Faryl Smith

[Elliot Kane]

New cover is vastly better, yes. A LOT more eye catching and far more dramatic. May look more 'Midsummer Night's Dream' than 'Winter Wonderland' but I can't help thinking that's all to the good.

Like the 'sitting on the moon' picture, too. Maybe they'll use that as the cover of the first single?

[Caitlin]

Hey

I also really like the new cover. And I adore the sitting on the moon pic - I would have LOVED to have one of those in my collection of photographs I'm in...still would actually! haha

<3 Caite

[theoldie]

On Faryl's website there is now a snippet of "Somewhere Far Away". Just click the listen button.

[dazza]

Hi Everyone,

Last night I went to see Faryl Smith performing alongside Jonathan Ansell at the Victoria Hall here in Stoke. I don't want to write the same report in two different threads so I will say everything here.

Faryl was wonderful, one thing I noticed is that she seemed to have a lot more confidence than when I have seen her before, talking to the audience more. She performed her new song 'Wonderland' which will be on her new album, her performances of Ave Maria, Amazing Grace and River of Light were also fantastic.

It was the first time I had really heard Jonathan Ansell, I really disliked G4 after they completely destroyed Bohemian Rhapsody and Life on Mars so I have never really followed him but I was extremely impressed last night, he has a fantatstic vocal range.

His accoustic version of Pour Mon Ame without a microphone or any electrical accompaniment at all was superb. The highlight for me though has to have been Faryl & Jonathan singing 'The Prayer' together.

They were accompanied by some familiar faces in the fantastic Pavao Quartet, Al Gurr on the piano and guitarist A.J Moore.

I took my camera but decided not to take any pictures and just enjoy the concert, I had a great evening.

Dazza

[grant]

Hi Dazza and Natalie

Good to hear that you enjoyed the concert. Did you get to meet Faryl afterwards?

Best wishes
Grant

[dazza]

Hi Grant,

There was a meet and greet with both Faryl and Jonathan for those with VIP tickets. I had a VIP ticket but I wasn't feeling too well at the end so I decided to go straight home.

Dazza

[natalie]

I did not have meet and greet ticket but I saw Jonathan before at the stage door

[postscript]

Hi everyone.
Introduction--Faryl and Jonathon at Victoria Hall, Stoke, October 10th 2009
Due to other activities I haven’t been visiting as regularly as previously, so I ‘return with a vengeance’, although I think this is a case of ‘less means more‘. So, on with the motley.

I return from a totally switched-out weekend of extraordinary diversity taking me through a see-saw of emotions, in the sharing of which I hope to awaken an interest, rather than bore. I have given some thought to providing a separate paragraph under a variety of threads, even starting a new ‘philosophical’ thread but therein lie dangerous waters, so I think that what is in my head, as I write on this brightly sunny Monday morning, will hang well under this thread, although probably later précised with a billhook rather than secateurs!

My weekend started on Friday, when I attended a ‘sort of Evensong’ at my old school’s chapel. School Chaplain’s do not have to follow the rigid formality of parish priests’ routine, their ministry being essentially to meet the school’s needs, through formal Divinity lessons and the further outreach that comes from being at the centre of the town’s community for nearly half a millennium. As a consequence, being a Berkhamstedian ‘born and bred’, my old school remains a part of my life, despite it being more than half a century since I entered as a prep school boy, Berkhamsted uniquely providing its own prep school feeder.

My mile-long walk to school was mostly along the canal towing path which was showing only small indications of changing colours, save for the cygnets I had watched growing up since the Spring. Their dull, brown plumage is malting away, revealing glimpses of the snow-white feathers that will be their majestic maturity next year.

The service was a form of outreach and the subject was one Tabitha Webb (www.tabithawebb.com/). The present chaplain had been chaplain to her old school when, at sixteen years old she won the BBC Choir Girl of the Year.

She was there to talk about her faith and how it supported her life, as well as to sing some hymns and why they had meaning for her. Unbeknown to me at that time, this provided a useful introduction to Kirsten Moore on Saturday.

Now thirty and married, Tabitha is extraordinarily petite and she mentioned how this had disadvantaged her. She had previously auditioned for ‘The Phantom’ but had not been selected as on those occasions they had a six-foot-something Phantom and the height contrast was too great. The present Phantom is shorter and she currently plays Christine on Mondays and Thursdays, having previously understudied and played Cosette in Les Miserables.

When one realises she has sung at The Festival Hall, Covent Garden, the Barbican and The Royal Albert Hall; played Mozart’s lover in the BBC series ‘The Genius of Mozart’ and created the role of Adele in the world premier of ‘Jane Eyre’, one wonders why she is not heard of more often.

What this brings home is that the ‘stars’, of which but a few appear here, with their individual threads are supported on a continual daily basis by a body of sound of which, generally speaking, one takes little account. Yet you cannot have choirs without a body of singers each of whom has a more than acceptable singing voice and many of whom, in smaller environs, can deliver more than competent solo performances. These are the soloists ‘Berkhamsted Sinfonia’ (www.bridgewater-sinfonia.org.uk/), as one entity, draws on for their concerts. It is a hard life taking in small town and other ‘odd’ engagements to scratch a living just because you want to sing. Tabitha’s love of singing and desire to do so is no less than Hayley’s, Faryl’s, or Jonathon’s, yet something sets these apart.

Tabitha has a lovely, rounded soprano voice but has taken the academic route: of Anglo-Welsh descent, she gained a BA(Hons) from the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, took a post-graduate diploma from the Royal Academy of Music, graduating with distinction and concentrates on teaching by default of needing to earn money.

One thinks of Katherine Jenkins who also followed academe before determining, at an earlier age, she should follow a solo singing career. What is the difference? What makes one follow one route and another appear to decline to take the plunge? As a soloist, Tabitha’s petite form should not disadvantage her as it has done in the past when, as a ‘part’ player, her size has to be taken into account.

This and several other thoughts occupied my mind until Stoke, when my thinking was re-ignited by the appearance of Kirsten Moore. What route is she going to follow, yet between her and Faryl there is but four years at most, Kirsten being still at school in the VIth form?

Possibly, for Kirsten the route too should be academe, through teaching and building a career from a firm scholastic base, she is at a High School, or could she possibly make solo singing an earlier decision? To me, her voice is strong, firm, confident and I perceive there is a toughness and determination that is essential for any hope ‘to make it’. As with Katherine, where one detects the hard-headed ‘bull in the ring’ grit underlying her outward placidness.

Kirsten is not ‘my cup of tea’ but in ‘modern’ music or that which counts as ‘popular’ these days, she has a place and I believe she has something very serious to offer, perhaps on the ‘night club’ circuit. It was interesting listening to her, especially in contrast with Faryl and one wonders why she had not gone the ‘Britain’s Got Talent’ or ‘The X Factor’ route, which question only highlights the tortuous road for any artist in any field.

How much is chance observation by the right person at the right time, how much is a structured presentation? Life is not fair and I am beginning to sense the world is getting over-crowded with talent, in some ways that is an awful thing to write but they cannot all be Hayley’s, Faryls and Jonathons, yet each of these have come to recognition by totally different routes and circumstances.

As regards venue, much is a preference for listener/follower as with the artist. When I discussed this “Why aren’t you at the Albert Hall?” with Chris Garrick at a ‘village hall’ gig, packed with jazz officianados he rolled his eyes in exasperation. Okay, he is at the Festival Hall again shortly but it really comes down to ‘what do you want out of life?’
They all ‘just want to perform’ and with jazz, generally a smaller ‘salon’ or ‘village hall’ ambience is part of what makes the music what it is and performer and listener are in agreement. With Hayley, it is diversity that seems to ‘wow’ her: vast audiences and yet the intimacy of small theatres seem to appeal in equal measure. [Part One follows].

Peter S.

[postscript]

Faryl and Jonathon at Victoria Hall, Stoke, October 10th 2009
Introduction here [hwi.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=Othermusic&action=display&thread=3590&page=20#104331]

Part One
So, to Stoke itself. This, Danny was an absolutely superb presentation. The sound quality matched that of Katherine’s at York and was obviously of a much smaller and more cost-efficient operation. Okay, it is a small hall and of late Hayley has been maintaining that standard. I hope she will do so with her forthcoming cathedral concerts. Regrettably, due to much chatting engagement with various people I did not notice until now, sitting down to this write-up that the programme did not include the running list!

Okay, Danny, I can understand the logistics and the relevant costs but I have commented in the past, elsewhere, that even a single black and white list dropped in the programme would be sufficient. My total captivation by the concert dismissed thoughts of making notes at the time and now I wish I had.

Unlike the York presentation through Katherine, which came across as a Katherine concert with Faryl as an appendage, this was superbly presented as a double bill. There is absolutely no question that Faryl fully deserved her equal billing.
If I have time to work it out properly I’ll post programme jpegs.

First up were the Pavão Quartet. Richard has mentioned these before and they are performing a lunch-time concert in St Martins in the Fields on 5th November 2009 from 12:00 to 13:00. Highly recommended.

The Pavão Quartet performed a similar service as Raven in a Hayley concert, so how do they compare? Both quartets are superb instrumentalists, each with their own version of a unique talent, the ability to arrange their instruments with enlightening dexterity. I will turn to literature to describe them: Raven are the Charlotte Brontes while Pavão are the Jane Austens of quartets!

Then Jonathon appeared and sang: ‘Here’s to the Heroes’, ‘Canto Della Terra’, ‘Be My Love’, ‘Who Wants to Live Forever’; my list gleaned from a mix of Jonathon Ansell sources, for which ‘thank you’! What is clear is that Jonathon has as engaging a personality as Hayley. This comes across in his stage performance and is obviously confirmed in the way his fans appreciate his time as we appreciate Hayley’s.

Then Kirsten came on, initially disappointing me, as I was expecting Faryl and was slightly exasperated as I was concerned that Faryl was once more being ‘tucked into a corner’. Of Kirsten I will only say I was glad of my Friday night meeting with Tabitha. She had made me think more widely of music generally. Kirsten’s voice does not please me and I would not want her singing Hayley/Faryl songs but there is no doubt there is a place for her in the professional theatre. I think she might be able to handle jazz. She has a presence, a strong voice and she was an interesting experience.

At last Faryl! I have previously commented on Hayley that there have been times of say a year’s gap when I have not thought there was much change. Then, a month or so later I have noticed vast differences. I think it is due to the passage of time with young people that they do not develop at an even pace, combined with added experience in between times. For me, I could not believe I was hearing the same girl I had heard in York three months earlier.

Yes, okay, she is still a fourteen-year-old schoolgirl and she presents as such but the confidence she displayed was well advanced. She still has that ‘little girl’ gawkishness where she has the habit of collapsing deferentially at the waist, as if about to burst into nervous girlish laughter, very obvious in the ‘Britain’s Got Talent’ videos. I think she is trying to control it, but hey, Faryl don’t be too worried about ironing it out, it is after all the sincerity of you being you, never be so stage-conscious as to be afraid to be yourself. Remember, Hayley is just Hayley and you, Faryl, have your own very engaging, naturally at ease personality.

As to her voice, I sensed it was stronger. We never know what goes on between times but with a second CD coming out on top of her standard singing lessons I am sure she has received particularly specific training. I sensed she had gained a better understanding of how to control subtle inflections in her voice. She is gaining mastery of her instrument.

She still has a long way to go. Inevitably, there are times when some technique is difficult to master, no matter how hard you try and then suddenly it clicks into place and you realize you have made a big leap forward. Something has happened between York and Stoke and it may be no more than the artist with whom she was appearing.

I sensed that Jonathon had been very generous with her, very patient and very reassuring. She could not have handled the closing duet with him in the way she did at Stoke three months ago in York. At fourteen, she is still finding out who she is as a girl becoming a woman in real life, never mind about performing a male-female singing duet on stage. Confident from the outset, she began to relax and enjoy herself as the duet progressed.

As for her dresses, she is going to tantalize the Hayley dress watchers! The green gown she wore at the opening was fantastic. Beyond writing that, I am not going to attempt to describe it, although some have said it was like a ‘lampshade’. I was not impressed by her glittering silver/white, straight shift like dress but I am not a glitter person and she concluded the evening in a lovely scarlet number.

At ‘Britain’s Got Talent’, Simon Cowell said she was ‘one in a million’ and was later reported as saying she would overtake Katherine Jenkins. With Cowell you can never be too sure as to what is press material and what he actually means. After Stoke, I too think Faryl has the ability to eclipse Katherine Jenkins. That means she is going to become a serious contender of whom Hayley needs to take appropriate notice.

Just for the record, I think Faryl covered: ‘Ave Maria’, ‘Danny Boy’, ‘Amazing Grace’, ‘Somewhere’, ‘River of Light’ and her ‘Wonderland’ which is ‘Winter’ from Vivaldi’s ‘Four Seasons’.

I believe it was Natalie, from Johnathon Ansell’s site who sat on one side of me. I was actually in the midst of Ansell supporters whom I had met earlier, waiting at the stage door while I went to Wetherspoon’s for a nibble and to whom I observed, as I have done with Hayley, “I wish he would throw the microphone away”. [Part 2 follows].

Peter S.

[postscript]

Faryl and Jonathon at Victoria Hall, Stoke, October 10th 2009
Part One is here [hwi.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=Othermusic&action=display&thread=3590&page=20#104334]

Part Two
In the second half he did indeed ‘throw the microphone away’ for ‘Pour Mon Ame’ from Donizetti’s La Fille du Régiment. It wasn’t quite as my dreams had lived for Hayley, he explained his reasons coherently but they were the reasons for which I wished Hayley would do it and it is the only way it could be done. It was the acoustics of the hall. This is why I was disappointed in my meeting with Tabitha on Friday. She had chosen to use the microphone (which seems an instinctive proclivity for everyone these days) when I believe her voice could well have swelled the rafters. Her explanation afterwards was that she had been singing for different years in the school during the day. It is knowing the when and where and it is a decision that can only be made from direct experience of the venue.

Having been recently re-acquainted with Covent Garden, it was a unique experience, especially in direct contrast with the miked voice in the same acoustics. Old Amateur Ham though I am, fifty years ago it was the standard tradition that if you could not be heard in the Gods without amplification you had no place being on stage at all.

Times have changed, audiences have changed in their expectations (which is what worries me) and most importantly, amplification technology has advanced amazingly but there remains a world of difference between the voice naturelle and the amplified sound emitted from speakers. They DO distort and it is the difference between a CD and live rendition. I am concerned that too many have become too familiar with our far too loud amplification to appreciate the subtleties of the human voice as it really is! I wonder if any Jonathon supporters were disappointed? In around the fifth row his volume seemed what I would expect in the Gods at Covent Garden but he did not have an orchestra in front of him. However, that observation could be solely due to the contrast from having immediately before heard him miked.

Whether willfully misreported or extraordinarily cackhanded in the way she expressed herself, Kiri Te Kinawa did have a point but it unfortunately got buried under the burbling balderdash she allegedly warbled. It is also relevant to note Jonathon is five years older than Hayley and I think it may be five years yet before Hayley does the same thing but that she will do it, I am sure and probably in the way Jonathon did, it is the way I would expect. It is a crucial decision and it has to be done at the right moment.

As for Jonathon, this is the first time I have attended a concert for him, as opposed to him being with Hayley, although following Faryl was my reason for being there but she is still in the support role. I well understand how the Jonathon support group wow him as we wow our Hayley. They are both equally competent artists scaling the heights of their profession, yet exhibiting a magnificent generosity of spirit in their relationships with fellow, less experienced artists.

I have to confess I stood for him at the end of his unmiked aria, as much for the sheer decision to do it but he does have what it takes. At the end of the concert I felt a little disappointed. I felt Faryl should have been there for a final curtain call. I wasn’t the only one, there was a crescendo in the applause as she came on, I thought for a curtain call, then came the realization there was going to be a duet.

Leaving school is a tremendous experience for anyone, I had been ten years in the same institution which is an unusual continuity and the outside world seemed daunting. For Faryl, the decision will be especially daunting but she has plenty of time to adjust her thinking it through. Will she follow the Katherine academic route; the Hayley route; or the Sophie Westenra route, academe with some concerts slotted in?

I think her underlying potential is that she could go unmiked in her early twenties and she may well still be in her teens when we attend concerts titled ‘Faryl Smith in Concert with… . This is a girl well worth the long-term watching. [Addendum follows]

Peter S.

[postscript]

Faryl and Jonathon at Victoria Hall, Stoke, October 10th 2009
Part One is here [hwi.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=Othermusic&action=display&thread=3590&page=20#104334]

Not finished yet! Good Heavens and this isn’t a Hayley concert!
Al Gurr was on piano and, supposedly to cover a technical hitch, performed the jazz divertisement he once did at a Hayley concert. Andy Moore was on guitar performing well as he did when with Hayley. It was interesting to see such a crossover of Hayley-associated artists in support, so if the idea of Jonathon, Hayley and Faryl is only a pipe-dream, one of the quartets might have to lose out, which would be sad, unless somewhere like the Barbican/St David’s or the Festival or Albert Hall, so the audience size could accommodate the costs.

How about them all? Jonathon, Hayley, Faryl, Al, Andy and both quartets, taking it in turns? I don’t think the quartets could make an octet, I’ve too much experience of putting the crews of two rowing fours into a hired eight three hours before a Henley race to consider that remotely feasible!

Peter S.

[Martin]

Hi Peter
In anticipation of a few "advisory" posts from JonathAn Ansell fans, please note that it is Jonathan and not Jonathon!

Best wishes
Martin

[martindn]

Well done Peter, an excellent review as always. But for a complete set, I think you would need Ian and Fiona as well. The stage may get a bit crowded....

Martin

[Elliot Kane]

Peter...

Thank you for an absolutely awesome write-up

[Sing]

thank you peter...i really enjoyd reading this...wish i was there!