Libera Dreams

john45 wrote:Easy. TDL - best ever.

A bold claim and certainly a legend, but I may have to go for Steven G who also sang some of my favourite songs.

Yorkie wrote:

john45 wrote:Easy. TDL - best ever.

A bold claim and certainly a legend, but I may have to go for Steven G who also sang some of my favourite songs.

Wish I could have heard Steven G live as a treble. As it is, I have only the recordings to go by, and yes, he too is a Libera legend. However, having seen and heard TDL singing live faultlessly at over 40 Libera concerts, many services at St. Philip's, and in 7 operas he has to have my vote.

I believe each of Libera's really great soloists have at least one signature song that sets them apart from all the other soloists. For example, for me one of the best renditions I've ever heard, was Ave Maria was from Thomas Delgado-Little.

Don't forget Oliver Putland.

john45 wrote:Easy. TDL - best ever.

I have to agree there. After hearing Tom live, I was just blown away by his voice. So effortless and beautiful. He is definitely my favourite soloist and Dreaming of Home is my particular favourite performance.

However, I will also mention an underrated soloist from a while back - Anthony Chadney.

I would say its a close call between Daren Geraghty and Steven Geraghty for Evening Falls and vespera.

TDL and Sam Wiggin

Alessandro is now on my list of favourite soloists.
I listened to 'Total Praise' again tonight and was reminded of his beautiful voice which is kind of hard to describe but which has a lot of sincerity and depth of emotion. Kind of round and full and melancholy. Subdued yet colourful and rich. Sigh, I said it was hard to describe...
And I was actually amazed - again - by the fact that he opened that song on his own, a cappella, in front of over a million people. A song that was completely new for them as well. He did it so calmly and self-assured. It's a great achievement.
I am very happy that we have this recording of him as a soloist.
Then in Germany he moved me to tears with his rendition of Wayfaring stranger, which was very, very powerful and in which his voice really shone. He then repeated that success with How Great Thou art. And through it all he seems so composed and relaxed - focused, but not nervous at all. In the meet & greet, he came across as quite humble and down to earth.
Again, one of the singers who deserves a place in my Libera hall of fame.

Favorite soloist ever:

Isaac London. Even though the list of Libera greats (and exceptional soloists) keeps getting longer, Isaac’s kind of voice and his powerful stage presence and personality are the winning combination for me. I was not lucky to see him live. When I found Libera, Isaac was already in the back row. Of his Libera generation, he has the most recorded solo’s and videos which I have greatly enjoyed. Isaac was the star in the Washington DC DVD and had some awesome solo’s in the Christmas DVD - Wexford Carol, Danny Boy, What Child is this (duet with Jude). The Angel live video remains my favorite Libera song closely followed by new songs In Paradisum, For the future, and old song Far Away.

Other soloists I like a lot. Notice there are some Libera greats not on my list. All of the names below have voices I find very pleasant as well as beautiful. Of course, I like many others but I wanted to pick the top ones for me.

Early Libera:

• Liam O’Kane
• Adam Harris
• Steven Geraghty

Libera touring the world:

• Tom Delgado-Little
• Tom Cully
• Ben Phillip
• Ralph Skan
• Ed Day
• Josh Madine

Current Libera:

• Alex Gula – sadly his voice has already changed before he could get more recordings/videos
• Rocco Tesei
• Ben Bywater

Libera soloists in progress (many more starting out)
• Daniel White
• Oliver Mycka
• Oliver Watt-Rodriguez
• Victor Wiggin

maartendas wrote: ↑<span title="Mon Aug 08, 2016 10:21 pm">8 years ago</span> Alessandro is now on my list of favourite soloists.
And I was actually amazed - again - by the fact that he opened that song on his own, a cappella, in front of over a million people. A song that was completely new for them as well. He did it so calmly and self-assured. It's a great achievement.
I am very happy that we have this recording of him as a soloist.

Do you have a link to this video? I only know of one video of his treble voice - How shall I sing the majesty in the Washington DC DVD which is a duet with Lucas Wood.

Egorbea2018 wrote:Do you have a link to this video?

Search youtube with the title 'Total Praise' and add 'libera'

maartendas wrote: ↑<span title="Thu Sep 13, 2012 1:45 pm">12 years ago</span> And, ultimately, Libera is a group effort, front to back, start to finish. Try singing a solo with no backing whatsoever and you lose a lot of the magic.

The most exceptional thing about Libera is how Mr. Prizeman seems to choose little 6 year old boys and transform them into magnificent singers. Each boy contributes to make each song a masterpiece of beautiful notes. Every single boy in Libera is an outstanding singer but not all of them are cut to be soloists because of temperament and/or personality. I can mention Marc Alvares, who has been a Libera singer for so long, but is happy to be in the background, as an example. In my first meet and greet last year I asked him if he wanted to do a solo and he looked at me like I had two heads. I asked Samuel Collins if he would take Gabriel's solos when Gabriel retired from Libera, if offered to him, and he quickly said yes. Other boys, like Leo and Taichi, proudly asked if I liked their descants. Rocco, who is very shy shines as a soloist. All of them have the talent to be a soloist, but some might not want to be. In the current Libera, about half of the boys are soloists (Daniel, Oliver M, Oliver W, Koji, Samuel Collins, Victor, Tadgh, Dominik, Mathias, Peter, Leo, Ben Bywater, Merlin, Rocco) or were recently soloists (Alex G, Alex M, Camden, Taichi, Gabriel), which are now in the tenor section. Wow! What a treat for us fans to have such a variety of beautiful solo voices to enjoy!

Totally agree with you ! And what I like about Libera is that they all seem to be given the opportunity to do solos if they want to, and to be given a proper training if so.

There's simply too many soloists who were/are excellent in their time. Tom Cully, Josh Madine were perhaps the most famous; Isaac London was a prolific soloist; TDL for his stratospheric high voice; and more recently, Alex M, Alex G, Camden, Leo, Rocco, Victor, Merlin, Daniel, Oliver WR, Oliver M, Ben B..... the list goes on.

But if I really had to choose ONE out of the above, I think its a close run between Rocco and Alex G. An odd choice, you might say. They're not as prolific as the others, they don't have the greatest range or the highest notes, but there's just something very unique about their voices. They seem to be able to convey the emotions behind the lyrics so well, that as a listener, I find myself totally enchanted by their performance.

I have a question. Who do you think are Libera's "unsung soloists?' I mean those who, by reason of too much competition, hiatus in producing albums/videos, appearing early in the group's history, or brief time with Libera, often get overlooked (by those who can't attend concerts) in spite of extraordinary performances. I nominate Anthony Chadney, Simon Beston, Matthew Jansen, Daniel Fontannaz, Jakob de Menezes-Wood, James Mordaunt, and Lucas Wood, among others. Your thoughts?