor with New York Pro Musica, but his voice was more of an "haute-contre"--a voice which simply lies higher than the normal tenor range. Or at least that's what it sounded like.
In my 8-voice Studio Singers ensemble, one year I had TWO tenors who had that kind of haute-contre voice, an AMAZINGLY lucky happenstance. One went on to grow through the German opera houses and is now much better known in Europe--as a tenor--than in the U.S. But for both of them the upper passaggio, usually around an F4 for a tenor voice, was up above that around a Bb4!!! Of course neither could manage a low C3!
But the important point is that there is really nothing unusual about a high man's voice, no more than there is about an exceptionally low man's voice. They all have their place on the bell-curve. "Average" does not mean "normal," even though too many people assume that it does.
John
on February 22, 2010 3:24pm
Hi, Stephen. I certainly would have commented, but there was nothing to look at or listen to. You neglected to provide a URL for what you were talking about. Got one handy?
I'd love to hear this, having had some experience with countertenors, and my son actually sang soprano with Chanticleer, although mezzo is his more natural range. And of course there have been any number of countertenor/sopranist voices in pop music, from Tiny Tim (ughhhh!) through Wayne Newton and Smoky Robinson--a beautiful voice in his prime. And of course Michael Jackson, whatever he was. (The Bee Gees don't count in my book, but Clark Burroughs and Don Shelton of the Hi-Los definitely do.)
John
on April 26, 2010 3:59pm
Okay, I listened (and watched) this, and don't know quite what to say either! I agree with Stephen that while Greg Pritchard is making soprano-like sounds, it is a mystery as to "what" he is singing! I could decipher no words, Italian or otherwise! Maybe a few vowels here and there, but that's it.
As for his sound, I'm not an expert on male voices - I sometimes feel ill-equipped to handle the male voices in my choir that are experiencing difficulties or experimenting with falsetto and trying to "find" their voices. However, his voice sounded very forced, and completely unnatural.
I was amazed to see the judges expressions and especially to see Simon completely baffled! Good to see him speechless for once!
So, how did Greg do? I didn't have an opportunity to look into it any further, so would be interested to find out if he went on, or was eventually "voted" off the island!
Please inform me...about the voice and the results of the show!
Thanks,
Sally
on October 22, 2011 5:29pm
Well i can tell you he made the semi final,he sang barcelona,and he did the both voices,greg is now at this very time in thailand singing for sir douglas latchford,he is an amazing young man and he just happens to have an amazing voice all of which most people here in england dont understand,he did sing nessun dorma but it was not the song he had planned to sing as his disc did not arrive in time so the song ND was a last minute thing and before greg had sang on BGT he had never sang to an audience before he was a waiter in a hotel,but he now has lists of songs he sings and he has some on youtube,the ones i took in church are most amazing,please feel free to look him up on 2lintel ,and as i am one part of gregs management mrs ruth gates being the other,feel free to check out this website to see and hear more from greg.
Thank you
Linda
on October 22, 2011 5:45pm
Hi Thought i would leave the link to my youtube for you all to see how much Greg has improved with tuition.
on October 23, 2011 9:34am
Here's another male soprano on YouTube, who sings and also talks about why his voice is the way it is:
on October 23, 2011 10:34am
Ah Yes i do know of this gentleman,one thing sets him apart from Greg Pritchard,as greg can sing very low as well and he also has a very deep voice.
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