Saturday, December 18, 2010

O Holy Night Off - Round 1 - Josh Groban vs. Jackie Evancho

O Holy Night Off! Round 1 - IC 1 Josh Groban vs. IC8 Jackie Evancho

Now we get to the insturmental - classical category. We have in this match the voice of Josh Groban vs. the newest sensation Jackie Evancho, who is the ripe old age of 10. Let's start with Groban, whose version uses the tradtional piano arpeggio throughout, sings more than one verse, has a great build to the last chorus, like Celine Dion, in the last chorus, sings the transendent "Noel", has a tag at the end where he hits the high note effortlessly, and, coupled with his voice, gives a stellar performance. This is what OHN is supposed to sound like.
Evancho uses much more strings in her version, sings more than one verse, but she doesn't have the strong ending that I would have liked, and frankly, there still seems to be a dimension not present in her voice like in Groban's and others. But hey, she's 10. I was trying to pick out Silent Night with one hand on the piano at 10; she's is a contestant in the OHNO. Not too shabby!

2 comments:

  1. While Jackie Evancho has a remarkable voice, I will have to give a thumbs up to Groban. I agree that this is what OHN is supposed to sound like.

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  2. This was much closer than I first imagined it would be. When I heard JG's version I thought it may have been the best of the lot so far. But JE did a great job. Imagine how good she might be when she is 11! That said, Groban wins because I liked the bass sound of the timpani and I thought Evancho rushed it a little. BTW, Jackie's mom called and said if Jackie had known there was going to be an OHNO, she would have practiced a little.

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