‘Il Divo’ live album not so divine
By: Brian Pope / Staff Writer
Posted on 13. Jan, 2010 in A&E
Il Divo
An Evening With Il Divo: Live in Barcelona
Syco
Rocks Like: Four Andrea Bocellis and a lot of vibrato
Grade: B-
When he’s not on “American Idol” breaking the spirits of misguided singing hopefuls, Simon Cowell spends his time scouring the globe for the next big thing in music on shows like “X Factor” and “Britain’s Got Talent.”
Unlike his latest British import success stories — Leona Lewis and Susan Boyle — Cowell did not discover the operatic male quartet Il Divo on one of his reality competition television shows. After an extensive two-year search, Spanish baritone Carlos Marín, Swiss tenor Urs Bühler, French pop star Sébastien Izambard and American tenor David Miller were chosen, and Il Divo was born. Since its formation, the group has released six lucrative albums and truly lived up to their namesake, an Italian word meaning “divine male performer.”
The group’s first live album captures their 2009 concert in Barcelona, Spain’s Palau Sant Jordi. Il Divo reprises some of its most famous songs which include multilingual covers of pop, classical and even Broadway romantic hits with lush orchestrations like “Unbreak My Heart,” “Amazing Grace” and “Somewhere” from “West Side Story.”
The handsome quartet has undeniable vocal skill, but unless one can tell the difference between a baritone and a tenor by ear, their voices are hardly distinguishable. The one thing that is noticeable is the lack of original music. For a group that satisfies such a unique market in the music business, it is shocking that Il Divo does not experiment freely and put more of itself into its work.
Still, the music of Il Divo is so enchanting that one doesn’t need to hear the applause of a raucous Spanish crowd to feel transported to an equally romantic state of mind.
Check out the band's website here.
This remark shows the essence of Il Divo’s talent and skill! Musicians that sing in harmony strive for sounding as one person. Voices that are not distinguishable for such a talented group as Il Divo is one of the highest compliments that can be paid!! Sounding as one is reflective of outstanding skill and intense rehearsal and practice. It means, also, the accomplishment of a hard to reach goal! Mary
I completely agree with you Mary. I’m a singer and when one sings with another person or persons the goal is to sound as one. Maybe the author is referring to their voices when they’re soloing. If so, then this person definitely has not taken the time to really listen to them. I most definitely can tell their four voices apart.
If you think the Il Divo voices are not distinguishable, you are just not into Il Divo. Fans like me know every note and can identify every wonderful voice of each singer. They are the best vocal group of all time. Siman Cowell is indeed a genius to select and produce these outstanding voices as Il Divo.
If this person did this kind of comment he didn’t paid enough attention. I agree with Mary, their voices are all very well distinguished. As a fan I can identify all voices, even when Sebastien sings together with the other classicaly trained guys is possible to distinguish his voice. They are wonderful and sing very well together and their voices blend wonderfully well. They touch my heart!!
Quien no pueda identificar las voces de cada uno de los cantantes de IL DIVO en sus presentaciones, es porque no los ha escuchado con atención. Sus voces se distinguen perfectamente, y suenan como una sola cuando el tema musical lo requiere. Su talento es innegable, y sus voces son maravillosas, realmente emocionan, elevan el espíritu. Coincido con todos los comentaristas anteriores. El Sr. Cowell ha realizado un trabajo magnífico al formar este grupo, que sin lugar a dudas es uno de los mejores del mundo de la música, de la buena música.