The Essential Canadian Brass

Title: The Essential Canadian Brass Artist: The Canadian Brass Date: 1991 Style — Classical crossover Mood — happy, jovial, quirky Good for — relaxing, chilling out in an energetic sort of way A fun mixture of classical, pop, and jazz elements. I was very impressed with Canadian Brass’s Zarathustra Fanfare which almost fooled me into [...]

Read Full Post »

At Home With Friends

Title: At Home with Friends Artist: Joshua Bell Date: 2009 The idea is appealing . . . renovate your Manhattan apartment with a professional yet intimate sound stage and invite your friends to perform with you. That is exactly what Joshua Bell did, and it works well, especially if you have friends like Sting, Tiempo [...]

Read Full Post »

Il Divo

Cover of Il DivoTitle: Il Divo Artist: Il Divo Date: 2005 I’ve always found classical crossover to be a strange world. Sometimes it’s really classical. Sometimes it’s really more pop. I’d call Il Divo opera-lite, with this album consisting mostly of pop songs sung in an opera style. Good if you want something sweet, romantic, [...]

Read Full Post »

One Chance

Cover of Paul Potts [United Kingdom]: One ChanceTitle: One Chance Artist: Paul Potts Date: 2007 I have to admit I’m not really into American Idol or Britain’s Got Talent, but I made the exception for Paul Potts. His strengths: the high end of his tenor range. There’s just a sweet spot there where his voice [...]

Read Full Post »