Andrea Bocelli regrets selling out
May 7th, 2008, 11:46 am · 9 Comments · posted by Timothy Mangan, classical music critic
AP Photo/Kevork Djansezian
Andrea Bocelli, who a friend has dubbed “the blind singer for deaf people,” has come clean. Even he thinks some of the stuff he performs is, well, sub-par. From the Times in London, quote:
Now Bocelli has admitted that at times he sold his talent short. He said: “I regret being forced by circumstances to do things that were very profitable, but occupied a lot of time I could have dedicated to more artistically satisfying work.” Speaking to Radio Times, Bocelli added: “Every TV appearance based on commercial foundations robs me of time I’d prefer to devote to studying. In this business you have to do what the world requires.”
Dame Kiri Te Kanawa recently criticised crossover singers as “the new fakes for the new generation — they sing with a microphone”. Bocelli said: “I agree with her. It’s a pity to sing with a microphone, if you can do without it, although it’s excusable in an arena. It’s much easier without one, because you sing the way nature teaches you.” However Caruso also used “amplification”, Bocelli noted.
May 7th, 2008 at 9:20 pm
No one has ever claimed that Bocelli is a great operatic singer. So, why begrudge him a living? Envy rears its ugly head again in the guise of snobbery.
May 8th, 2008 at 7:45 am
It’s nice you quote Dame Kiri Te Kanawa since she has sung with Mr. Bocelli. I guess we all do things that are profitable when the need arises. He only said these times take away from him studying. Nothing more, nothing less!
May 8th, 2008 at 10:30 am
Don’t tell his fans that he’s not a great operatic singer. They think so. And if you say otherwise, you better find a safe hiding place.
May 8th, 2008 at 2:41 pm
I don’t know any Bocelli fans, so I don’t know whether or not they consider him “a great operatic singer.” I know you couldn’t pay me enough to sit through one of his concerts because I find his singing monotonal and boring. On the other hand, why should anyone have to apologize for what they do? Clearly, some people do find joy and beauty in his singing, and it seems to me that is a great gift for which he has a right to feel pride and satisfaction. As for Te Kanawa, I have, of course, sat through many of her performances, both dramatic and in concert. I’ve always found her cold and detached from her material. I didn’t realize she was also a twit.
May 8th, 2008 at 4:59 pm
Those few Bocelli fans that i know are otherwise very nice people, but i think Tim is absolutely right about their passionate loyalty to their hero whose apologies, by the way, sound quite empty to me because they show that he does not even realize how far he really is from what he thinks he could have been.
Other than that, i agree with the rest of Bill Keiser’s comments completely.
May 9th, 2008 at 10:28 am
What kind of amplification did Caruso use, a megaphone? The microphone was introduced several years after he died.
May 9th, 2008 at 10:37 am
Yeah, allbetsareoff, I wondered about that one myself.
May 9th, 2008 at 4:56 pm
As Colbert — correct as usual — pointed out, opera is more or less by definition elitist — it certainly was born and for the most part remained a pastime for the upper strata of society until the second half of the nineteenth century (not to mention it was difficult to make it more popular since scores, until copyright laws came into use, and in Italy that happened slowly and only in the 1840s, were kept under lock and key and badly pirated — ironically, Bellini’s were pirated like crazy — and there was no way to record and broadcast them obviously).
Bocelli’s line of work is different, for the most part, from an opera singer’s — he sings arias in the studio, on TV, he spins opera into some pop hybrid, he uses some vocal tricks that remind you of opera to do something else entirely, ie pop. I’ve yet to meet someone who decided to stay home and listen to Bocelli on TV or the stereo instead of going to la Scala. So I’m not sure he’s stealing potential audiences for opera. Even if he isn’t an opera singer, obvs
May 10th, 2008 at 11:38 am
It’s not so much that he steals audiences from opera. It’s more that he just sings bad music and sings poorly. Not all music is created equal, and when I review Bocelli, I have to make my position clear. His fans don’t like to hear it though, and I guess I don’t blame them. In a perfect world, I wouldn’t even have to review him at all, but that’s not the case.