BocelliOnline

[Melodie]

REVIEW
Bocelli's talent is plainly ample, but his passion oddly obscure
Steven Winn, Chronicle Arts and Culture Critic

Monday, June 12, 2006

He sings high and he sings loud and his tremolo can fill an ice hockey arena. But as even his conductor concedes, many of his fans wish Andrea Bocelli would stop singing grand opera and get on to the pop tunes and Neapolitan schmaltz.

In a technically formidable yet oddly uninvolving concert at San Jose's HP Pavilion on Saturday night, Bocelli fulfilled his operatic duties for the first hour, lightened up in a white dinner jacket later on and joined recent "American Idol" runner-up Katharine McPhee for two duets near the end. "I love you, Andrea," a few fans shouted from their balcony seats. But the immediate, electric charge that Pavarotti, Carreras and Domingo could set off in their Three Tenors crossover prime was largely missing. Bocelli is more detached, a box-office and recording phenomenon who moves through a different and more distant orbit.

Part of that is due to his stage presence. Born with glaucoma and blind since age 12, the bearded Tuscan tenor stands perfectly still onstage and sings into his microphone with his arms hanging at his sides and his eyes closed. Bocelli smiles shyly now and then and occasionally hold hands with the soprano, Ana Maria Martinez, who tours with him. On Friday, he even cuddled a little with McPhee between warbles. The "American Idol" singer was only on hand for a few of Bocelli's West Coast dates.

His stage manner only accounts for part of the impression Bocelli makes on a listener. Singing without much dynamic variation, favoring slow tempos that show off his high notes and sustaining power and disinclined to shape or stamp a phrase with a strong sense of character, Bocelli radiates a uniform heat. It's sonically warming, to be sure, and sometimes the temperature rises. But there's a curious sameness to it all, the aural equivalent of those gas-operated fireplaces that flicker and flare according to a preset mechanism.

Right from his first number, an improviso from Giordano's "Andrea Chernier," Bocelli displayed a worthy technique. Even with an arena-show amplification system, his tone sounded full and his register shifts seamless. He hit his notes dead-on in both passage work and long interval leaps. His breath control was faultless. Consistency is both this tenor's virtue and limitation in his operatic repertoire. The listener is often struck by the skill of the singing but far less often drawn in or enraptured.

When Bocelli was joined by baritone Luis Ledesma in the glorious "Au fond du temple saint" from Bizet's "The Pearl Fishers," a welcome brief bout of competitive power singing broke out. That amped up the proceedings. Ledesma, in both his solo and ensemble pieces, supplied a certain heedless, headlong energy all evening. His preening "Toreador's Song" from Bizet's "Carmen," sung with the University Singers of CSU Fullerton choir, had a rousing, reckless swagger. Who cared if his diction went missing for a while? The man was in character, conjuring up a dramatic moment.

When Bocelli was on his own or singing only with Martinez, a blander smoothness prevailed. Bocelli sailed through Puccini's "E lucevan le stelle" (from "Tosca") without tapping Cavaradossi's anguish until a final bitter sob. A love duet from the same composer's "La Bohème" (with Martinez) was similarly pretty but generic.

As for the content of the songs themselves, the audience was left in the dark. There were no supertitles and no printed texts available, even for those who shelled out $15 for a program filled with soft-focus photos. It's a shame that a singer who can get this many people to listen to opera in the first place doesn't provide them with a little context for what they're hearing.

After a fiery trio from Verdi's "Il Trovatore" brought the first half of the program to a close, the tone shifted. Conductor Steven Mercurio led the New West Symphony through his own stormy "Mercurial Overture," followed by Bocelli's single best number of the night -- a suave and feverishly seductive "Granada" marked by high notes that didn't just linger but bloomed. The orchestra offered the wan "Cinema Paradiso" theme while that movie's famous kiss sequence played on two video screens. After a little Neapolitan kitsch ("Funiculi, Funicula" and "Mamma"), it was time for romance. The show's pop tunes, as Mercurio told the audience, were "the ones you've been waiting for patiently all evening." Wait -- was all that opera just a necessary evil?

Bocelli changed into a white jacket and shifted his voice into a looser, purring dimension for "Besame Mucho." When McPhee finally appeared, dressed in a complicated gown with a zebra patch on her belly, it was after 10. Her voice sounded at once a little nasal and airy in the "Somos Novios" duet, as if she hadn't quite warmed up properly. A popping microphone didn't help. McPhee returned once more for "The Prayer," a messy but stirring meditation full of parallel harmonies for Bocelli and her. That was it for the McFans in the house: The "American Idol" favorite played a modest supporting role in San Jose, with only a few of her soaring phrases on offer.

Bocelli sang three solo encores. The audience went wild for "Time to Say Goodbye," which Bocelli first made famous with Sarah Brightman in the 1990s. But in the concert's most weirdly wonderful bonus track, Bocelli sat down at a keyboard and accompanied himself as he channeled Elvis Presley in "Can't Help Falling in Love." Who knew -- Bocelli had been hiding a sense of the absurd under all that carefully cultivated singing. That was something fresh to ponder on the ride home.

E-mail Steven Winn at swinn@ sfchronicle.com.
SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE

[Signora Innamorata]

I wasn't at the San Jose concert, however I was at the Sac concert, and since he refers to being there Friday night as well, all I can say is what a pity that Steve wasn't able to feel from within what was actually offered. It was all there for the taking - on a silver platter.

And Steve, although I didn't buy one, the programs were $20.00. There were big paper signs stating that price at each program stand. Maybe you had a long week?... and perhaps nothing sunk in properly this weekend?
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[Em]

Hi, this is your friendly friend..the one and only M...thank God for that,yes? I only have a short time on this here planet and then I return to my seat at THE San Jose concert..My friends say I'm home in my apt., little do they know...OMG, how can I tell you,I felt as if HE(the only he there is) swept me into his arms...and little does Steve know, none at all..zip...grrrrr...maybe he has an ulcer..I wonder, has anyone reminded him to clean out his ears??"His passion oddly obsure"????????????????????
My god, there is something wrong with this man...!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
All I can do is stare ahead, for then I can still be in my concert seat...You know how I am,Sandy...You would call this a situation...
Maybe tomarrow....
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[Don]

I find that professional reviews seldom ever reflect that which is being reviewed. They almost always reveal more about the reviewer than the reviewee. Hopefully he was just having an off day.

I much prefer the reviews of those who choose to share their feelings and impressions from the heart. They are much more in tune with my own.

To those of you who have shared your experiences on this board, I thank you. Your thoughts are to me much more valuable than those I pay to read.