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13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great debut album, but too short, 11 Oct 2007
Premiere is the first of 2 CDs released by Katherine Jenkins in 2004 and, as its title suggests, is her debut album. It is notable for several reasons- it reached the no.1 position in the classical charts where it remained for 8 weeks, and marked the beginning of the biggest recording contract in UK classical music history (reportedly worth £1 million) when the singer signed to the Universal label.
I have to say that, for a debut album, and particularly considering Katherine's appearance, I thought the cover picture and the sleeve pictures are slightly drab, although sales figures for the CD suggest her fans think otherwise. This presumably is the image that Universal wanted to portray, although it's interesting to see the marked transformation of the singer's appearance to a sharper, more glamorous one on her following CDs.
I have no complaints though about the choice of music on this CD, other than at 45 minutes long there's not enough of it. It's a mixture of classical, opera, traditional and crossover styles, with a few Welsh and Italian lyrics thrown in for good measure. The emphasis is on classical and operatic music, and amongst these can be found my personal favourites.
The aria `Lascia ch'io piango' (let me weep) from Handel's opera Rinaldo is a piece which everyone seems be including in their repertoire these days and this is a lovely version, sung largely in its operatic form, without the vocal embellishments which is a modern trend which I think often spoils this beautiful piece.
Another popular classical (or more accurately Rennaissance) piece is `Miserere' by Gregorio Allegri. This time the traditional score is discarded in favour of a quite individual version full of vocal improvisations and a subtle orchestral and choir backing which enhances the music to great effect. At four minutes long I think this track deserved to be extended to something approaching Allegri's 15 minute original.
My other classical favourite is an unusual version of Erik Satie's famous (thanks to the Bournville chocolate TV advert) `Gymnopedie No.1'. The combination of harp and vocals make this an interesting and highly original transcription from the popular piano version.
Other tracks include the traditional piece `The Ash Grove', sung in Welsh, and Bizet's opera favourite `Habanera', sung in Italian.
The album closes in suitable style with the nice hymn-like `Bread of Heaven - Wales Victorious', sung of course in Welsh.
This is a great (but far too short) CD which will appeal to audiences of many musical styles.
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69 of 74 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent!!!, 10 Oct 2004
By A Customer
Being a singer myself i found myself extremely critical of other singers, not liking Hayley Westernra and Charlotte Church. I think their age led me to criticise their maturity but the beautiful warm tones of Katherine Jenkins could not be criticised. All of the songs, especially Ave Maria, Miserere and Bailero, are beautifully sung and well produced. An excellent album that deserves to be more highly aclaimed, and i am waiting desperately for a song book, which i cannot find anywhere!!!Please bring one out!!Cannot wait for her next album a very worthwhile and enjoyable buy.
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52 of 57 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A fine debut, 28 Jun 2005
I have come to this the wrong way round, having first bought and generally liked Katherine Jenkins second album, which is still in the classical chart after nearly a year and which won the Album of the Year award at the recent Classical Brits. Although this earlier CD also sold well, I suspect that I am not alone in investigating this album in retrospect and by comparison.Katherine does have a wonderfully strong and clear voice, with little noticeable vibrato. Her diction is also quite clear, although less so than on the more recent album. The material is firmly in the light classical drawer, with four traditional Welsh folk songs, a vocal adaptation of Bach's Air On A G String, and John Rutter's setting of the 23rd Psalm (I'd love to hear her singing the more traditional tune) added in for good measure. The arrangements (some done jointly by Jenkins herself) and orchestrations are generally in tune with her singing - on a couple of numbers I thought the backing was a little strong, and on a couple more there's an unnecessary additon of electric bass and modern percussion, though it's not over-intrusive. In summary this was a fine debut album - it's not as smooth and polished as the later one, and the repertoire is not quite as populist, but it is just as enjoyable.
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