Search - Plácido Domingo, Diana Ross, José Carreras :: Christmas in Vienna

Scaling new heights

Eso | Oakdale | 01/02/2001

(4 out of 5 stars)

"On the soundtrack to a PBS TV Special that coincided with the Christmas Season of 1992, this set reached the the Top 10 that Christmas in several European countries. La Ross, ever able to meld her voice around difficult arrangements and changing styles,once again holds her own with two opera stars. The novel "Upside Down" seemed challenging enough; Ross was able to hit the notes, while all the while adjusting the speed of her soft and airy voice to adjust to the tempo of the track. Even Ross' critics who contend her voice is too light and airy, or that she is one to emphasize style over substance in her pop work would have to concede that neither is sacrificed for the other here. Both elements are at play in a presentation full of grace and finnesse-which is what such a degree of a great performance would require. Here, she shines on solos "Amazing Grace" and "Ave Maria". "Ave Maria" is notoriously difficult to deliver-especially in a dead language. Ostensibly, "Ave Maria" is in Latin. Thrown in for good measure is her then-current British chart entry-that is, "If We Hold On Together" from "The Land Before Time", a huge hit in Japan years earlier that contains all the majestic power of an opera. Speaking of scaling majestic heights, the cut spent two years in the top-twenty in Japan and subsequently was certified quadruple-platinum and was at the time of its pinnacle the best-selling single by a foreign artist in Japan."