Amici Forever - Defined

TO CELEBRATE AMICI FOREVER'S FORTHCOMING AUSTRALIAN TOUR, THE "OPERA BAND'S" STUNNING NEW ALBUM 'DEFINED' WILL BE RE-ISSUED AS A VERY SPECIAL TOUR SOUVENIR.THE "DEFINED: 2006 AUSTRALIAN TOUR EDITION" WILL CONTAIN TWO BONUS TRACKS; 'THE POWER OF LOVE' AND 'WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS TOUR DATES' AND WILL FEATURE STRIKING NEW ARTWORK. Album Description

Romantic, Talented, and Sensual

This and all Amici albums go from my house, to my car, to my office. I find them to be the perfect mixure of romantic Opera story telling and contemporary orchrestration. Great for a dinner party or to concentrate at work. Outstanding. July 23, 2007

SONY's attempt at self-redemption?

The CD shown here is apparently the new edition of the infamous disk inflicted upon the listening public by SONY/BMG/RCA which resulted in several law suits because of its inclusion of a particularly nasty bit of spyware/malware (a "root kit") which would be buried in any Windows computer system into which the disk might, innocently or otherwise, be inserted. It was a spectacularly stupid, sneaky, and downright mean attempt to control copying of the disk's contents, and as such it earned universal opprobrium when it was discovered and publicized by a third party. The infected disk has now been recalled and owners of it (such as me) may supposedly return it for replacement with a non-infected version.

My first bit of advice on the recording, then, is to check carefully to insure you do not have an infected disk. (SONY's website has a list of their recordings, complete with disk numbers, which contain the root kit, and, yes, there are sadly a number of them.) If you determine you have such a disk you should either return it for exchange or put a note on it to warn against insertion into a computer. My infected disk is labeled as RCA Victor 8 2876 68883-2. (Further information/discussion of this topic can be found on the Internet.)

The present recording, the 2006 Australian Tour Edition, presumably is clear of spyware and, I suppose as an apology of sorts, includes two "bonus" tracks. (I don't have this copy, so I will only comment on the first 12 pieces.)

I am a newcomer to Amici Forever (though they've been around awhile) and no fan of "fusion" music in general, but I bought the disk because some of my friends are fans and I wanted to see for myself what they were like. In general, I must say that I rather like this disk, though it is obviously something quite distinct from the classical music from which much of it is derived. It is a transformation of familiar classic tunes into a populist genre characterized by strong emotional intensity, highly synthesized and sonically processed sound, and often prominent percussion effects. (The waveforms show clear evidence of volume-limiting, with sustained passages right up to the allowed maximum. This creates the effect of great loudness and intensity, even passion.)

The singers possess fine voices for this idiom, which seems partly an outgrowth of the "Three Tenors" phenomenon. A good bit of the singing is in Italian, but English is well represented, along with bits of Spanish, French, and even background Maori.

I think these pieces should be treated as creations in their own right (even though many are derivative) and judged on their own merits as to musical appeal, imagination, and artistry.

"La Fiamma Sacra" (the sacred flame) is sung in English, despite its Italian title, and tells the story of a low-born man endowed with the gift of a singing voice which destines him to greatness. It is sweet, sentimental (not wishy-washy!), and altogether loveable.

"Nella Fantasia" (in a fantasy or dream) is widely known as a tenor vehicle derived from Morricone's film soundtrack for "The Mission." (I believe Bocelli and Watson, among others, have recorded it.) It is sung in Italian, and is very fine and satisfying in this version.

"The Prayer" (la preghiera), a composed song in Italian and English, is also widely known, especially in the version by Bocelli and Dion. Here it is no less delightful with five voices instead of two.

"Aranjuez Ma Pensée" (Aranjuez my thought) though titled in French is sung in the Spanish appropriate to its subject, the historic town just south of Madrid. The tune is a well-known and gorgeous theme from Joaquín Rodrigo's guitar concerto "Concierto de Aranjuez" set with words to make it a kind of love song for a place. The words are lovely and poetic and the piece is hauntingly and exotically beautiful. (Rodrigo is buried in Aranjuez, and I doubt if this borrowing makes him turn over in his grave.)

"So Far Away" is another love song for a place, this time New Zealand, "the land of the long white cloud." It is a very nice composed song sung in English with ethnic touches (a celtic pipe and background chorus singing in Maori). It has an irresistible loveliness.

"Nostalgia" (la mia nostalgia) is a derivation from Rachmaninov's immensely popular and often quoted second piano concerto. It is a song of loneliness and longing for a past love whose music tells the story without the need to understand the Italian words.

"Core 'Ngrato" (ungrateful heart) is an old Neapolitan chestnut sung in Italian dialect by tenors from as far back as Caruso and on up to today's cohort. It complains of the lover's mistreatment by the unappreciative Catarí. It's a fine, impassioned song, and this group does not stint in its presentation.

"Land & Freedom" (terra e libertà) is perhaps the most surprising inclusion here, for it is a transformation of the supremely beautiful second movement of Beethoven's Symphony No. 7 into another song of nostalgia for a beloved place, now distant or even vanished, associated with freedom, music, and poetry. In this Italian language song, the composer uses Beethoven's own exquisite countermelody, along with his strikingly lovely harmonies. With music from such a master, how could this song be anything but transcendant?

"Mon Coeur S'Ouvre À Ta Voix" (at your voice my heart opens) is the most popular aria from Camille Saint-Saëns' opera "Samson and Delilah," sung by Delilah to express her love for Samson (with some response by him). This arrangement, which becomes a duet, preserves much of the original, and is properly ecstatic as sung in the original French.

"Recondita Armonia" (hidden harmony) is another well-known aria, this time the tenor Cavaradossi's song about his fascination with the contrasting beauties of two female figures (from Puccini's opera "Tosca"). Here he gets support from other Amici members, but the music itself is left mostly intact, except for the instrumental accompaniment and vocal expansion. It's quite convincing.

"Adagio" is another borrowing from a purely instrumental classic, the Adagio in G minor attributed to Tomaso Albinoni though actually written in 1949 by Remo Giazotto (who claims he based it on a bass line of Albinoni's). The voices here follow the interweaving melodic lines of the strings, singing the newly-supplied Italian words of a lover's yearning for his absent love, and ending with "I feel beating within me this music which I invented for you." The result of this fusion of the old--or old-fashioned--with new words and vocal/instrumental sounds is likely to be much more accessible to most of today's hip-hop generation than the original, for all its classic elegance and beauty.

"Ocean Heart" (oceano cuore) is another instrumental music adaptation, being a setting of new Italian words to an arrangement of music from Aram Khatchaturian's ballet "Spartacus." The original music here is much less familiar than that of the other two, perhaps emboldening the arranger to take a bit more liberty (a new countermelody is added to the composer's own tune). This attractive, more midstream arrangement may waken many new ears to Khatchaturian's lovely, pensively yearning melody.

In summary, I applaud this new version of the CD for its success in translating some of classical music's finest products into a form likely to appeal to a much wider audience than heretofore. It's not for everyone though: classical music purists will likely reject it as overblown, overheated, and just too remote from the original versions. Those with parochial musical tastes may dislike its cosmopolitan nature with untranslated foreign words. Still, youngish people who embrace the world's diversity and who were brought up in the tradition of rock concerts will probably find much enjoyment in the sheer vibrancy and musical pleasure here.

So, within its genre and assuming it's free of nasty software surprises, I give it a top rating of 5 stars.
August 2, 2006

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