Confusingly there are two completely different Vivere (Dare to Live) albums, one of them a `Best of Andrea Bocelli' single CD, and this one, a CD plus DVD release of the singers live concert at the Teatro del Silenzio (Theatre of Silence) in Bocelli's Italian birthplace of Tuscany on 5th July 2007.
With this live concert album the CD is made largely redundant by the DVD, offering just 6 songs from the concert plus two studio bonus tracks, and to me there seems little purpose including it with this album (the concert is also available as a DVD only release titled `Vivere, Andrea Bocelli Live in Tuscany' which is the same footage as on this album). Confusingly titled maybe, but there's no doubt that the concert was brilliantly filmed and recorded, and hosted an array of big name guest stars to make it a memorable event.
The recently constructed Teatro del Silenzio is an amphitheatre which uses the natural landscape of the beautiful Tuscany landscape, with the intention of hosting just one month-long festival a year, hence its name `Theatre of Silence'. The concert was carefully timed to start while the daylight still revealed a backdrop of rolling hills and finish amongst the coloured stage lights and star filled summer night sky.
Most of the songs are familiar to Bocelli fans, but it's the guests who really make this a special event, from the favourite `Con te partiro' (Time to Say Goodbye) duet with Sarah Brightman to the duets with Heather Headly, Laura Pausini, Kenny G (sax) and Chris Botti (trumpet). What strikes me most about this concert though is its underlying feeling of calmness and serenity, nothing is hurried and even the normally effervescent Lang Lang plays his two pieces in a restrained manner.
At the end of the concert there are no noisy fireworks or dramatic finale, just a standing ovation and polite applause from the audience concluding this lovely event.