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The title of this CD tells it all. Here is one popular classic after another, some folk or traditional, some operatic, some religious or inspirational, some pop. The result in the throat/mind/sensibility of any other singer might be soupy, sappy, or simply uninteresting, but Bryn Terfel--he of the rolling bass-baritone voice who can smoothly deliver notes and phrases at any dynamic level--turns this generous, somewhat sentimental recital into something beautiful and special. After a rousing "Toreador Song" from Carmen, sung with just the right weight (most baritones find it too low, most basses too high) comes a ravishing version of "Shenandoah"; a fine Welsh song is followed by the stunning duet from Bizet's The Pearl Fishers, with Andrea Bocelli singing the tenor part gleamingly and Terfel considerately underplaying his hand. And so it continues through Brahms' Lullaby and Schubert's Ave Maria; the "Love Theme from Titanic" sung with great restraint; renditions of "Danny Boy" and "Home Sweet Home" which are just beautiful; the spirituals "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" and "At the River," slightly anachronistic but still effective; the gluey "If I Can Help Somebody"; and a few more. It's amazing that Terfel can bring such variety to material which is temperamentally so similar. Some of the arrangements are a bit sticky and overdone, but overall, this disc is a beauty for all seasons. It will make a lovely gift to music lovers of all types.
Track listing:
1. Bizet: Carmen / Act 2 - Toreador Song: "Votre toast, je peux vous le rendre" (from Carmen / Act 2)
2. American Traditional: Shenandoah
3. Wil Hopcyn: Bugeilio'r Gwenith Gwyn
4. Bizet: The Pearl Fishers' duet: C'était le soir - Au fond du temple Saint
5. Goodall: Psalm 23 - The Lord is My Shepherd (Theme from "The Vicar of Dibley" TV series)
6. Traditional: Londonderry Air (Danny Boy)- arr.: Chris Hazell
7. Peggy Lee / Sonny Burke: Bella Notte (from the film Lady and the Tramp)
8. Dvorák: Goin' Home
9. Spiritual Traditional: Swing Low, Sweet Chariot
10. Sir Henry Rowley Bishop: Home sweet home
11. Schubert: Ave Maria (Ellens Gesang III)
12. James Horner: Il mio cuore va (Love theme from the film Titanic)
13. Robert Lowry: Old American Songs Set 2 - Voice and orchestra (1958) - At the River (from Old American Songs, Set No.2)
14. Tchaikovsky: None but the Lonely Heart, Op.6, No.6 (Nyet, tolko tot, kto znal)
15. Androzzo: If I can help somebody
16. Brahms: Wiegenlied
17. William Henry Monk: Abide with Me
18. Hoagy Carmichael: Lazybones
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