Listen now | Three songs that don't logically fit together: Blue Christmas (called); Walking in the Air; and a Gaelic dialect version of an American Christmas classic 9:30
As someone who has been to many boy-choir concerts, I believe their pure non-vibrato sound is just the way young boys sound. Most young girls also sing without vibrato, which is why Jackie Evancho was such a prodigy. I think when they castrated boy singers it was mostly to keep their voices from dropping in puberty so they could still sing their high soprano notes as an adult with a fuller voice. This of course was when women were seldom allowed to do anything much in public, so they needed to have more male-soprano singers.
Peter Auty's boy-soprano voice had a softer quality to it. I don't know if that is from recording it in a place with reverb or adding electronic reverb, or if that is a natural characteristic of boy soprano voices that once upon a time led to their castration rather than using female sopranos as singers.
Of course, another possible reason for having a preference is that people often develop an affection for the first version that they hear and like (explaining the enduring popularity of Bing Crosby's version of White Christmas. I didn't go into it in my write-up but in Europe the favourite version is by Tarja Turunen of the Finnish symphonic-metal band Nightwish. You can find their music video on YouTube. In Britain, the original The Snowman animation is rebroadcast every year and it is very popular. In 1985 the BBC decided to re-do and update it and used the voice of the then-unknown Aled Jones. That proved to be quite controversial. You can read about it in the Wikipedia article about the song and/or about The Snowman.
I have to agree with Greg about Walking on Air. I have the Peter Autry version on a CD,and I think there is a certain purity of his voice. It could be how it was recorded. I do like the Evancho version too.
Based on today's assortment, I'd say that it's nice to sometimes have what you've called a hodge-podge. It offers such variety across 9:37, plus variety also in the series you've been presenting this month. By the way, I liked "Walking in the Air" best. Jackie Evancho is impressive. With this particular song, though, I liked Peter Auty's performance, which I listened to at the link you provided, even better. Thanks, Bill.
As someone who has been to many boy-choir concerts, I believe their pure non-vibrato sound is just the way young boys sound. Most young girls also sing without vibrato, which is why Jackie Evancho was such a prodigy. I think when they castrated boy singers it was mostly to keep their voices from dropping in puberty so they could still sing their high soprano notes as an adult with a fuller voice. This of course was when women were seldom allowed to do anything much in public, so they needed to have more male-soprano singers.
Peter Auty's boy-soprano voice had a softer quality to it. I don't know if that is from recording it in a place with reverb or adding electronic reverb, or if that is a natural characteristic of boy soprano voices that once upon a time led to their castration rather than using female sopranos as singers.
Of course, another possible reason for having a preference is that people often develop an affection for the first version that they hear and like (explaining the enduring popularity of Bing Crosby's version of White Christmas. I didn't go into it in my write-up but in Europe the favourite version is by Tarja Turunen of the Finnish symphonic-metal band Nightwish. You can find their music video on YouTube. In Britain, the original The Snowman animation is rebroadcast every year and it is very popular. In 1985 the BBC decided to re-do and update it and used the voice of the then-unknown Aled Jones. That proved to be quite controversial. You can read about it in the Wikipedia article about the song and/or about The Snowman.
I have to agree with Greg about Walking on Air. I have the Peter Autry version on a CD,and I think there is a certain purity of his voice. It could be how it was recorded. I do like the Evancho version too.
Based on today's assortment, I'd say that it's nice to sometimes have what you've called a hodge-podge. It offers such variety across 9:37, plus variety also in the series you've been presenting this month. By the way, I liked "Walking in the Air" best. Jackie Evancho is impressive. With this particular song, though, I liked Peter Auty's performance, which I listened to at the link you provided, even better. Thanks, Bill.