Opera nerds: rate Paul Potts

I’ve seen his clips from Britain’s Got Talent, and as a bit of a music geek, I would guess that he’s got a top 1% talent at least, but that real opera singers are probably in about the top 100th of a percent of the populace, or maybe even better. I think I caught him being pitchy. I assume that real opera professionals hit the pitch all the time, and that the differences are tone, expression, and maybe volume. He has volume, but I wonder if I can evaluate tone on such a small sample.

So, if you’re a vocal or opera nerd, what’s your opinion?

Here is an old thread with some opera nerd opinion. Glancing through the opinion is not great. Maybe chorus level talent. I’m no expert so I won’t judge.

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Moving to Cafe Society.

IMHO > CS

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Well, I’m no opera nerd but I can hear his singing is no where near the standard of professional opera singers. Paul Potts’ appeal was more that he was an everyman done good than an opera talent.

There’s another discussion (concurrent with the one linked by Loach) here. Starts around post 37.

I won’t bother to repeat my remarks (Loach gave a pretty good summation), but I will say that Potts can sing circles around Neal Boyd (winner of America’s Got Talent). At least Paul sings on pitch.

Has he encountered any problems having a name that sounds an awful damned lot like that of the genocidal Pol Pot?

I mentioned him to my daughter who is a professional in opera and she kindly said
“Yeah, he did okay” The professionals spend years honing their craft while Paul is a talented amateur. I give the guy a load of credit. I always wonder how these average folks remain calm when thrust into the spotlight on a large stage with everyone watching. Being on stage in front of large audiences takes some getting used to as well. I think with the proper training he’d do well.

I’ll also add the emotion in the delivery has a lot to do with it. I found several versions of Nessu Dorma on youtube including one by Pavorati. Pavorati was amazingly accurate but I think Paul’s nervous energy added a certain emotional quality the great one didn’t have. Opera professionals often do the same roles and the same songs for years. I’m sure it’s sometimes challenging to keep the character and the song fresh.

Paul Potts had a great moment. Stunning and thrilling, in the context of that place and time.

Vocally, he was just OK. If I paid money to hear someone sing it like that at a small, regional opera company, I would have been moderately pleased. But I would have run home afterward to listen to Pavarotti, to get my real “Nessun dorma” fix. Any context more professional than that, I would have been disappointed and hoped the tenor was just having an off day.

Compared to Jose Carreras in one of his Three Tenors concerts, Potts was better in that one performance that went all viral video. If that’s your point of reference – and quite frankly that’s a lot of people’s point of reference when it comes to tenors – then Paul Potts comes off OK, in that one performance. But that’s not saying much. Carreras’ voice really fell apart there for a while. And Potts had a moment when it all came together.

But that’s it. He should go back to his old job.

I agree. Pavarotti phoned it in a lot of the time. I really only like Pavarotti in a few arias, including “Nessun dorma.” (And I think he fits this one aria because Calaf, IMHO, is kind of a self-centered ass who is a great match for an ice princess, so Pavarotti’s style fits the character in this case.) But normally I prefer the style of tenors like Domingo, who will occasionally botch a high note but carry off a role with great emotional effect.

One of our marketing people came running up to me saying “Hey, Paul Potts is in our restaurant downstairs!” When I just gave a blank look, he went away and later came back with a CD, told me to listen and give him an honest opinion. I listened, and then and then went back to the guy and said, “Well, he’s okay but he sounds a little cheesy.” The guy smirked and told me who Paul Potts was. “Oh yeah,” I said. I had heard of this guy but had forgotten his name.

To me, a Lyric Opera subscriber, the guy hit the right notes, but had none of the thrilling tone that Class A Opera singers have.

As much as I love Pavarotti in “Nessun Dorma”, Calaf is really not a good role for him. He wasn’t a small voiced tenor, but he was ultimately a lyric, and Calaf really requires a full dramatic tenor sound. Corelli is really the voice I think of when I envision the ideal Calaf.

Oh, I agree. It needs a more dramatic sound. Kind of like Kiri trying to sing Manon Lescaut (which I inexplicably like, even though her voice is in tatters at the end). Nevertheless, in just this one aria, Pavarotti has this brassy, brilliant quality that just sends me shivers every time! Can’t really explain it.

Its nice to know what the opera experts think of PP.

Like the vast majority of the world I only know Pop Opera, and to me the appeal of PP was not just his voice, which is just fine for the Pop world, but the whole back story and happy twist that Britain’s Got Talent provided for him.
PopOp is a very different animal than the real thing
I think he will be able to sustain a career in PopOp when backed by Simon Cowle’s pop music factory. He’s a very lucky man.

He is particularly good at that aria. Sometimes people really can surprise you singing against type. I actually love the Pavarotti/Sutherland Turandot even though neither of them is really suitable for the role. I don’t think it would work in performance, but in recording they can, well, crank up the volume on those tracks.

One the other hand Nessun Dorma isn’t where the tenor really needs to cut through. It’s in the Act I and Act II finales that Pavarotti would be reduced to screaming to be heard over the ensemble and orchestra.

Of course, no Nessun Dorma discussion is complete without linking to Franco Corelli. That really puts Paul Potts in perspective. He (Corelli) scoops and he lisps, but in the end you don’t really care.

Wow!

Yeah, that’s pretty cool. More virile, more human sounding than Pavarotti, but still with that brilliant quality up top. I like it!

Paul, who?

I prefer “E lucevan le stelle” anyway :smiley:

What I like about “E lucevan le stelle” is that I can sing it (I’m a baritone).