Really big opera!

Already a great idea to bring together these two artists: Freddie Mercury in 1991 deceased lead singer of the group Queen, in my opinion the stimmgewaltigste rock singer of the last century, and Montserrat Caballé, the Spanish opera soprano who was not only compatible with a variety of entertainment media their career time (already with a few notes could an entire betting That community for Puccini win), but also for connoisseurs of Italian bel canto operas (Bellini, Donizetti, Verdi belongs) in the front row. This meeting was arranged in the 80s, at a time where crossover is not anywhere on the agenda.

What came out of it, provides much material for discussion. A friendly opera and Caballé-trailers separated from this CD with great anger at the senseless production beautiful tones, peddling-Go with your own voice-gold without any serious artistic statement. True, a serious work is not Barcelona. But there is here, however, maximum play and disguise joy. All that is already in the songs of Queen (especially Bohemian Rhapsody, the quintessential operatic rock songs) showed classic ambitious than limits Busting, here knows no stopping. The composer Mercury grabs everything from what he has to offer formal and harmonic finesse and wallows straight into the possibilities offered him the combination of rock band Queen typical voices multiplication and large symphony orchestra. So spray and explode these songs with ideas, harmonious colors, extravagant twists.

The title song Barcelona comes with its vociferous profile and its relative simplicity in melody and harmony still relatively striking and therefore superficially. In La Japonaise it's commendable how well Mercury assets in the musical language of the signature roles of his partner, Madame Butterfly, empathize his musicians: could this really be understood as bowing.
However, My favorite song has always been The Fallen Priest, a highly dramatic concoction that beginnt- with a soundtrack similar tour-de-force hunting of piano and orchestra and then swings over a melancholy ballad-like verse to a massive chorus with stunning sound dropout. A great opportunity for Mercury, to divest himself vocally in all its self-consuming presence. His partner Caballé come because actually rather the sometimes almost instrumental run, ornamental or alloying tasks, - in my opinion a very attractive contrast.

In general, there are in this entire album especially those dominated by opposites juxtapositions, transitions and transitions which, although no longer a surprise, but rather always capable of triggering shivers and goose bumps with me. For example, the point in the play The Golden Boy, to the totally unprepared, with the words and then He Said to her using a sonorous gospel choir; wonderful as this einheizt the whole ensemble truly. Similarly remarkable I find the trick, the tender ballad Guide me home "in the clearest queen-like rock song How can I go on hinüberzumodulieren (whose chorus melody with its pentatonic type turn sounds Asia and thus a reference back to La Japonaise opened).

A kaleidoscope therefore, of different styles, moods, blocks, colors, sometimes overexcited sometimes overloaded with many spotlights enlarged thrown against the wall, while simply making mood. Really big opera halt.

These and many other CD-Recommendations can be found in my blog "Potpourri Pottis" under
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