Charlotte Church Album: “Voice of an Angel in Concert”

I fortunately caught a sampling of Charlotte Church from a news-type broadcast and was immediately interested in hearing more from this young talent. I purchased the CD first and the video not long after that. The video is truly captivating from start to finish. The voice that comes from this sparkling 13-year old is... well, like an Angel! You tend to forget how young she is until her bubbly youth takes over between songs.

The segments after her performance was about the best I've seen done on anyone. It puts you right into Charlotte's world and let you experience her life just as she sees it... through the eyes of her personal video camera. It's amazing how far this young girl has gotten while maintaining such a both-feet-on-the-ground, "typical teenage girl" kind of character. She's fun to watch and a joy to listen to.

Charlotte is truly a captivating person with a remarkable voice and I highly recommend this video as well as her CD to anyone and everyone. I'm sure you'd agree that she truly has a Voice of an Angel!

I absolutely adore Charlotte Church. However much some people belittle her talent or claim she is being manipulated by people who are going to ruin her voice, she is a star of stars in my eyes. She truly does have the voice of an angel; it's the most beautiful voice I've ever heard. This DVD is a special treat indeed because it allows us to hear and see Charlotte at the very beginning of her professional career. She had already topped the classical charts with her debut album, and now, mere days after her thirteenth birthday, she gave her first true concert, backed up by the London Symphony Orchestra and Chorus - and we can all be there time and again with the 5000 or so fans physically in attendance that night. The music is fantastic, Charlotte is as charming as she can be, and an inside look at her life at home and her preparation for the concert show us a perfectly normal child who just happens to have a magical voice.

After a short introductory piece, Charlotte walks out on stage with no sign of nerves whatsoever. She brings a couple of friends with her, a white stuffed bear and a shaking critter whom she likens to her Dad before the show (as he was obviously more nervous than Charlotte was about her big night). Every trace of the adorable little child disappears once she stands before the mike, though. She leads off with Panis Angelicus, and the transformation from excited youngster to world-class soprano is amazing; while Charlotte always shows her love for what she does, she also reveals her serious commitment to each song in her whole demeanor. After each song, her youthful nature shines forth in smiles and laughs, but her seriousness never relents until the orchestra plays the final note of each song. She sings eleven songs in all in this concert performance, ten of which come from her Voice of an Angel CD, backed up by a huge orchestra and sizeable chorus. Her delivery of The Lord's Prayer is impeccable and soul-stirring, even more so in the light of the attack on 9/11 and another singer's moving rendition of the song during the national memorial service following the tragedy. Danny Boy is also a beautiful song; Charlotte's version of this song is respectfully somber but not quite as mournful as most renditions I have heard.

The Welsh songs are particularly lovely, possessing a nature that really draws me into each song even though I have no idea what Charlotte is singing about. My Lagan Love, Suo-Gan, and Y Gylfinir (The Curlew) - one of the Three Welsh Bird Songs from her debut album - are quite magical. Her friend Gwilym Evans joins her for two songs: Charlotte's signature song Pie Jesu and When at Night I Go to Sleep; his high voice blends well with Charlotte's, but he appears far more nervous than Charlotte was. Charlotte's final song of the evening closes the night out in grand, exciting style, as the London Welsh Male Voice Choir joins her in a stirring rendition of Men of Harlech (the one song here that you won't find on her debut CD).

The concert is fairly short, but it is followed by a wonderful look at the real Charlotte Church. We get visions of both her family and school life, showing Charlotte trying to juggle homework in between interviews for television, newspapers, and magazines from all over the world. She and her mother look to have a loving and fun relationship, and Charlotte is as proud of her family as they are of her. The little girl in her is clear to see, as evidenced by a huge stuffed animal collection and her innocent zest for life, and it is reinforced by her mother's descriptions of her sulking prowess. Charlotte is refreshingly normal and down-to-earth, and she makes it clear that she is singing and performing because that is what she loves and wants to do forever; in no way is anyone manipulating her into doing anything she doesn't want to do.

The Voice of an Angel DVD is essentially Charlotte Church's coming-out party; she had proved to the world that she could sing like an angel, and with this concert she proved that she could perform in front of a large audience and not only blow the audience away with a voice of the rarest beauty but also display all the charms and poise of a true star while doing it. I don't see how anyone could watch this DVD and not love Charlotte Church.

Imagine the best live vocal performance you have ever seen and heard. Raise it at least two notches. And then imagine that this performance was given by a beautiful and sweet 13-year-old girl. If you do these things, you will come close to the reality of watching this video. I have been collecting and listening to music for over 30 years now. I have never seen anything that even compares to this. This special combination of voice, charm, and personality is simply overwhelming.

Imagine a cynical and skeptical 44-year-old man blinking back tears because a child is singing Panis Angelicus......

The first time I ever heard Charlotte Church sing was in this performance on PBS. I was amazed that such a voice was coming out of such a young girl! But in and of itself, the music is delightfully uplifting. It is also relaxing. It is music that has been around for quite a while and stood the test of time (classical music), but with new life! Charlotte's personality is engaging. This is the music of her debut CD (plus one more song, which is on her self-titled follow-up CD), but it is so much better when she performs it live! This is especially true of the song "Danny Boy" here. These are the first steps of a star!

Charlotte Church will hopefully remain one of the voices of the future. She is a remarable talent proving that today's young people are capable of great things besides hip hop and rap. Without seeing her perform, it would be hard to realize that such a magnificent voice came out of someone so young. She is the essence of youth untouched by the drugs, booze, and sex emulating from today's modern music culture. She is a refreshing change from the stale, everybody sounds alike music of our supposedly dominate society.