Roberto ALAGNA
The Christmas
Album
London Symphony Orchestra
Various Choirs
Arranged and conducted by Robin
Smith
EMI Classics CDC 5 57017
2
[62.21]
Crotchet
Alagna fans will hardly need the stimulus of a review to rush out and buy
the tenor's first foray into the Christmas music market. And their instincts
will be spot on, for this is a highly entertaining and often moving addition
to his discography.
Producer Jeff Jarratt explains in the booklet that Alagna wanted to make
a modern version of an album reminiscent of some of the great Hollywood
recordings, with a full symphony orchestra and, where appropriate, various
groups of singers and rhythm section musicians. In his own notes Alagna goes
on to say 'each piece creates a different atmosphere and I changed my way
of singing each time. In White Christmas I use a soft, crooning voice; in
(others) it's a tenor voice. For me the album was a big challenge - it's
like an anthology, with many ingredients, like a large palette!'
In joining such a tradition, Alagna may be perceived by some to be taking
something of a risk, but as an annual outing (it is Christmas after all!)
it's a fine idea which other tenors such as Domingo and Mario Lanza (who
Domingo and Alagna both greatly admire) have also espoused and given enormous
festive pleasure.
This CD will doubtless find its way into many stockings and will be played
to entire families, many of whom will have had no previous interest in the
classically trained tenor voice. So Alagna and the EMI team have been
particularly wise to commission brand new arrangements replacing those many
tired old warhorses which certainly wouldn't appeal to younger non-classical
listeners. New songs, including one by Alagna himself (a fine melody for
Gentil Père Noël), also give the album a strongly contemporary
feel.
Old Christmas carol favourites, of course, abound and the new arrangements
of Adeste fideles, Silent Night!, Away in a manger, and Deck the
hall work particularly well, with Alagna choosing a style of singing
appropriate to the mood. Only The First Nowell really misfires where
Alagna sings fortissimo throughout and accusations of can-belto could be
justifiably made against him. God Rest You Merry Gentlemen, however,
is extraordinary with an opening orchestral salvo that not only could come
out of a Hollywood movie, but a major science-fiction blockbuster to boot.
But it works!
The new pop song for Christmas The Love of a Child by Russ Ballard
and Chris Winter is truly beautiful and sincere. In a different context it
could be a chart hit. But the most interesting of the 18 tracks has to be
Guardian Angels a relatively unknown Christmas song by Harpo Marx
(no less) and Gerd Beilenson. Sounding all the world like a traditional,
high quality Neapolitan Song, this is a real discovery made all the more
moving by the inclusion of a verse from eight year old Connie Greaves.
Downsides? Well the fact that the orchestra was recorded at one time in one
location, the choirs likewise in two locations and Alagna, presumably all
alone, at yet another studio does threaten the integrity of the performances
occasionally. Once or twice one has the feeling that Alagna is not quite
sure when to start singing at the beginning of the songs, and in order to
achieve a semblance of unity there is rather too much artificial digital
ambience used by the engineers to hide the seams. There are no words of the
songs printed in the booklet - surely a chance to sing-along would have been
a boon under the circumstances - and it would have been nice to know exactly
what Alagna was so passionately trying to convey.
But, ultimately this is a fine CD from the great 'mixed-medium' album tradition
and I can see it going down very well indeed, along with the mince pies and
the port.
Alagna will doubtless create many new, albeit unsuspecting, fans with his
Christmas Album and one only hopes they go on to explore a little of his
Gounod, Massenet, Puccini or Verdi rather than choose to wait for yet another
popular excursion.
Reviewer
Simon Foster
Performance:
Sound:
