Customer Reviews

Bryn: Bryn Terfel Sings Favorites

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Surely one of the most beautiful baritone voices on the opera stage and in the recital hall today is that of Welshman Bryn Terfel. He is one of those rare artists who has a magnificent voice, intense musicality, and magical stage presence. Terfel could sing the telephone book and make it beautiful.

And sadly that is what this album resembles: the choice of songs and the arrangements and friends with whom he elects to perform raises some concern about his artistic integrity. Having purchased this CD based on hearing 'Toreador Song' from 'Carmen' - clearly the finest, most highly nuanced performance of this famous aria ever sung! - this listener expected a concert of similar arias. Wrong! This is like a summer night at Hollywood Bowl with bits and pieces of all manner of songs, some tasteful, others less so, but whatever Terfel sings it is good to hear his voice.

Some of the more successful tracks include 'Shenandoah', 'Danny Boy', Brahms' 'Lullaby', and a Welsh tune 'Bugeilio'r Gwenith Gwyn' sung in Welsh. But then Terfel opts to sing Tchaikovsky's 'None but the lonely heart' in English rather than Russian, a Disney song (from Lady and the Tramp) in Italian, and for some reason includes duets with a soprano by the sole name of Sissel ('Ave Maria'), an awful pairing with Andrea Bocelli for The Pearl Fishers duet (terrible to compare these two polarized voices!), and some choral and jazz ditties. Whew!

If you can get past the pick and save repertoire here and just relax with Terfel's artistry you are in for a treat. Not for the purists, but definitely a find for the 'crossover crowd'. Grady Harp, June 05

I was listening to the radio today and was brought up short by a song from this CD. It startled me with it's beauty enough that I signed online to do a search for the correct name (had trouble making out the announcer's pronunciation) of the singer, then came to Amazon to find this. It may be that I also enjoyed the particular composition's music.

I have not heard ANY of the rest of this except for a little digital sampling here at Amazon but I wishlisted it to my Christmas list anyway. I was moved by the song I heard.

I was pretty surprised to see some reviewers seemingly ripping it to shreds. Maybe everything I haven't heard sucks. I guess that's possible. However, I did detect a lot of the reviewers making comments like they "expected" something different and I think it's possible this is a performer who has veered away from what his traditional audience expects him to deliver and so has incurred a little wrath, I don't know. Perhaps this is a good record for someone like me....a music lover...an opera novice...interested in a wide variety of music styles and traditions....without any preconceived ideas of what the record should be?

I do not claim to be an expert on opera or on singing, although I'm a passionate music lover and I do know this for sure: That man can sing. The phrasing, almost tender, which I heard on the radio is still in my mind. I would really like to hear it again right now but I guess I'll wait and see if someone picks it up for me for Christmas. This is an artist and a genre that I am not highly familiar with, but based on that one song, I became much MORE interested.
So how bad could it be?

I tried to submit my review without any rating since to be fair, I'm not an expert and haven't even heard the whole thing..... but it's not allowed. Even though the song I heard merited 4 or possibly 5 stars, please keep in mind that I am unfamiliar in detail with the rest of the recording. But I figure that something that caused me to take notice, listen to the announcer, go online to reserach the guy, find it on Amazon, and write this review.....well, that kind of speaks for itself, doesn't it?

I am hoping every possible purchaser of this album will read this review. Bryn Terfel is a singer whose voice has been touched by God. Rich, powerful, masculine, elegant, emotionally moving. His taste in music is varied and wonderful. I listen to him more often than any other vocalist in my vast vocal music collection. Therefore, I get more value out of his CD's than any other I own. If you love great vocal music sung by one of the greatest baritones of all time, buy this CD immediately. It will quickly become one of your treasured favorites. And Mr. Terfel, please know that your voice touches people all around the world. Thank you for the great music and inspiration, Sir.

This review is in response to a few of the other reviews. I personally don't understand them. But speaking as a critical listener I have been singing the last 8 years of my life competively. And while Bryn can come across as very smooth and nonpulsed occasionally with his singing it is the mark of of a lot of practice and his diction is perfect and is very helpful in understanding the lyrics to the song. Terfel is also performing these songs as they would have been performed in their original state. He doesn't change the music he just interprets it to a degree that isn't a norm for the general populace. Most singers are on a mic when they perform live you will hardly ever see people like Bryn perform with a mic because they are trained to sing with dynamics that are inaudible without a mic for normal singers. The power of bryn's voice is matched only by Sam Ramey. It is a shame if people can't recognise proper singing by a man who has mastered his voice.

On a review of a previous release by Terfel (Wagner Arias) the writer described the recording as perfect and dull. I was mystified by this as I had deeply enjoyed it. But after listening to Bryn's latest release, apparently his favourites (no Mozart?!), I think I'm beginning to see his point. Articulation is the thing. This annoying tendency to over enunciate the simplest of words, thus rendering music of a type I would expect to hear of students at a master class; Lifeless, over learned, and despite the beauty of the voice, an exercise in tedium. This fact I'm sure was hidden to me in the German language, but English is another story. One (and by no means the only) example of what I'm getting at is his rendition of Bella Notte. The word 'night' really doesn't require the staccato-like emphasis that Bryn uses to rather unpleasant effect. Another example is the over-wrought pronunciation of just about every word containing the letter 's'. Who is coaching him to sing like this? Is this the same man who sent shivers down my spine with many of his opera recordings? As the previously mentioned reviewer pointed out, perfection while being difficult to achieve leaves you with an empty , unsatisfied feeling, as though somehow an individual's expressive humanity is squelched in favour of some latent idealism. There is some merit to the recording as Bryn and Andrea sing the famous 'Pearl Fishers' duet and score on almost every level, save that of overcoming the rest of the recordings shortcomings.

Now where did I put my 'Cecelia and Bryn" cd?

Ever since Bryn Terfel recorded a selection of opera arias with James Levine back in 1996 I was looking forward to each of his new CDs. His explorations of art song and lieder was wonderful, his portrayal of Stravinsky's Nick Shadow was excellent, but I could not really muster the courage to enjoy the Broadway and other "crossover" fare he so often engaged in. Would you like a cello to play rap? I think not, everything has its time and place. Tefel's voice is first and foremost an operatic bass-baritone, and a splendid one. Yes, I suppose it's splendid enough to sing a phone-book, but it will take a certain effort to appreciate it.
The CD at hand starts off with a blast - a delightfully bombastic yet nuanced rendition of the Toreador song from Biset's "Carmen", a perennial favorite. Then a roller-coaster ride begins. Bella Notte? Lazy Bones? My Heard Will Go On?? I am not being a purist - I once enjoyed the Broadway Album that Placido Domingo recorded and a selection of Russian Folk Songs from Boris Christoff. But those albums were theme-based, they didn't give a listener a case of whip-lash as this CD tends to do. Hymns alternate with songs from musicals and film and then there's a dash of lieder (arranged somewhat over-the-top) and traditional tunes, such as Danny Boy... The absolute worst idea though was to include that pseudo-opera singer Andrea Boccelli for the famous Pearl Fishers' Duet. His strained hoarse weak "tenor" just about ruins it. If his presence was a requirement, could they have chosen something else (hint: a pop-tune) for him to sing? Well, enough with the bashing. A good thing to note here is that Terfel's voice absolutely shines on each of these selections, however misguided they might have been. I suggest Terfel fans turn their attention to a brand new (as of this writing) CD "Bad Boys" - which is serious attempt to bring opera's greatest villains under one roof, so to speak. Do download the aforementioned Toreador Song, Brahms's Wiegenlied and Tchaikovsky's None but the Lonely Heart. Terfel sings these pieces perfectly, one could only wish for more of this sort of material. Overall, I can't bring myself to take off more than 2 stars because, again, it's Bryn Terfel we're talking about, I suppose stars of his caliber can be allowed some - well - eccentricity.

All that needs to be said is it is WONDERFUL. Everyone should own a copy.

After listening to this CD I have to say I was disappointed. Although there are certainly some beautiful selections, I found myself thinking most were a waste of his phenomenal voice. The highlight of the CD is the scrumptious "Pearl Fishers" duet. "Shenandoah", "Gwenith Gwen" and "Danny Boy" were sung as beautifully as I've ever heard. And he managed to raise "Bella Notte" from a children's song to an adult level. His much softer approach to "Il Mio Cuore Va" really did it for me. The rest, mostly old relgious melodies, just seemed to disappear in the face of the above. I truly expected a wonderful "Ave Maria" with Sissel, but have to say it fell short. The problem for me is not with the singer (who can argue his voice?) but with the mix of music. It is very difficult to listen to from beginning to end and I've never liked having to pick my way through a CD. Still, if you don't mind using the forward button a lot, it is worth having!

There are some unforgivable arrangements on this crossover Cd. Even if I could imagine someone who wanted to hear both the duet from Bizet's Pearl Fishers and Home, Sweet Home (didn't Nelly Melba or Jenny Lind insert that song into the Marriage of Figaro?), the tasteless pop arrangements are almost unbelievable. Shenandoah begins with something that sounds like synthesized whale songs, or are they bagpipes? for pure schmaltz, Terfel tries a Josh Groban, turning the love theme from Titanic into an Italian wow-the-crowds. He's a sing I love, but this mix isn't something for everyone, just a lot for those who don't bother to discriminate good from bad. The great Bryn Terfel needs to exercise some quality control.

On this album, Bryn sings a selection of classical pieces, folk songs, movie songs, hymns and the occasional popular song that doesn't fit any of these categories. There's even a Christmas song (Ave Maria - the Schubert version, which features the brilliant Sissel as a duet partner.

The set opens in great style with Bryn's recording of the Toreador song (from Carmen). Other songs from the classical repertoire include Going home, None but the lonely heart and Brahms' lullaby. The two featured movie songs are Bella notte (from Lady and the tramp) and Il mio cuore va (from Titanic). Bryn is particularly good at singing hymns, here represented by The lord is my shepherd, Swing low sweet chariot and Abide with me. Shenandoah and Danny boy represent the folk song tradition in America and Ireland respectively. The set closes with Lazybones, a song co-written by Hoagy Carmichael and Johnny Mercer. I've heard several versions of this song and while this isn't my personal favorite, Bryn sings it brilliantly and I'm glad he recorded it.

This is yet another Bryn Terfel album that maintains a high quality from the very first track to the very last. If I haven't mentioned your favorite track, it's because they are all so great.