If you thought Top 40 Divas were exhasting, you gotta see the
\nBroadway scene. Divas are divided by their concert-selling status,
\nwhich composers they’ve worked with, and what kind of roles they
\nundertake. And of course, voice; chest voice, head voice, every
\nother kind of voice is compared, compared, compared.<\/p>\n
Sarah Brightman recently made the transition from Broadway
\nbelting to traditional opera and I was delighted when I saw the
\nalbum in stores while shopping for a Mariah Carey mug (honey tea
\nnever tasted so sweet). I realized they were playing her over the
\nloudspeakers; my first impression was that it had changed towards a
\nwarmer, perhaps darker sound. And
\nvery<\/i> dramatic.<\/p>\n
Her longtime producer Frank Peterson knows opera and pop. What
\nthey tried to do with Brightman, who already has immense crossover
\npotential, is to create an opera-based album with pop-sounding
\nstudio-produced elements. This has been attempted many times but
\nthis time, it’s done the way I’ve always imagined it
\nshould<\/i> be done. People may listen to songs like “Naturaleza
\nMuerta” and disagree about “they way it should be done” but whether
\nI’m prejudiced by previous listenings of Brightman’s eclectic work
\nor not, I’m convinced that she has digested enough elements to
\nbring out the best of both worlds.<\/p>\n
This style is put into opera-Broadway-magic effect in my
\npersonal favorite track, “Just Show Me How To Love You (Tu Cosi Fai
\nStasera)”. The songwriters know what they’re doing; the sound is
\ndistinctly modern with a touch of traditional added by the London
\nSymphony Orchestra, original Italian lyrics, and the gloriously
\ngolden voice of Jos\u00e9 Cura (yes, he
\ndoes<\/i> sound like Domingo). Brightman is one of those rare
\nsopranos who use both head and chest voice and there is ample room
\nfor her to demonstrate that. The effect is nothing short of
\nstunning; too many arias and duets are killed by artists trying to
\noversing, making vehicles for their voices instead of inspired
\nexpression.<\/p>\n
There are many crossover-style tracks such as “There For Me”,
\n“Time To Say Goodbye (Con Te Partiro)” sung with Andrea Bocelli,
\n“Naturaleza Muerta”, a remake of Queen’s “Who Wants To Live
\nForever”, and “No One Like You”. That last one opens the album with
\na Gershwin-type aria which sounds distinctly of American theater.
\nThis is one of the many tracks that demonstrate her international
\nappeal; the album is done in I-don’t-know-how-many languages (is
\nthat Hebrew I hear?). It’s true that most opera singers (including
\nchorus) learn several languages but this also showcases the
\ndedication Brightman has put into her art (estranged husband Andrew
\nLloyd Webber confesses that he divorced her because “she was
\naddicted to her work.”), considering the fact that she started out
\nas a unilingual Broadway artist.<\/p>\n
The traditional tracks are, if not fascinating in originality as
\nthe crossovers, still a good listen. Some songs, like “Tu quieres
\nvolver”, are given a modern bite by pulling the ranges down and
\nmaking the notes more accessible to mortals. But tracks such as “In
\nPace” and “La Wally” are perfection in their traditional formats.
\nShe really does sound like an opera singer, with that ear-filling
\nvoice be it head or chest.<\/p>\n
What perplexes me are the last two “Encore Tracks”, “O mio
\nbabbino caro” and “Alleluja”. Supposed live tracks, they sound like
\napplause edited before and after studio productions. Sarah
\nBrightman sounds like a studio production even in concert.
\nPerfection is a good thing, but sometimes a flaw here or there is
\npreferred in a concert situation.<\/p>\n
This album is one of the best works I’ve heard all year. I had
\nexpected something like the ambience of
\nFly<\/i> or another Broadway work like
\nSurrender<\/i>, but this album is much more; a feat of
\nself-accomplishment. She and the producers pushed hard for the
\nright kind of sound; immense growth is evident everywhere on the
\npackage. She has surprised me before with
\nDive<\/i> and
\nFly<\/i>. This is the third time, and I’m loving every track of
\nit.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":24550,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[5750],"rating":[5646],"class_list":["post-35753","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-sarah-brightman","rating-rating-a"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/35753","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35753"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/35753\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24550"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35753"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35753"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=35753"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=35753"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}