Word: nessun
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Three years ago, Michael Bolton had a fortunate epiphany. Sharing a stage with Luciano Pavarotti at an Italian benefit concert, Bolton heard the First Tenor sing Puccini's Nessun dorma. The experience left the pop balladeer "overwhelmed by the emotional depth of this great music." Now Bolton has recorded My Secret Passion: The Arias (Sony Classical), a collection of 10 popular arias and a duet from La Boheme on which he is joined by no less a luminary than soprano Renee Fleming...
...lazy greed. What was wonderful in Rome in 1990 was awful in L.A. as Luciano Pavarotti, Placido Domingo and Jose Carreras sight-read their way through arias and show tunes on a set that included a waterfall. And no, the Brindisi from La Traviata -- the sequel's intended Nessun dorma -- did not fly to the top of the charts...
...worldwide saw the television broadcasts. The record turned into by far the best-selling classical album of all time (total sales: around 10 million, and still going strong); only a dozen or so albums of any description have sold more copies. The program's most popular aria, Puccini's Nessun dorma, became a fight song not only for the World Cup competition but also for record buyers everywhere, who used it as an anthem to get them onto the freeway in the morning or ready to confront the boss. All'alba vincero (At dawn I shall...
...spaghetti or a swear word." Commercials that ran during soccer matches on cable TV's ESPN started the hype. A music video that will air around the world shows the singers gleefully kicking around a soccer ball and singing what the backers hope will be the new Nessun dorma: the brindisi, or drinking song, from Verdi's La Traviata. (The promoters have not forgotten their prize song; Pavarotti will sing it just before the final medley...
...Russell was made for Aria. The music is Nessun dorma from Puccini's Turandot; the images are the last frenetic dreams of a dying woman. Ancient astral priests dress her for a mysterious ritual: paint on her body, diamonds on the soles of her feet, finally a branding iron pressed to her lips. A rude flash, and we see the scene of a car accident. The jewels are mortal wounds, the priests surgeons, the vision one of hope and fear for the unknown world that follows death. Visually, Russell's sequence is pitched at see above high- see. Emotionally...