Andrea Bocelli - Viaggio Italiano / Andrea Bocelli

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• BOCELLI ANDREA VIAGGIO ITALIANO

Music reviews of Viaggio Italiano / Andrea Bocelli

Music Review: Much better first half than the second....
Rating: 3 Stars

But the second half of Neopolitan songs, they were a HUGE dissapointment... Personally, I'm not a fan of over-orchestrating and over-inflating these traditional songs and yet that's exactly what happened here. I'd rather hear some quaint mandolins, some accordians and a more subtle, intimate setting to highlight the singer to better capture the romantic essense of this kind of music. But that's just the start of what went wrong here....

For some reason, the sound quality of this recording is very dark compared to other Bocelli recordings... Despite the orchestra's wide range of instruments, the overall sound is completely colorless and dull. The conductor seems to keep a straightforward tempo with no sense of grace or charm. Also, by the time the last 3 tracks are played, Bocelli sounds like he's singing about a mile away... that makes it just a little bit difficult to create that close and intimate atmosphere to bring these songs to life.

None of these factors helped Bocelli's performance in any way... Of course, he didn't help himself either with his phrasing that seemed to plod along at times and lacked drama (and Sarah Bryan Miller's editorail review was wrong... Bocelli is NOT singing in his native language in these Neopolitan songs). The result is one very uninspiring "O Sole Mio". The verses sounded muddled and incoherant and worse yet, the climatic chorus sounded anything but. The rest of the songs seemed equally unimpressive...

"Panis Angelicus", "Ave Maria" by Schubert and "Adeste Fideles" seem out of place in this recording. They aren't bad, but with a CD title like "Viaggio Italiano", these works don't immediately come to mind... The CD cover/booklet looks very, very cheap and the inside does NOT make for interesting reading. The back of the CD case states that this is a "special project" for the recording company... after hearing the sound quality I described before, I couldn't tell if that was a serious claim or just a bad joke.

So overall, a good first half, and a poor second half in more ways that one... Bocelli may lack some qualities and he may not be to everyone's taste, but for most of the public he has an appealing voice and style. And if there's one thing I've learned about opera critics is that even for the most respected and sought after singers, thier reviews will always vary... you'll get a WIDE range of critical reviews from completely positive to totally negative... so don't take all thier negative reviews as "the final word" on Bocelli or anyone else. As the saying goes: You can't please all of the people all of the time.

Note: This is actually an "early" Bocelli recording from 1995... His latest CD of Verdi Arias clearly shows Bocelli has been working towards improving his vocal strength and technique the last few years.

Description of Viaggio Italiano / Andrea Bocelli

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