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25 of 26 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
First Class Second Nature, 15 Oct 2007
Second Nature is the second CD released by Katherine Jenkins in 2004. Like the first, the album achieved chart success, hitting the No. 1 spot in the classical music charts and reaching No. 16 in the UK album chart. It was also awarded Album of the Year at the Classical BRIT awards on 25th May 2005.
The cover artwork is an improvement on the previous album which I think didn't make the best of the singer's appearance. The girl next door look is discarded in favour of a bolder more glamorous operatic image.
Like the first album, the choice of music will have a broad appeal, for it is another carefully chosen selection of classical, opera, traditional and crossover styles with some modern works thrown in. Many of the established classics are here, including works by Verdi, Rodrigo, Bizet, Dvorak, Offenbach and Mozart, but my favourites are the more surprising and unusual inclusions.
`Time to Say Goodbye' is an Italian operatic pop song, composed by Francesco Sartori and first performed by Andrea Bocelli in 1995. It didn't achieve widespread success until a second recording of the song was made, this time pairing Bocelli and soprano Sarah Brightman, after which it achieved major record sales when released as a single.
It has now been widely recorded and performed, and this version, which opens the CD, is a song I've seen Katherine Jenkins use to great effect as the closing number on her live concerts.
`Vide cor Meum'( See my heart) is an operatic duet with Welsh tenor Rhys Meirion, composed by Patrick Cassidy for the film `Hannibal' where it was used in the outdoor opera scene to brilliant effect by marking the realization (to Inspector Pazzi) that Dr Hannibal Lector was sitting in the audience. The extreme contrast between the sheer operatic beauty of the music and Hannibal's concealed violence makes this piece, for me, unforgettable.
`Hymn to the Fallen' is another cinematic score, this time by John Williams for the 1998 film `Saving Private Ryan'. I always thought the music was poorly placed in the film, at the end while the credits rolled, so that cinema audiences were too busy exiting to fully appreciate it. This version I think improves on the original one, benefiting from the extra vocal emotion provided by the use of a single soprano voice (Jenkins) backed by choir (Czech Film Orchestra). This is my favourite of the CD.
This is another successful 2004 release by Katherine Jenkins, which will appeal to fans of her first album, Premiere, as well as a wider audience amongst the (so-called) crossover genre thanks to the inclusion of some non-classical tracks.
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33 of 35 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
WOW!! What a voice!, 28 May 2006
Having heard Katherine Jenkins on the radio many times, I decided to finally buy her CD. I was certainly not disappointed. Her voice has a wonderfully rich and full sound inherent of a mezzo voice but has a large enough range to tackle some of the soprano repertoire, such as "Song to the Moon" from Dvorak's "Rusalka". The richness of her voice adds a third dimension to her performances of soprano repertoire that most sopranos (Renée Fleming being a noted exception) cannot achieve. Her choice of songs is impeccable and she conveys the necessary emotion in each to perfection. Although her voice has a great operatic quality, she doesn't overdo the vibrato and slide lethargically up to higher notes like some opera singers. Some may say that Jenkins is in fact copying Sarah Brightman in her performing and repertoire. Although Jenkins is singing some songs done by Brightman (and why not?) she certainly does not imitate her voice by any stretch of the imagination and has her own style. Overall I think this CD is amazing and the best track in my opinion is "Song to the Moon" which is sung with such yearning and passion that it is worth buying "Second Nature" merely for this interpretation.
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59 of 66 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A voice that comes naturally, 4 Nov 2004
Already something of a singing sensation, Katherine Jenkins is the latest Welsh singer to take both the classical and the popular charts by storm. A mezzo-soprano (her range is midway between soprano and contralto), the voice glissades effortlessly between the high and low notes. Technically, to my untutored ear at least, she sounds faultless. I saw her perform at Cardiff Millenium Stadium, entertaining the rugby crowd. Even a tiny figure, faced with an imperfect sound system, an arena not exactly built to enhance acoustics, and competing with the voices of the packed crowd, she exerted a presence. Star quality is, perhaps, a cliché, but she was given a warm and deserved reception.Her voice certainly does have a presence. Listening to the songs on this CD, the emotion, the warmth, the professionalism all come across. She rocketed to stardom very quickly. Perhaps the most surprising thing about her voice is its confidence. You sense she knows precisely what she is doing and takes considerable pride in the quality of her singing. There is no sense either of nervousness or of overconfidence. There is no sense of prima donna celebrity - she manages to create an intimacy and honesty in her contact with the listener. You sense there is a bubbly, natural human being singing for you, not a distant star singing into a mike. She simply sings beautifully. You would have to be tone deaf and wholly lacking in human emotion not to enjoy Katherine Jenkins' voice. The only question is whether you enjoy the choice of songs. For many, the real test of quality is in the sustained performance of an opera role like Carmen, or in a more tightly controlled selection of songs - say Katherine Ferrier's interpretation of folk songs. "Second Nature" includes an eclectic selection, ranging from the operatic to the popular, the religious and the secular, and even the football anthem, "You'll Never Walk Alone". There's something here to please everybody, but equally, there may be songs you enjoy less than others. The marketing people obviously try to put together a selection which will result in the maximum number of sales, but the accusation then is that the finished product ends up 'middle of the road', and never really allows Ms.Jenkins to portray her talents to the full. But, forget the debate over choice of selection, just listen to her voice. She has extraordinary quality, and the presence, the confidence comes across in the recording. In places, quite inspirational, at times tender, even humorous, "Second Nature" is well worth a listen ... and you will surely find at least one track you like, probably several. Possibly all.
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