Having mined the obvious crossover sources of music for his undeniably mellifluous voice, the phenomenally successful Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli has taken to the stage and to recordings in several standards of the operatic repertory. He obviously hopes for respect from Italy's operatic community, and this he deserves: in each of his performances he has striven to master the relevant tradition rather than just delivering the arias that work that way in Bocelli voice and faking the rest. So it is here in this recording of ...
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Having mined the obvious crossover sources of music for his undeniably mellifluous voice, the phenomenally successful Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli has taken to the stage and to recordings in several standards of the operatic repertory. He obviously hopes for respect from Italy's operatic community, and this he deserves: in each of his performances he has striven to master the relevant tradition rather than just delivering the arias that work that way in Bocelli voice and faking the rest. So it is here in this recording of Gounod's Roméo et Juliette (1867), an opera that somewhat de-emphasizes the tragic element of its source material. Instead, the focus rests on a series of lovely romantic duets between the titular lead characters. This is all to the good for Bocelli, for it plays to his strengths, and he has a similar collaborator in the lyric soprano Maite Alberola. Does he show signs of strain, which may be growing as he enters his sixth decade? Certainly. This recording was made over no fewer than...
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