Audio CD review:
Georges Bizet, Antonin Dvorak, Edward Elgar, Antonio Dettori, Giuseppe Galbiati, George Frideric Handel, Michael Kamen, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Alex North, Giacomo Puccini, James Shearman - The Opera Band

Georges Bizet, Antonin Dvorak, Edward Elgar, Antonio Dettori, Giuseppe Galbiati, George Frideric Handel, Michael Kamen, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Alex North, Giacomo Puccini, James Shearman - The Opera Band

Band: Georges Bizet, Antonin Dvorak, Edward Elgar, Antonio Dettori, Giuseppe Galbiati, George Frideric Handel, Michael Kamen, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Alex North, Giacomo Puccini, James Shearman Title: The Opera Band Rating: Release Date: 13 January, 2004 Media: Audio CD Tracks: 1: Prayer in the Night 2: Senza Catene (Unchained Melody) 3: Canto Alla Vita 4: Vita Mia 5: Requiem for a Soldier (Band of Brothers) 6: Whisper of Angels 7: The Pearl Fishers 8: Soave sia il vento 9: Nimrod: Lux Aeterna 10: Song to the Moon 11: Zadok the Priest 12: Nessun Dorma

Editoral Review While their occasionally electro-pumped rhythms and youth-angled marketing shtick ("The world's first opera band!") may borrow a page from Opera Babes and Bond, it still manages to evoke the spirit (if not the letter) of its eclectic classical sources. The debut of the young, classically trained international quintet of sopranos Jo Appleby and Tsakane Valentine, tenors David Habbin and Geoff Swell, and basso Nick Garret offers up a familiar take on the crossover formula that has enriched everyone from genre pioneers The Three Tenors to Russell Watson and beyond. And if the world hasn't exactly been burning for yet another dramatized update of Turandot's melodic "Nessun Dorma," The Pearl Fishers, or--for that matter--"Unchained Melody," Amici Forever's takes on the pop side of the crossover equation are indeed promising, recasting Alex North's "Unchained. . " ("Senza Catene") and their reworked theme to the miniseries Band of Brothers("Requiem for a Soldier") in a successful, neo-classical light. If Neopolitan-shaded originals like "Canto Alla Vita" and "Vita Mia" sound like Josh Groban clones, their glorious harmonic vocal reworkings of Faure's "Pavane" ("Whisper of Angels") and Elgar's "Enigma Variations" ("Nimrod: Lux Aeterna") bristle with an ambitious sense of adventure that's missing from much of their crossover competition. Serious opera buffs may still quarrel with the daring "impurity" of it all, but if Amici Forever prod a few more pimply punters to peruse Puccini, won't it all have been worth it? --Jerry McCulley .. You can see a complete list of all Georges Bizet, Antonin Dvorak, Edward Elgar, Antonio Dettori, Giuseppe Galbiati, George Frideric Handel, Michael Kamen, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Alex North, Giacomo Puccini, James Shearman discography, or go back to the Georges Bizet, Antonin Dvorak, Edward Elgar, Antonio Dettori, Giuseppe Galbiati, George Frideric Handel, Michael Kamen, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Alex North, Giacomo Puccini, James Shearman tabs