| | Ancora CD Il Divo Discography of CDs
 (5 Customer Reviews)
Personnel: Mats Berntoft, Frizzy Karlsson (guitar); Henrik Janson (acoustic guitar); Esbjörn Öhrwall (electric guitar); Jan Bengtsson (flute); Steve Mac (piano, keyboards); Dave Arch (piano); Per Magnusson (keyboards, programming); Chris Laws (drums); Gustave Lund (percussion); David Krueger (programming).
Audio Mixers: Ren Swan; Fredrik Andersson .
Recording information: A Side Studios, Stockholm, Sweden; EMI Abbey Road Studios, London, England; Rokstone Studios, London, England; Sphere Studios, London, England; Studio Piccolo, Montreal, Canada; Sveriges Radio Studio 2, Stockholm, Sweden; Whitfield Street Studios, London, England.
Photographer: Walter Chin.
Arrangers: Ulf Janson; David Krueger; Henrik Janson; Per Magnusson.
Knowing how to strike while the iron is hot, the international all-male pop-opera revue Il Divo, assembled by AMERICAN IDOL's Simon Cowell, followed up its 2005 debut (and subsequent Christmas album) with yet another outing in early 2006. Here the dashing vocal quartet--Urs Buhler (Switzerland), Sebastien Izambard (France), Carlos Marin (Spain), and David Miller (U.S.)--stays true to its multi-lingual repertoire, offering up a suitably dramatic Spanish version of Eric Carmen's "All By Myself" ("Solo Otra Vez") and an English/French rendition of "I Believe in You" (with Celine Dion), among other numbers. While the arrangements on ANCORA are lush and majestic, they never overshadow the full, passionate voices of the foursome, who have clearly become used to working together as a powerful group.
Unbearably handsome opera-pop quartet Il Divo deliver another amorous collection of European housecleaning ballads with Ancora, an album so riddled with Cupid's arrows that it requires its own storage unit. Once again, David Miller, Sébastien Izambard, Urs Buhler, and Carlos Marin bring the love in Spanish, English, and Italian, emoting over classical and opera standards, as well as some notable contemporary compositions. They fawn over Celine Dion -- who can barely contain her own affections -- on "Isabel," and make Mariah Carey's "Hero" sound like the rolling of credits over a Jerry Bruckheimer action/tragedy blockbuster, all the while maintaining the perfect pitch and impeccable showmanship that are their stock-in-trade. Fans who flocked to Il Divo's self-titled debut and 2005 Christmas Collection need no reassurances that their boys are in top form, as a recent appearance on Oprah brought the quartet into the homes of millions of potential converts, but in this age of manufactured goods over artisan rusticity, it's hard not to look at Ancora as the classical crossover equivalent of a bistro-style TV dinner. ~ James Christopher Monger Ancora Music Review Average Rating: (3.4 out of 5 stars)   Impressive
I don't agree with critiques about language variation. Classical music is much better with spanish or italian than the other languages. These guys are really outstanding and I love to listen to them.
Submitted by erhan_ermisoglu (Istanbul, Turkey)
Was This Review Helpful? Yes No 1 of 1 found this helpful.
Love them...no matter the album!
This is the first I've written a review
even though I've had the CD since it came out. I love them. Their voices are so beutifully blended. And the duet with Celne Dion is great. Only problem I have is that my hubby gets tired of their music since he can't understand many songs. I think they are beautiful no matter the language, however would like a few more in English once in a while.
Submitted by rajah_7_ (Clymer, PA, USA)
Was This Review Helpful? Yes No A BIT SKIMPY & LACKS VARIETY; VOCALS STILL SUPERB
I feel a little short-changed by this new Il Divo outing, as on the first CD, you got 13 tracks. Here, there are only 10. I expected as much from their Christmas CD being 10 tracks, but I expected the same amount as the first CD or more on Ancora.
The vocals of the four men are still outstanding, but I also was disappointed about the lack of variety of languages like the first CD. Not that I dislike it, I expected more than a majority of Spanish material in comparison to the first CD, which features Spanish, Italian, English, etc. It also seems that with the lovely duet with Celine Dion (her solo and the boy's vocals are superb together), there is a "Celine" theme going on here. All By Myself (Solo Otra Vez) is mainly her arrangement (she also did it in Spanish, as well as English), and the last French track was a Celine hit. Vocal technique and orchestrations are still top notch, but a bit skimpy on amount and variety. Even the overseas version does not have extra tracks. Just fills in with Christmas songs, and Unchained Melody from the first USA CD.
Other favorite track is "Isabel", that features the haunting Pavane (Vocalise) by Faure. I hope the boys revisit Pavane by itself in the future and do a four-part vocalise of the entire piece.
Submitted by Bill B (Cranfor, NJ)
Was This Review Helpful? Yes No Not a bad CD
I love their music, but I must say that their first CD is much better. In this one, I was a little bit disappointed because it is mostly Spanish and there are not that many tracks on the CD.
Submitted by chema34 (Tampa) 
Was This Review Helpful? Yes No 0 of 1 found this helpful.  Something new
Great Recording,Hope there is more to
come with this group.
Submitted by kbeckert1 (Storrs,CT, USA)
Was This Review Helpful? Yes No 0 of 1 found this helpful.
| Have you heard this album? |  |
Purchase Ancora CD To buy, Click on price to add to cart
|
141 
buttons below to play song samples
Adobe Flash
Email a Friend
