Classical crossover has a well-established audience base and a number of smartly marketed, very bankable artists. But with a small world of repertoire in play the problem is branding -- what makes a new talent special? With her somewhat cookie-cutter debut, La Diva,
Katherine Jenkins misses a chance to answer that question or to carve out a meaningful niche. If you've heard
Charlotte Church,
Sarah Brightman,
Andrea Bocelli, or
Josh Groban, you've already heard this album (at times literally, as witnessed by the opening track "Time to Say Goodbye," made famous by
Brightman and
Bocelli), and for the most part you've heard it done more memorably.
Jenkins' voice is more polished than Church, but no more developed or capable. She doesn't have the flashy high notes or wispy allure of
Sarah Brightman, or any of the legitimate chops that made
Andrea Bocelli the only crossover singer to actually cross over during the 2000s.
In the obligatory "sung in a foreign language" category,
Jenkins offers numbers in passable Italian, Spanish, and French. Her "O sole mio" has been drained of its Italian seasonings and omits the usual climactic high note; her sexless "Séguédilla" (often spelled Seguidilla) from Carmen takes its only moment of personality from an interpolated laugh that was obviously edited in. In the "famous piece of instrumental music turned into a song" category, she offers "En Aranjuez con tu amor," based on
Joaquín Rodrigo's Concierto de Aranjuez (for guitar and orchestra). Batting cleanup in the "inspirational" category, both
John Williams' "Hymn to the Fallen" (from the film Saving Private Ryan) and
Rodgers and
Hammerstein's "You'll Never Walk Alone" will have you reaching for your snare drum.
Jenkins comes across best in "Calon Lan," sung in her native Welsh: there is a sense of expressive purpose and linguistic fluidity that is sorely missing from much of the rest of the album, and it makes for very pleasant listening.
Mozart's mostly unmolested "Laudate Dominum" is similarly enjoyable for its simplicity and faithfulness to its original form.