He’s much better than even Mario Lanza, whose movies I’ve seen. I’ve got an album of his, too — as do I the other two tenors who’re past their prime — Domingo and Pavarotti. Lanza’s voice is just loud, all the way through. His diction is brutal. Just see his film Be My Love, co-staring Kathryn Grayson, you’ll know what I mean. His face contorts when he strains too much. When the last syllable of a word reads “se”, he vocalizes it as “sah,” which is Americanized, not quite the phoentically sounding Italian. Bocelli correctly sings it as “se.” To be fair with the “legendary” Lanza, he was too Americanized for Italian singing, being born in America.

I can understand the popular interest in the three tenors are waning because they can no longer deliver the goods. Domingo and Pavarotti can not sustain real high notes as Bocelli.

But the reason I’m giving Bocelli 7 stars is because of the obstacles he had to overcome, which is miraculous when you consider it. I give him a sixth star for singing difficult, and may I say, risky arias WITHOUT THE BENEFIT OF SEING THE SCORE! To really top it off, how does he know precisely when to come in? How does he coordinate his voice with the conductor’s baton? And I give him the 7th star for the ability to memorize scads of lyrics with all its nuances.

The world is truly fortunate to have such a tenor virtuoso who is nonpereiled. We must all appreciate his talent while it lasts, because geniuses somehow are short-lived.

The only thing I don’t understand is why would a man take on the name Andrea, with an “a” at the end. We can understand Andre, as in WWF’s Andre the Giant. A lady co-worker of mine is named Andrea. Lest anyone thinks he’s… Well, he couldn’t be more manly than having a wife and two kids.
Rating: 5 / 5