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When he was growing up, Andrea Bocelli recalls finding inspiration in a favourite recording of sacred music performed by tenor legend Franco Corelli. Bocelli--who in the meantime has come to inspire millions of fiercely loyal fans himself--returns to the genre as the guiding theme of Sacred Arias, the release of which coincides with the first major English-language biography of the singer. These performances are filled with the singer's phenomenally well-known vocal signature: his flair for long, sweetly floating high notes and the gentle sense of cadence he brings to a melody. It's a mistake to compartmentalise Bocelli into a singer of "operatic" versus "popular" styles: in truth his approach is at heart the same. Lack of colour and control in his phrasing remains a drawback, but the emotional empathy Bocelli evokes is never in doubt. The arias collected here sample some of the most famous devotional pieces: Schubert's "Ave Maria" and Mozart's transporting "Ave Verum," as well as an arrangement of "Silent Night" in which Bocelli tries out his English. There's also a decidedly odd choice of bedfellows for a programme of "sacred" music, such as a song from Wagner's Wesendonck Lieder (whose "angel" is the object of an overpoweringly erotic attraction) and Handel's figurative ode to a tree, "Ombra mai fu". Still, Bocelli sings with an unfeigned directness that is sure to expand his already enormous following even further.
Track listing:
1. Caccini: Ave Maria
2. Mascagni: Sancta Maria
3. Gounod: Ave Maria: arr. from Bach's Prelude No.1 BWV 846
4. Schubert: Ave Maria, "Ellens Gesang III", D839
5. Franck: Panis Angelicus
6. Rossini: Stabat Mater - 2. Cujus animam gementem
7. Verdi: Messa da Requiem - 2. Ingemisco
8. Mozart: Ave verum corpus, K.618
9. Wagner: Wesendonk Lieder - Orchestration by Felix Mottl (1856 - 1911) - Der Engel
10. Handel: Serse / Act 1 - Frondi tenere e belle ... Ombra mai fu
11. Niedermeyer: Pietà, Signore
12. Rossini: Petite Messe solennelle - Gloria - Domine Deus
13. Melichar: Mille Cherubini in coro
14. Traditional: Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht
15. Traditional: Adeste Fideles (O come, all ye faithful)
16. Lécot: Gloria a te, Cristo Gesù
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