"Walking In The Air"

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filiarheni
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"Walking In The Air"

Post by filiarheni »

There still remains something to be told about the London trip, because it has to do with Aled Jones, who has such a strong relationship with Libera.
 
Through Libera, I heard Walking In The Air for the first time. Previously, I had never heard of the song nor the film nor the book. And now that I saw that "The Snowman" was performed in London, and since this complemented so well with the Libera concert on Friday and the church service on Sunday, I decided to attend "The Snowman" on Saturday.

And then ... the programme contained the following flyer:
Snowman Flyer Aled Jones 2016.JPG
Snowman Flyer Aled Jones 2016.JPG (334.28 KiB) Viewed 1440 times
Snowman Flyer Aled Jones 2016.JPG
Snowman Flyer Aled Jones 2016.JPG (334.28 KiB) Viewed 1440 times
 
What a surprise and what a nice one! It was also Libera who made me "meet" Aled Jones. All fit together really well that weekend! :D

The play (a ballet, but please do not imagine anything classical now) was very amusing and very well performed. It is theatre for children, but I had a lot of fun. Cameron James Sutherland, the boy, who had to play the main character, was incredibly good, and what a stage presence he had!

The moment for Walking In The Air had come. Suddenly the snowman starts watching small planes, follows their movements with his eyes, with his head, meanwhile the music begins with its dramatic intro. The snowman comes under the planes' spell more and more, at the same time the intro becomes more and more dramatic as well; then snowman and boy rise high in the air, and the singing begins. It gave me chills!!



The Aled Jones duet version ( (it's hard for me to take it as one and the same person singing, it rather seems to me like father and son) is not my preferred interpretation of Walking In The Air (I have listened to many different of them in the meantime). But the impact in the theatre was very strong, also due to the fact that I was - of course - particularly receptive to this version that night.

It was a very "complete" weekend. :)
"But in the dark and cold of things there always, always something sings"
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Yorkie
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Re: "Walking In The Air"

Post by Yorkie »

Great post, sounds like you had a lot of fun on your trip to London :D Of course the pedant in me has to point out that Aled didn't sing the original version of 'Walking in the Air' (used in the film) - that was sung by Peter Auty :D
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TimS_TheToolman
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Re: "Walking In The Air"

Post by TimS_TheToolman »

I ran across this version which I found to be very interesting. If I'm correct, it was recorded in 2001 by a young Declan Galbraith. The depth and power of his voice is impressive for a 9 year old.
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Yorkie
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Re: "Walking In The Air"

Post by Yorkie »

TimS_TheToolman wrote:I ran across this version which I found to be very interesting. If I'm correct, it was recorded in 2001 by a young Declan Galbraith. The depth and power of his voice is impressive for a 9 year old.
He had an unusually powerful voice for a 9 year old and he turned out some remarkable performances, but I'm not sure his power is suited to this particular song :|
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filiarheni
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Re: "Walking In The Air"

Post by filiarheni »

Yorkie wrote:Great post, sounds like you had a lot of fun on your trip to London Of course the pedant in me has to point out that Aled didn't sing the original version of 'Walking in the Air' (used in the film) - that was sung by Peter Auty
@Yorkie, oh yes, I had! :)

You're right mentioning Peter Auty. In the youtube comments I saw that often people think that it is Aled Jones who sang the original film music because it is more known, as it happens to other songs as well, but no, it is not.

@Tim, I'm sorry, but Yorkie took the word right out of my mouth (too much consent in one single post? :lol:). I think that Declan gets too loud for a song about flying, which is light, "airy".

By the way, if someone would like to listen to this version and to that version, but is in a big hurry, save time with this: :mrgreen:



I like the - normal :wink: - Celtic Woman interpretation for the delicately grooving feeling and for the plain, pure voice of Chloe Agnew (not a child version, though).
"But in the dark and cold of things there always, always something sings"
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maartendas
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Re: "Walking In The Air"

Post by maartendas »

In addition, I would like to recommend this recent recording by Aksel Rykkvin. He sings it in his native tongue in a gorgeous (but all too short) video:

You raise me high beyond the sky
Through stormy night lifting me above
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Re: "Walking In The Air"

Post by Yorkie »

I actually liked that one quite a bit. If I sound surprised it's because most of the material I've heard him sing is very 'Operatic Soprano' in style which I find very tiring after a short while. His version here though is performed in a much more Treble like style. Good song.
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filiarheni
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Re: "Walking In The Air"

Post by filiarheni »

I don't know if I get this right: What is the difference between a soprano and a treble? Am I right that soprano means the "studied" voice and treble is merely the highest part in a song, but the treble way of singing is not the technically trained way as a soprano would be?
"But in the dark and cold of things there always, always something sings"
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Re: "Walking In The Air"

Post by j8000 »

filiarheni wrote:I don't know if I get this right: What is the difference between a soprano and a treble? Am I right that soprano means the "studied" voice and treble is merely the highest part in a song, but the treble way of singing is not the technically trained way as a soprano would be?
There is no difference. In Britain boys have been called trebles for some time, not only in choirs but also operas. Perhaps there is a misconception that the word soprano is "feminine".
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chris17
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Re: "Walking In The Air"

Post by chris17 »

Treble voices are the voices of children before the voice changes. Both girls and boys do experience a change in their voices, but there is more of a change in boys.
My understanding is that the term soprano (and alto, etc.) refers particularly to range. (I know there are ways to further classify voices based on other qualities as well, but I'm not really familiar with them.) So you could distinguish between boy sopranos and altos, and I suppose calling a boy a soprano makes sense if that is the range he sings in. I'm sure there is more to it than that as well - perhaps others who are more well-versed in the terminology will explain more.
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Re: "Walking In The Air"

Post by john45 »

A soprano is a fat lady, often seen wearing a horned helmet, who, to Yorkie's ear, screeches with an excessively wobbly vibrato and gives him a headache.
A treble is a pre-pubertal boy, often seen wearing a ruff. who pronounces R as RRRRRRRR, silver as seelver, and emphasises the T in Christmas.
:wink:
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Re: "Walking In The Air"

Post by hiskeys »

A soprano is a fat lady, often seen wearing a horned helmet, who, to Yorkie's ear, screeches with an excessively wobbly vibrato and gives him a headache.
A treble is a pre-pubertal boy, often seen wearing a ruff. who pronounces R as RRRRRRRR, silver as seelver, and emphasises the T in Christmas.
John, you are too funny! Your explanation is much preferred over a technical one.

I might be off base also, but I've understood soprano, alto, tenor, and bass to refer to general voice ranges, or the various parts being sung. So the soprano 'part' can be sung by the typical adult female, or in the case of boy choirs and some cathedral choirs, a boy treble before his voice change. (And of course, there's mezzo-soprano, baritone, etc. as well). And as you've probably seen, many of the choirs with boy trebles have adult males with higher tenor voices singing the alto parts. And then there's the rare adult counter-tenor who can sing really high in full voice (not falsetto), like the one on the left in The King's Singers, below.

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filiarheni
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Re: "Walking In The Air"

Post by filiarheni »

Thanks to everybody, especially to John: Your vivid explanation is very much appreciated! :lol: Now I think I've understood.
"But in the dark and cold of things there always, always something sings"
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Yorkie
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Re: "Walking In The Air"

Post by Yorkie »

j8000 wrote:
filiarheni wrote:I don't know if I get this right: What is the difference between a soprano and a treble? Am I right that soprano means the "studied" voice and treble is merely the highest part in a song, but the treble way of singing is not the technically trained way as a soprano would be?
There is no difference. In Britain boys have been called trebles for some time, not only in choirs but also operas. Perhaps there is a misconception that the word soprano is "feminine".
Oh, there is a HUGE difference. Yes they sing in the same key (the highest part of the song) but they are very different in style. I speak pretty much from the British tradition of choral singing (I know Germany has it's own style and tradition) but the Treble - as John quite rightly describes - has a very different sound to an opera singer whether that be a boy like Asksel (who has been trained to perform opera and thus sings in that style on his CD) or a woman (not necessarily fat but...)

Just picked the first song I could think of; compare and contrast:





Of course Ben & Libera have a much more natural singing style than the boy Trebles in English churches and college chapels which do have some rather idiosyncratic pronunciation styles as John mentioned (and that can really irritate some people, especially the rolling 'R' sound)

##EDIT## I just went on to the other thread and saw you also posted Semele by Ben over there. I can listen to Ben's version and even appreciated it some times but it isn't my favourite - I just have a huge aversion to aggressively used vibrato (by men as well as women) and I have yet to find an opera that doesn't crank the dial for vibrato up to 11. If you can find one that moderates it then I'll give it a go. Good luck. The distinguishing feature of a Treble from a soprano is hardly any vibrato is used (of course the younger voice has a different tone too but that is the reason why I prefer one to the other)
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Re: "Walking In The Air"

Post by j8000 »

I think we are in agreement that there is certainly a difference in style between opera and cathedral choirs. :lol:

What I disagree with is putting boys in boxes and labelling them as "boy sopranos" or "trebles" as if the terms weren't interchangeable. Aksel for example was trained as a chorister and is perfectly capable of singing in that style as well as performing in operas. Labelling boys as one or the other isn't very constructive. However using the terms to refer to whichever style they happen to be singing in at the time is fine I guess.

Women can also sing in the choral style, although it can takes a lot of concentration to avoid the vibrato. For example here is Caroline Ashton singing the treble solo in the Miserere:

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