In the summer of 1998, when she made this record, Charlotte was 12 years old, the same age as Geraldine when she impersonated Jenny Lind in a New England town hall. Nellie (nee Helen) sang in a public hall when she was six. Adelina sang and trilled (she said) before she learned to talk, made her New York debut at eight, and started touring (billed ‘La petite Jenny Lind’) before she was ten. If Charlotte Church’s exposure to publicity is premature and exploitative, then so was theirs; it may be that all were, or have been, harmed by it, but it is not (as some appalled reactions to this new disc would suggest) a peculiarly modern phenomenon. Nor, of course, does it follow that, those little girls of old having become (respectively) Farrar, Melba and Patti, the Welsh girl is destined to follow in their footsteps. When Lesley Garrett, in a short booklet-note, says she is sure that here is ‘a star in the making’ she is offering a hostage to Fortune, though certainly all should join her in wishing every success.
Inevitably, this is a voice at an in-between stage: that is evident in the very first phrase, the two notes of ‘Pie’ being three-quarters child, ‘Jesu’ three-quarters woman (or thereabouts). The tone is pure, the intonation reliable, breath-support (obviously) needs developing, and she needs to listen very carefully and critically for notes where the vibrations are uneven. The item which is called Caccini’s Ave Maria has a short scale-passage, and though she sings it cleanly and without aspirates she should not let herself believe she has mastered the art of legato-singing. In Amazing Grace I fancy that the ‘image’ in her mind is not that of a so-called classical singer, and would urge strength of professional purpose.
But if the straight question is put ‘Do you like the disc?’ the answer is ‘No, I don’t.’ The girl is being fed on slush. Nor does it bring out the best in her voice or bring the voice to what it can best serve. Youth is a time for freshness, and there is little of that. Individually the pieces may not be objectionable (though Jerusalem, with its big orchestral crescendos, is a vocal absurdity); but the whole tone of the programme is one of insipidity. The only items I would want to hear again are the Three Welsh Bird Songs with harp accompaniment. Objectionable from the girl’s point of view, I would have thought, is the subtitle, Voice of an Angel: does she really want to go among her class-mates with that tagged to her? I would rather hope that we next see the name of Charlotte Church in eight years’ time; but if there is to be another recording now let it be of Purcell and Haydn (for instance), and with piano, and without the ‘angel’ tag, and, incidentally, with photographs that show what she looks like normally and not when jumping in the air and giving mouthfuls of smiles for the camera.'