Round Three - Liber Scriptus - Stignani - Baltsa - Castagna
Two full listening sessions of each selection - Once per day - Judged without reference to written comments...
Castagna - Once was enough but, for the sake of fairness, I did follow through with a second session but it did nothing to change my initial impression and I knew that she was going to unfailingly finish in third place in each of the categories that I use to judge.
Stignani - After the first session, I had her with a definite edge over Baltsa as she seemed to be gifted with a seemingly effortless sense of agility whereas Baltsa had to work hard to maintain a consistent level of craftsmanship and even harder to elevate it into artistry.
Baltsa - It was during the course of the second session in which I heard Baltsa far more clearly than I did in the first and by the end, I knew that, to be fair, she merited a clear edge over Stignani in "Musical phrasing" but that they would essentially be tied in each of the other categories with each "slight edge" for one being balanced out by the "slight edge" given to the other.
Vocal control - Tie - Stignani and Baltsa
Good tone - Slight edge to Stignani over Baltsa
Enunciation - Tie - Stignani and Baltsa
Pronunciation - Clear edge to Stignani
Musical phrasing - Slight edge to Baltsa
Voice suitability - Three-way tie
Versatility - Clear tie - When I listened to Stignani, she had the edge and then when I listened to Baltsa, she had the edge - Neither one was able to put enough distance between themselves to give an edge on this category to either.
Performance that I personally enjoyed the most - Stignani, but Baltsa got the vote when I totaled up the points. I felt real remorse over my somewhat casual dismissal of Castagna and so I awarded her "Miss Congeniality" - Baltsa would have won the swimsuit competition had we had one which we don't and so she didn't.
Two full listening sessions of each selection - Once per day - Judged without reference to written comments...
Castagna - Once was enough but, for the sake of fairness, I did follow through with a second session but it did nothing to change my initial impression and I knew that she was going to unfailingly finish in third place in each of the categories that I use to judge.
Stignani - After the first session, I had her with a definite edge over Baltsa as she seemed to be gifted with a seemingly effortless sense of agility whereas Baltsa had to work hard to maintain a consistent level of craftsmanship and even harder to elevate it into artistry.
Baltsa - It was during the course of the second session in which I heard Baltsa far more clearly than I did in the first and by the end, I knew that, to be fair, she merited a clear edge over Stignani in "Musical phrasing" but that they would essentially be tied in each of the other categories with each "slight edge" for one being balanced out by the "slight edge" given to the other.
Vocal control - Tie - Stignani and Baltsa
Good tone - Slight edge to Stignani over Baltsa
Enunciation - Tie - Stignani and Baltsa
Pronunciation - Clear edge to Stignani
Musical phrasing - Slight edge to Baltsa
Voice suitability - Three-way tie
Versatility - Clear tie - When I listened to Stignani, she had the edge and then when I listened to Baltsa, she had the edge - Neither one was able to put enough distance between themselves to give an edge on this category to either.
Performance that I personally enjoyed the most - Stignani, but Baltsa got the vote when I totaled up the points. I felt real remorse over my somewhat casual dismissal of Castagna and so I awarded her "Miss Congeniality" - Baltsa would have won the swimsuit competition had we had one which we don't and so she didn't.
