Duc Tuan vs. Ngoc Ha

In my review of Ngoc Ha’s recent album, I said what I want to hear next from Ngoc Ha is a Pham Duy’s album with the collaboration of Duc Tuan. It has yet to happen, but Duc Tuan’s latest album has a few songs Ngoc Ha has recorded in the past for Thuy Nga. “Tinh Hoai Huong” was one of her big hits as well as one of his strong cuts on the record. The reason I never pay much attention to Ngoc Ha before she left Thuy Nga was very obvious: the productions always failed me. So placing Duc Tuan‘s and Ngoc Ha‘s version side by side, we could hear the differences in the orchestration. The digital arrangement in her version is nowhere near the lively orchestrated arrangement in his. Vocally, both are exceptional in their own rights. While he soars like a bird, she takes a flight down to nostalgia, especially when she wraps up the tune with “Que huong ay…” In an interesting contrast, Duc Tuan left out the last three words in his version. My prediction is that both Duc Tuan and Pham Duy are now living in Viet Nam so “que huong ay” isn’t relevant anymore. Any thoughts?