Universal Classics
have hitched their star to the Norwegian
vocalist Sissel. This is her second
CD for them. The first ‘Sissel’ (440064412-2)
did well and it was only a matter of
time before a second appeared.
After the trademark
love ballad Wait a While there
are various classically originated songs
in Jorge Calandrelli's gold-dripping,
silver-glistening, romantic arrangements
of Handel's Lascia Ch'io Piango,
Mon coeur ouvre from Samson
et Dalila, Lloyd-Webber's Pie
Jesu, O Mio Babbino Caro
and Schubert’s Ave Maria (with
Bryn Terfel, no less - this track arranged
by Chris Hazell). In Pie Jesu
there is just a touch of John Rutter
and the voice takes on a Sarah Brightman
quality. Some lovely singing here. Wait
a While, Angel Rays and Someone
Like You are popular ballads closely
related to the hit song Reflection
from Mulan sung by Lea Salonga.
Sissel does this peachily and without
a hint of vibrato, intimately breathy,
closely miked. Not for classical purists
it is well done in the pattern of Carly
Simon and Celine Dion but with a consummate
purity of voice and clean strato-cirrus
heights. Nice work from guitarists Michael
Thompson in the John Barry-like Someone
Like You and Sissel induces a real
frisson time after time in this track
- magical. Tristezze uses a famous
Chopin melody, queasily supercharged
and sets Italian lyrics to it. In Angel
Rays and again in Beyond Imagination
(the latter over-synthesised) Sissel
coasts very close to her Gaelic 'sister'
the similarly blessed Karen Matheson.
But for the accident of time and place
Matheson could have followed Sissel’s
track rather than hitching her glimmeringly
bright star to Capercaillie. While she
lacks the guttural hoarseness of Rita
Connolly there are parallels there too.
If Oblivion takes us down an
agreeable road towards 1950s romantic
films You Raise Me Up with its
mix of Moon River echoes and
Scottish ballads in a supercharged commercial
arrangement does not quite work. The
thirteenth and last track on the album
is Deborah’s Theme from Morricone’s
Once Upon a Time in America.
Again it is a highly skilled and lustrous
Calandrelli ‘paint job’ and Sissel’s
role is a vocalise.
There are some lovely
tracks here but we do rather get a sugar
overload in the classical arrangements
- why tamper with the originals? Then
again Sissel does not have the trademark
classical voice (or at least not on
this evidence). This album is not pitched
at the classical market but at that
popular hinterland between ballad, film
and classical. It is a growing territory
and Sissel’s pristine voice stands high
indeed amongst the jostling competition.
I hope the next CD will make even better
use of her talents. It would be good
to have mix some Disney ballads such
as Reflection and Belle -
the opening song from Beauty and
the Beast with the otherworldly
songs from The Lord of the Rings
films - especially Gollum’s Song.
Rob Barnett
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Sissel (vocals) 
