Renee Fleming: Dark Hope

Renee Fleming

1. Endlessly 2. No One's Gonna Love You 3. Oxygen 4. Today 5. Intervention 6. With Twilight As My Guide 7. Mad World 8. In Your Eyes 9. Stepping Stone 10. Soul Meets Body 11. Hallelujah

To say that it is risky to change genres within the music industry would be an understatement. The CD world is littered with the remains of such albums as Michael Bolton's opera album, and Thomas Quasthoff's jazz album, but the new release by soprano Renee Fleming triumphs where so many have failed. Entitled 'Dark Hope', the CD features anything but opera, and includes covers of music by pop band The Muse, and Death Cab for Cutie. Fleming's trademark soprano voice is gone, replaced by a smooth, velvet-like contralto-esque sound that really doesn't sound anything like her. The voice likens almost to Annie Lennox in style, and Fleming does a fantastic job in presenting these songs with a uniqueness about them. In some case, I feel that her rendition is better than the original. Two of my favourites are her cover of Peter Gabriel's 'In Your Eyes', and Leonard Cohen's 'Hallelujah'. This disc goes to show that as long as you have a solid technique, good training, and the appropriate stylistic qualities, you can sing anything. A real surprise!

Price: $16.98