Response: [a] Humbug!

Bartoli
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YruVzW6zjdk


Battle
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2hyqPjkFEvA&feature=fvw


Timberlake/Morris
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XT-0jk1HMYs 

Baroli's rendition of Mozart's is really interesting. Her 'facial contortions' seem to be her way of compensating for something vocally.  What's puzzling however, is that when she sing toward the top of her register she make a proper [a] vowel--possibly because she has no other choice. Conversely, she distorts the vowel horribly, in the lower part of her register and it's definitely not a great sound.  Kathleen's rendition, on the other hand, is much more consistent with respect to her [a] vowel.  She does, however, modify the vowel when she approaches her upper register, often singing 'uhhh' and 'ahh'.

The Timberlake/Morris duet is actually very well done based on current pop/commercial performance standards.  They could both benefit from more properly formed vowels:  Timberlake's tendency is to sing 'yeee-uhhh' at the end of his Hallelujah while Morris sings a more conventional 'uhh'.  They are also singing pretty breathily (is that a word) but isn't that the effect they're going for?  I wouldn't necessarily penalize them for that.  To me, this is one of the better examples of current pop music performance.