Il Divo - Il Divo
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CD Details
Artist: Il DivoBrand: Baker & Taylor
Edition: Music CD
CD Release Date: 2005-04-19
Music Label: Sony
Product features:
- Condition: Used - Very Good
- Unbreak My Heart (Regresa A Mi)
- Mama
- Nella Fantasia
- Passerà
- Every Time I Look At You
- Ti Amero
- Dentro Un Altro Si
- The Man You Love
- Feelings
- Hoy Que Ya No Estas Aqui
- Sei Parte Ormai Di Me
- My Way (A Mi Manera)
- Unchained Melody (Senza Catene)
Music reviews of Il Divo
Music Review: Overwrought, overdone, lacking harmony
Rating: 2 Stars
The beauty of much of 'classical' music is harmony. Certain voices go with certain pieces, and certain voices go with other pieces. Two sopranos, while both being sopranos, may be completely different from one another, and depending on their range, power, and age, will be chosen to sing different pieces. Il Divo is what you get when pop producers try to cash in and take a piece of the "popera" pie. Saccharine sentiment and overwrought love songs are chosen and given precedent over pieces that would have really showed off the talent and range of these four (obviously) talented men. When you are trying to showcase beautiful voices, you should give them beautiful music. Unfortunately, here the beautiful voices are given sappy pop, love songs that were written for pop singers (who generally have a smaller range and less power), so what you get is a severe case of oversinging... in other words, it's all too overdone. Basically, the song choices don't do justice to what these men could do.
Aside from the songs being an ill fit for the singers singing them, the issue of harmony is another problem with this record. You don't have to be a classical buff (which I'm not) to understand the importance of harmony with vocal groups. The Righteous Brothers could bury these guys under a mountain, and the Righteous Brothers, last I checked, weren't opera singers. Anytime two or more singers come together to sing, you have to check to see if they're compatible. Do their tone colours blend well? When they sing together do the very sounds of their voices fit, or does it clash? How about range? Power? Projection? I am by no means any authority on music, but I know enough to know that some voices go well together and others don't, and just because they're all classically trained tenors doesn't mean they can sing together. Simon Cowell said the inspiration to put together a classical group was partly due to hearing Sarah Brightman's and Andrea Bocelli's duet "Time to Say Goodbye." What Mr. Cowell seemed to fail to recognize was that TTSG didn't succeed simply because two classical voices were singing operatic-style. It succeeded because it is A) a good piece of music that B) fit the voices of both singers and C) Sarah Brightman and Andrea Bocelli simply sound GOOD together. Il Divo's members don't sound good when they all sing together; they harmonizations just don't work. They sound like each is showcasing his voice instead of trying to sound good together with his bandmates, so what you get is cacophany when they sing together sometimes.
I am not saying the members of Il Divo aren't talented. They are. They are each of them good singers individually, but they are going to need work if they're going to sing together. Not only that, they are going to need to find somebody who can put together music that suits their voices. Pure pop songs just don't work when you're trying to showcase a classical voice. Note that I said "pure pop songs" don't work. I fully understand this is a pop-classical crossover group, but that doesn't mean you can just take a pop song written for another style of singing altogether and make it work with an operatic voice. Il Divo will need to look to their predecessors for guidance--Sarah Brightman, Andrea Bocelli, Charlotte Church, Josh Groban, OperaBabes, Amici Foreverj--who didn't choose to sing pop pieces, but, instead, chose easy-listening/classical pieces that appealed to pop audiences. This is a very vital point that Il Divo's team missed. The successful classical-crossover acts didn't sing pop, they just sang classical (or classical-inspired) pieces that pop audiences could enjoy.
I'll admit Il Divo is approaching success from a different angle by singing pop pieces operatically, but to me it makes just about enough sense as a pop singer singing opera in a popular style. Il Divo's harmonies need work, they need to learn to sing together (keyword: "together"), they need someone to choose better songs for them. No matter how well they can sing 'Un-break My Heart,' it'll never sound as good as someone like Toni Braxton singing it because it was written for a voice like hers, not four operatic tenors. A huge reason behind Josh Groban's success is David Foster being his producer. When singers don't write their own songs, they need to take extra care to choose pieces that fit their voices, and Foster does just that for Groban. (For all of Simon Cowell's grumblings on American Idol that contestants don't choose the right music for their voice, he sure does a poor job here with supplying this particular tracklist for Il Divo.) I was not happy with Charlotte Church's 'Enchantment' album for similar reasons. The song choices are simply not excellent. I wouldn't give two hoots if Sarah McLachlan didn't choose music that didn't match her voice properly, because she's a singer-songwriter and I listen to appreciate her skill as a songwriter more than as a singer. This is not the case for singers like the four tenors from Il Divo who depend on the song as a vehicle to showcase their voices. Song choice is of the upmost importance, and Il Divo's songs are mediocre (and a bit hokey) at best.
If you want to hear beautiful voices singing pop-friendly songs, there are many singers out there who do easy-listening better. Andrea Bocelli, Josh Groban, Michael Crawford are all terrific. Sarah Brightman (a beautiful voice; my favorite artist), Katherine Jenkins (a extraordinarily talented 23-year-old Welsh mezzo-soprano), OperaBabes (the two women from this duo harmonize wonderfully) have also put out good records and are each of them incredibly talented. Even Enya and Loreena McKennit qualify here as 'beautiful voices.' If you want to hear beautiful harmonies, you could also try the Mediaeval Baebes (especially their Worldes Blysse album). For those wanting a new twist on classical music, if you liked the 'Diva Dance' number from the movie 'The Fifth Element,' you'll certainly enjoy Operatica's albums (which blends techno/dance with opera). Even the opera group Amici Forever, whose album I was only mildly impressed with completely outshines Il Divo's record. Amici Forever understood the importance of good harmonies and chose a better array of songs. (Amici Forever did a far better job of interpreting a pop song. They sang 'Unchained Melody' in Italian. They at least chose a song that required high technical skill and the ability to harmonize, which is right up an opera group's alley.) Amazon sells albums from all the artists I've listed, and I highly encourage you to sample their songs.
Simply put, Il Divo is good, but there is really so much better out there for those of you wanting to dabble in the pop/classical crossover genre.
Description of Il Divo
"Il Divo have taught me more than I have taught them. I am actually intimidated and slightly in awe of their talent! I am more proud of this album than anything else i've ever been involved with, they are going to be huge." --Simon CowellWhile not exactly classical crossover's take on The Monkees, this international quartet of young male vocalists from America, France, Spain, and Switzerland shares a similar genesis. Assembled after a long talent search and audition process, they were teamed with pop producers Per Magnusson and David Krueger (Britney Spears, Backstreet Boys) and Steve Mac (Charlotte Church, Kelly Clarkson) and turned loose on a slate of classical-pop favorites, with a dramatic, dynamically nuanced read of Toni Braxton's signature "Unbreak My Heart" setting the standard. While the deceptive ease of their harmonies belie the group's disparate nationalities and talent search roots on the melodramatic "Hoy Que Ya No Estas Aqui," Morricone's glorious Mission theme, "Nella Fantasia" and the cascading "Passera," the album's pop-oriented material is a decidedly more mixed bag ."Everytime I Look at You" and "Feelings" (not Morris Albert's) soar gracefully, while "The Man You Love" seems more a throwback to the producers' boy band roots. The standard "My Way" and a lovely, bonus cut Italian version of "Unchained Melody" close the album out on a high note, even if their safe familiarity doesn't offer the promising quartet a sufficient musical challenge. --Jerry McCulley
[NOTE: A DualDisc version including DVD is now available.]
More Divine Crooners to Explore
 Haunted Heart, Renee Fleming |  Stardust, Rod Stewart |  Andrea, Andrea Bocelli |
 Follow Your Heart, Mario Frangoulis |  On the Moon, Peter Cincotti |  Taking a Chance on Love, Jane Monheit |
Il Divo are four exceptional young men with formally trained voices who take popular songs, old and new, to another level where the historic rift between pop and classical music is finally healed. The band were formed after a worldwide search which took more than two years. Consisting of an American, Frenchman, Spaniard and a Swiss, Il Divo spent the first half of 2004 in London rehearsing and recording. Some of their songs will be familiar like "Nella Fantasia" (based on Gabriel's Oboe from Ennio Morricone's penned score of The Mission) and a unique and powerful version of Toni Braxton's "Unbreak My Heart". The four principles share the lead throughout, combining to deliver choruses whose awesome power is matched by their tonal delicacy. Passion and restraint they show to be an irresistible aphrodisiac. Reflecting the multi-national character of the group, the songs are not all sung in English but drift between Spanish, English and Italian. However they are worded, all use the emotional Esperanto of love.
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