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Cieli di Toscana Andrea Bocelli Philips, 2001
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Reviewed by Adrian Marks
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His voice does something to people. Almost all people. Oprah Winfrey reported that she was in a store buying shoes the first time she heard Andrea Bocelli's recorded voice. "I started to cry," she reported on her television show in November of 1999. In an interview, soprano Ana Maria Martinez gave her summation quite brilliantly. "More than anything, Andrea has something that is unique in that he brings this light that is always around him. And this purity of heart and beauty of sound just touches the listener. It can’t be described." This purity of heart and soul is something that critics and fans seem always to get back to. As though anyone who sounds that heavenly must be, in fact, heaven sent. Bocelli was, in fact, Tuscan-sent. Born in Lajatico, a village in rural Tuscany, in September of 1958 with a rare form of hereditary glaucoma, throughout his childhood, operation would follow operation in a fight to save his sight or at least slow the progress of the blindness. Ultimately, however, the fight was lost and, following a soccer accident, Bocelli lost his sight completely at the age of 12. A strong horseman and the father of two sighted sons, Bocelli earned a doctorate in law at the University of Pisa and practiced for a year as a court-appointed defense attorney before deciding that he was not cut out to be a lawyer. Music has always been Andrea Bocelli's first love. He learned to play piano, the trumpet and flute at an early age. As well, he became intoxicated with opera, despite the fact that other children found his passion incomprehensible. In 1986 he heard that the great tenor Franco Corelli would be holding a master class in Torino. Bocelli was accepted into the class and later took private lessons from Corelli, performing in piano bars and student bars to pay for his lessons. Although opera has been Bocelli's greatest musical passion, his career started firmly in Italian pop. With Bocelli's new album, Cieli di Toscana -- "Tuscan Skies" -- returns to those foundations with songs co-written by Paolo Luciani, Robin Smith, Francesco Sartori, Laurex, David Foster and Bocelli himself, as well as others. In an interview with TB1, a music magazine, Bocelli commented on the necessity of accessibility in the pop aspects of Cieli di Toscana. "The songs must be like this, must be easy to sing, must have some musical message to send, must give emotions, because they keep everyone company during the day, those who work, who study or drive a car, so the songs have a certain social value." The album contains 14 tracks that showcase the full range of Bocelli's incredible voice. The Bocelli-co-written "L'Incontro" begins with a poem the tenor wrote when one of his sons was born. On the Italian release of Cieli di Toscana, Bocelli himself recites the poem. On the French and Quebec versions, the poem is recited by Gérard Depardieu and on all other releases, it is recited by U2's Bono. While like a giant -- proud and happy Shower singers will delight in the liner notes: the lyrics for all 14 tracks have been included in both their original language (in most cases Italian, but there are some Spanish tracks, as well) as well as in English translation. Cieli di Toscana is Andrea Bocelli at his very best. A wildly accessible album that nonetheless does much to celebrate the voice of this greatest of classical tenors of our times. | December 2001
Adrian Marks is an author and journalist. |
Music has always been Andrea Bocelli's first love. He learned to play piano, the trumpet and flute at an early age. As well, he became intoxicated with opera, despite the fact that most children of his age found his passion incomprehensible. |
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