Vittorio Grigolo: Ave Maria

As my reviews of Vittorio Grigòlo's previous albums on the Sony label clearly show, I am a complete admirer of his tenor's voice and his art. Nevertheless I put his new CD in my player with a degree of aprehension. Was this another sugary compilation of sweet sacred melodies so apt for the upcoming Christmas? I have had enough of those. Fortunately, this is a very different kind of disc. There are of course some predictable pieces, from Franck's Panis Angelicus to Schubert's Ave Maria, but most of the tracks in the album are very little known and previously unrecoded songs of prayer that Vittorio learned and sung with the priests of the legendary Sistine Chapel Choir in the Vatican, of which he was a member from the age of 11 to 14. The children of the actual choir join the grown up artist in several of them and they both sound heavenly. Many of these pieces may not be great music, but all of them are pleasant to hear and have a profound significance in the artist's forming years and it shows. Grigòlo probably has never sung more from the heart than he has here. And in an age of mostly technical and inexpressive singing that is not a quality to be understemated. So heartly recommended. By Bartolome Mesa Gil

Price: $17.98