JC SYF (Live Thoughts) Part 4/4

Came back in time for this part and boy was the hall packed :S

Pioneer JC

Verlorene Jugend (Op. 104, No 4) - Johannes Brahms
Like a Prayer, Like a singing, Like a Weeping - Mauro Zuccante

Prediction: S
Actual: S

Generally their tone is secure, though I would prefer deeper TBs. Set piece had a few effy pitchings but they more or less had a sense of key, and they had some nice phrasing here and there. Start of the next piece was a little messy and the pitching wasn't quite there. Again, some nice phrasing here and there. Their final piece was much better in terms of pitching despite there were still pitch problems, and I liked the piece. Thought the phrasing and dynamics could be more subtle though.

Serangoon JC

I Love My Love - Unknown (Cornish Folksong)
Nicolette - Maurice Ravel

Prediction: B
Actual: B

The set piece was rough, for the most part, the pitching was inaccurate. They recovered a little in the middle section, but I felt like they weren't listening close enough to each other's part. They were kinda like in their own individual slightly sharp/flat key but relatively accurate if you just listen to individual parts. Pitching is better in the next piece, but remained an issue. Some nice phrasing here and there. Final piece is by Ravel, which I think will be a problem, but their pitching was much better. Diction is a bit weird but overall i would say that they spent a lot of time on this piece. Pitching was a major problem for all the pieces, however, Nicolette had better pitching than the rest of the pieces and they would probably nail a B.


Hwa Chong JC

Orpheus, with his lute - George Maclarren
Que Rico E - Guido Lopez-Gavilan

Prediction: GwH
Actual: GwH

There were a lot of Ms Lim's supporters in the audience today haha. Anw, their sound in the set piece is very stable. The tone for the basses is similar to NJ's so I assume the shallow tone was to accentuate the 'Chinese' feel. Some pitch problems here and there (and they went sharp esp towards the end) but a pretty solid performance. The next piece had a lot of nice phrasing and dynamics, but was a slightly pitchy (the start). They had a warm sound, and I wanted to fall deep into the music, but just couldn't. It was good but not magical. The final piece was impressive, and they did it despite it being technically challenging due to pitching (dissonance) and rhythm. Generally pitching at bits not quite there, and they went slightly sharp, and was messy at some points, but I think the judges would be impressed enough to give them GwH.

River Valley (JC)

Norveg Leanyok - Zoltan Kodaly
Ubi Caritas - Imant Raminesh

Prediction: HB/ LS
Actual: S

Another IP choir, the size really plays a significant role. In general, pitching was an issue for all three pieces. They had a number of pitch errors (e.g. girls at the start) in the set piece. The tone could be deeper (for guys) and the girls were slightly airy. The first piece was better executed than the set piece. Some pitch errors still audible, but an improvement from the set piece. The final piece had some pitch errors as well, the music was in general nice, but lacked a musical depth to it. The last two pieces were decent, but the set piece may result in the choir getting B.