Paul Potts' Passione

Scottish singing sensation Susan Boyle has passed the semifinals and is now on her way to maybe winning the grand prize in the show, Britain’s Got Talent (BGT). Much is being made of how Boyle is a frumpy 48-year-old spinster who has never been kissed. In fact, she drew snickers from the show’s judges when she went on stage to sing. But she did very well with I Dreamed a Dream from Les Miz and is now a star.

Would you use the word frumpy to describe a man? Not likely. Unkempt, perhaps. And that was how Paul Potts looked when he first sang Nessum Dorma also on Britain’s Got Talent two years ago on the show’s first season. I do not recall the judges snickering when he came onstage like they did with Susan, though. Was that because Potts is a man and not obligated to be beautiful in order to compete in a singing contest?

I would love to delve deeper into the answer to that, but let us just save it for future discussion. What I want to do now is to just remind everybody that the first unlikely star to be discovered by BGT was phone salesman Potts. He has since resigned from his job, performed before the Queen of England, recorded a hit album titled One Chance, gone on tour and probably done everything that befits a star. He was actually the one who opened the door for the likes of Boyle.

Now while Boyle is on pins and needles wondering if she will win, Potts’ current focus is making a hit out of his new album Passione. His One Chance was amateurish. So I did not expect much from Potts sophomore effort. But it is really amazing what having top-quality coaching and technical help at one’s disposal can do. The Potts in Passione shows a better grasp of his vocals, most especially in how to showcase his soft and low tones. And he sounds good.

You know how it is with a lot of singers nowadays. They equate being loud and reaching the high notes as being good. Potts was like that during his first time out. Though initially impressive, this style, will however soon show inadequacies in technique and expression. Even those untrained in music instinctively know when that happens. Listening suddenly becomes uncomfortable until you do not want to hear anything anymore.

Potts has thankfully solved that problem and he now presents to the world a true classical singer with the capacity to express the passion and lyricism required by the songs in the CD. The line-up is very commercial and I am not surprised it has already made No. 1 in the charts in New Zealand and South Korea. He also got his hands on a good original, Bellamore. If this one becomes a hit then he will have his own Con Te Partiro for all time.

But for instant appeal he has some good adaptations, the Il Divo hit Mamma; La Prima Volta (First Time Ever I Saw Your Face); Sei Con Me (There for Me) which is a duet with child prodigy Hayley Westenra who is all grown-up now; Un Giorno Per No (A Time for Us); Il Canto; an extraordinarily moving Senza Luce (A Whiter Shade of Pale); Piano (Memory); Tristesse (No Other Love); and a crack at a Puccini aria, E Lucevan Le Stelle from Tosca.

Took a look at Billboard’s Classical CDs hit list to check if Passione has joined the ranks. It hasn’t but I found out that The Priests, which was released last Christmas Season remains on top. One of the most relaxing and uplifting recordings I’ve ever heard, it might just stay there till the end of the year.

The Top Nine in the classical chart are Amore Infinito: Songs Inspired by the Poems of John Paul II by Placido Domingo; The Soloist, the original soundtrack of the movie that stars Robert Downey Jr., and Jamie Foxx; Chant: Music for the Soul by The Cistercian Monks of Stift Helligenkreuz; The Duets by Luciano Pavarotti and Other Artists; Vivaldi: The Four Seasons by Joshua Bell and the Academy of St. Martin in The Fields; Greatest Hits by Andre Rieu; Bel Canto by Elina Garanca with the Filarmonica Del Teatro Comunale Di Bologna (Abbado); Bellini: I Capuleti E I Montecchi by Various Artists; and In Principio by Arvo Part.