A soundtrack for life
Bocelli to perform classics from movie musicals at Toyota Center
Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli’s newest album, “Cinema,” explores one aspect of music he’s always been curious about — movie soundtracks.
Featuring unforgettable tunes from the likes of Ennio Morricone, Henry Mancini and Leonard Bernstein and with guest performances by wife Veronica Berti and pop singer Ariana Grande, the album is a natural step toward an art form Bocelli has long appreciated.
The beloved singer, who launched to international fame with his 1995 performance of “Con te partirò,” grew up listening to classics from movie musicals. He calls movies “dream factories” that don’t limit music as an art form. While serving a story, he says, film scores sometimes can become liberated masterpieces that can stand on their own.
Bocelli performs with guest artists Katharine McPhee and Houston Grand Opera favorite Ana María Martínez at the Toyota Center this Sunday. He recently chatted about his inspiration for the new album, his experiences with Houston and why he re-recorded “Con te partirò” even though he’s sung it a thousand times.
A: Did you grow up listening to movie soundtracks?
Q: In my youth I was very fond of musicals with Frank Sinatra. Although, for a long time, I happened to appreciate songs without even knowing that they were from famous films. Before I turned 20, I started working in piano bars. I remember playing “Cheek to Cheek,” a song my parents loved. But also “Be my love,” “Por una cabeza,” “Moon River” and many other ones.
Q: “Cinema” features music from American and Italian classics. Which films in that album do you have a special relationship with?
A: There are songs from musicals like “West Side Story,” “The Phantom of the Opera” and “Evita,” which are more congenial to my voice and help highlight its peculiarities. Some songs take me back to my early youth when I heard them in the masterful interpretation of voices like Frank Sinatra, Mario Lanza or Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers.
Q: What separates a soundtrack from other types of music in your mind?
A: If movies are a dream factory, then the music keeps and concentrates all their magic and vitality. I have always been struck by the great freedom, the creative potential and real experimentation that characterizes this genre. Songs have rules to follow, but soundtracks may give birth to songs with more original structures. The result is striking — almost a century of masterpieces that can free themselves from the screen, and shine on their own.
Q: You’ll be performing alongside Ana María Martínez, a graduate of the Houston Grand Opera Studio. What’s your relationship like with her?
A: She is a friend and a great artist; a simple person, full of talent and capable of conveying a great energy not only to the audience but also to colleagues. I’ve had the pleasure to have her next to me also in the recording studios in “Manon Lescaut” by Puccini and, around 10 years ago, in “Pagliacci” by Leoncavallo. She is a charming and nice woman, an excellent professional whom I have shared many stages with, including the very engaging one of “One Night in Central Park.”
Q: The 20th anniversary version of “Romanza” has new versions of “Con te partirò.” What was your motivation behind re-recording that song?
A: I am very fond of “Romanza.” I consider this album a sort of compendium of my personal and artistic life. I liked the idea to do it once again, 20 years later, totally renovated in sound quality, enriched by new versions of “Con te partirò.” I believe and hope in the course of the past 20 years, the song has remained in everybody’s mind and is part of the soundtrack, first of my personal life and of many people around the world. We’ve included a spectacular edition, with a great orchestra playing, but also a more intimate one, simply accompanied by a piano.
Q: How has your relationship with the song changed? What does it mean to you now, compared to 1996?
A: I’ve performed it thousand times, and yet I’m not tired of it. Every time I hear the instrumental introduction, I feel emotionally involved. I remember when we launched it at Sanremo Festival, many had serious doubts about its potential success, just because it was difficult and not suitable to be played on the radio. It came out in around 50 countries and it defeated all charts, holding a series of still unmatched records. As for the 20 years that have passed by, experience changes us. Today, for better or for worse, when I get on stage I have a “living” that reverberates — positively I hope — on my singing. But my motivation is always the same: sharing the mystery of music and beauty.