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CD: Lesley Garrett: When I Fall In Love
Review

CD: Lesley Garrett: When I Fall In Love

By Damian Madden
April 5 2007

English soprano Lesley Garrett’s new album, When I Fall in Love is her first CD of new material in three years and features a collection of hand-picked love songs that each have a personal resonance for Garrett. Lavishly produced and recorded by Tolga Kashif, When I Fall in Love is sure to please diehard Garrett fans, however it may not find the wider success it seems to be craving.

Garrett is probably Britain’s most popular soprano. Working in TV, opera, musicals, concerts and in the studio, she has carved out an extremely successful career that has seen her tour the world and perform to millions.Already with eleven solo CDs to her name, including the Gramophoneaward-winning Soprano in Red, she is now (as most classicalartists seem to be doing) turning her hand to performing more pop orientated music.

Indeed, the 12 songs on When I Fall in Love have all been drawn from the popular songbook and include iconic ballads of the late 20th centurysuch as What aWonderful World, Moon River and The Way We Were, the show standard title song, Cole Porter’s In the Still of the Night and French heartstoppers Ne Me Quitte Pas and La Mer.

Garrett’s personal connection to the songs is evidenced in the way she throws herself into the performances, and in attempting to put her own spin on the tunes. However, some of the songs (such as Where Do I Begin) seem to have been picked only because of their personal significance and not because they suit Garrett’s voice. This is a real shame as often her beautiful and bell-like soprano (and she does have a wonderful voice) seems ill-suited to the material and as a result she is unable to truly connect, resulting in a standard showroom cover.

CD: Lesley Garrett: When I Fall In Love

Where the album cannot be faulted is in the production andarranging of Tolga Kashif. Listening to what has been achieved on analbum like this you quickly realise that there is no excuse for a lotof the under-produced dross passed off as orchestration these days.The music on this album is lush and warm, with every musical nuance extracted from the source material. It is a true joy to listen to and when combined with the angelic tones of Garrett’s voice, creates a lovely CD of background music - to accompany a romanticcandlelit dinner maybe. If this is the intention, the album is a success. Just don’t expect it to leave any lastingimpact.

The CD is out now through Universal Music. Keep listening to StageCast in the coming weeks as we feature an interview with Lesley Garrett.

 

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