A few days ago, I wrote a review of “Two Hearts,” Jackie Evancho’s latest CD offering (Sony Music Entertainment, 2017). This 2-CD set, more than a year in the making,would be considered a monumental achievement for any classical crossover vocalist – that it is the work of an admittedly shy teenage girl from suburban Pittsburgh, who just celebrated her 17th birthday a few days ago, makes it all the more remarkable, even for someone like myself who has been following Jackie’s musical career closely for the past 5 1/2 years.
As a result of the musical diversity characterizing this release (Jackie’s seventh, by the way), I found myself struggling to find a theme, or point of view, for my review. In order to write something, anything, I “copped out,” and just wrote down thoughts and ideas as they occurred to me, without worrying too much about coherency or structure. When my review seemed long enough to call it done, I hit the “save “ button on my laptop, and posted it to this blog.
I ended up spending a fair amount of time talking about the song “The Way We Were,” calling it, for me, the musical highlight of the CD. I stand by this statement, but unfortunately, because of this somewhat haphazard approach to the review, I ended up giving very undeservedly short shrift to another masterpiece on the CD, namely, the immortal Italian classic, “Caruso,” by songwriter-pianist Lucio Dalla.
In every genre of music, there are certain works that don’t just help define the genre, but are so challenging to sing or play, that any artist who wishes to be identified with that genre, and taken seriously, sooner or later must take on that challenge to prove their worth. Wanna be a rock guitar god? At some point, you have to try out your chops on the Jimi Hendrix classic “Voodoo Chile (Slight Return)” (although it’s probably not necessary to set your guitar on fire). Fancy yourself a classical pianist? Better start working on Rachmaninoff’s Second Piano Concerto (Pianoconcerto no. 2 op. 18), or just about any of Chopin’s “Etudes.” (Need some examples of how it should be done? Check out Ukrainian-born virtuoso pianist Valentina Lisista).
I submit that in the “classical crossover” world, “Caruso” is one of those songs that every would be classical crossover vocalist must master if they wish to be taken seriously. It has an appropriate subject matter – Enrico Caruso was one of the most famous Italian operatic tenors of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Further, as a musical work, this song has the drama and the emotional weight to stand out in any collection of vocals. Finally, the mile-a-minute tongue-twisting Italian lyrics are very difficult to sing, even for a native Italian speaker.
My favorite version of ”Caruso” before Jackie took up the challenge was by Lara Fabian. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AT82udt6j8M. Clearly, Ms. Fabian holds nothing back when she performs, and although she was born in Belgium, she spent her first five years living in Italy, and thus is fluent in Italian (French and English, too, of course). Lara does a great job enunciating the Italian lyrics “at speed” without giving up any of the drama of the song.
Pavarotti sang the song often, but I find his renditions too “bombastic,” even when it seemed he was trying hard to be more lyrical. For example, see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_m725Oxw-A. I expected better from Italian-born Andrea Bocelli, but to my ear, he slurs through a lot of the lyrics, and at least for the YouTube video I watched – from his album “The Best of Andrea Bocelli” – I found the overall effect to be unremarkable, lacking any dramatic weight at all. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MlzZ3vuDbf8.
As one might expect, one of the best performances I found on YouTube was a 1992 duet by the composer himself, Italian songwriter-pianist Lucio Dalla, together with Luciano Pavarotti. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRGuFM4DR2Y. Their performance benefited greatly from Pavarotti’s emotional weight and strength as a singer. Sig. Dalla, who died in 2012 of a heart attack, at the age of 68, was a very accomplished songwriter and musician (piano, clarinet, saxophone) but, in my opinion, was not a strong enough vocalist to carry the song on his own. See, for example, https://www.youtube.comwatch?v=JqtSuL3H2xs.
So, if you really want to put Jackie’s performance of this great song into proper context, check out these five videos on YouTube, then sit back and relax, put on a good set of headphones, and listen carefully to Jackie’s rendition. Though she sings with an American accent, (according to an online friend who is a native Italian speaker), her mastery of the intricate Italian lyrics is quite evident, and her interpretation of the song – it is a love song, after all - is nothing less than what we fans have come to expect – simply sublime - lyrical and delicate when called for, grander and more majestic when appropriate, and overall, very satisfying. I don’t want to take anything away from Lara Fabian’s version – it is quite spectacular - but I think Jackie’s interpretation of the song, because it’s just a little more subtle and delicate, is more appropriate for the music and the song’s subject matter, and therefore, it is now my favorite.
“Two Hearts” can be ordered online from Amazon for about $10.00 plus shipping. If you are a Coldplay fan, there is a second version available for about $12.00, exclusively at WalMart (online or in-store) containing three bonus tracks, including covers of Coldplay’s “Fix You,” and Skylar Grey’s “Coming Home (Part II)”, previously released as a single, and “America the Beautiful.”
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