by: Various Artists November 26, 2007
Search: Couplets: "Votre toast, je peux vous le rendre" - Bryn Terfel, London Symphony Orchestra, Barry Wordsworth
Classic FM has attempted to provide the classical music version of `rock anthems' to shake your head and punch the air to, an equivalent of Rainbow's `Long Live Rock 'n' Roll' anthem of the 1970's. Does it work? Yes of course it does because the Classic FM marketing team are in touch with the needs of today's classical music listeners.
The track list is comfortably predictable - Ride of the Valkyries (Wagner), Carmina Burana (Orff), Jupiter (from Holst's Planets), Pomp & Circumstance (Elgar's Land of Hope and Glory), A Night on a Bare Mountain (Mussorgsky) and many, many more.
Those `many more' include three outstanding performances - Alfie Boe's version of Nessun Dorma, David Garrett's virtuoso (and breathtakingly ... Read More:
>>More Details
Compared to last years album I too was a little disappointed with this offering; there appeared to be little thought that went into the packaging and presentation booklet and I felt the rep selection was a little weak. There were performances from the usual greats; the superb Che gelida manina from Pavarotti, Bjorlings wonderful Amor ti Vieta, Netrebko's Song to the Moon all stood out but nothing really here that hasn't appeared on other compellations. As for the new batch; Russell Watson's Pearl Fishers Duet (duetting with himself) is very poor, as is his pronunciation, Katherine Jenkins transposing Un Bel Di which sounds way too difficult for her and since when has Santa Lucia (Nicky Spence) and Caruso (Jon Christos - a truly beautiful voice however, shame ... Read More:
>>More Details
The original `Bryn' album was a single CD, this is a re-release of that album plus a bonus CD .
It makes a change to hear a collection of familiar music sung by a baritone rather than the more popular tenor. Bryn fans will probably have the original album so there will be a bit of duplication, but this will probably (depending on the cost) be a worthwhile addition to the collection.
There's a good range of music, with the emphasis on classical and opera excerpts plus a few traditional folk style songs. Bryn's voice works well on the opera favourites like Bizet's Toreador song (lots of rolling r's here) and sounds good with Andrea Bocelli on The Pearl Fishers duet `Au Fond du temple saint'. The folk songs and traditional like `Swing Low, ... Read More:
>>More Details