Paradiso (general thread)

[martindn]

Oh, and I just did one of my A/B back to back comparisons - La Califfa - Hayley vs Sarah Brightman. You should try it. Are you listening Nicola?

Martin D

[Simba]

Hayley's is much more clearer, and pronounced than Sarah's IMO....I wouldn't really compare , Hayley is always beyond comparison XD Maybe if we get to hear angels, this would be a possibility LOL (and no this is not an exaggeration XD)

[martindn]

I would simply say that Hayley has more "presence", she sounds more alive, and unlike Sarah's version, I am confident that her voice was not electronically modified. Another song to try that with is Scarborough Fair.

Sarah does a very decent version though and I enjoyed it long before I heard Hayley's.

Martin D

[Dave]

Hello everyone,

I've had a look on Youtube for the Paradiso promo videos and found them all except the 5 minute mini-documentary where Ennio talks about Hayley and she about him, with video footage and background music from the studio in Rome.

So I've now uploaded it to our Youtube channel, I figured that Paradiso should get all the publicity it can. Here it is:

Paradiso mini-documentary with Ennio and Hayley

In the next few days, I will be adding to the three existing promo videos on the HWI website to include all the others (6 so far, I think!). So check back for details, they'll soon all be there and I am pretty sure they will be at higher quality than the Youtube versions (because they won't have been reconverted by YT).

HWI Paradiso Promo Video Page

Cheers, Dave

[Joe]

Hello Dave,

Thanks very much...HWI will have the distinction of having all of the 'Paradiso' promotion vids

Cheers,
Joe

[Dave]

Hi Joe and everyone,

I've just added the Ten Years of Recording Albums video to the promo page, it currently plays automatically as the first video if anyone hasn't seen it:

HWI Paradiso Promo Video Page (and no adverts i.postimg.cc/9fYxy370/smilie-big-grin.gif )

We now have four promo videos there, with more to come and I've updated all the video titles to make it more obvious what is in each video.

Cheers, Dave

[Richard]

Thanks Dave!

I'll repost the link on our Facebook page.

Richard

[jimg]

A rather odd, IMHO, review in Limelight Magazine.
It seems to me he likes it but dosn't think he should.

Link. t.co/B1dqNEC

Hayley’s big coup: Westenra teams up with Morricone.

It’s been a charmed career so far for Hayley Westenra. At the age of 16, her crossover album Pure became the fastest selling album in the history of the classical charts, fuelled by Westenra’s blend of choirgirl voice and angelic looks. That was 2003, this is now, and the 23-year-old Westenra, after a stint with crossover hotties Celtic Woman, has scored an astonishing coup in getting Ennio Morricone to provide new bespoke arrangements for an album of his songs.

The classic theme from The Mission has been given lyrics for the first time (penned by Westenra), reemerging as Whispers in a Dream alongside tracks freshly squeezed from Cinema Paradiso, Once Upon a Time in the West etc. All these arrangements are conducted by Morricone with his 120-piece orchestra, the Sinfonietta di Roma – no synthesized strings here. Westenra’s voice has retained all its fabled choirgirl purity; and although it’s far from smooth across its range, she is always pitch-perfect, which is all you need for melodies that basically sell themselves. The final result is as schmaltzy as all get-out, but Westenra deserves plaudits for pushing the boundaries of the crossover canon beyond Danny Boy and You Raise Me Up.

[comet]

schmaltzy as all get-out,


euch !

That just made me squirm !

[Libby]

What on earth does that mean, anyway?

And where in this album is her voice not smooth?

[Libby]

On the German Amazon page, they have a version that looks like the German/European version of Paradiso. The label is Decca Switzerland. It is not listed as an import. The released date is the same as the UK, August 29.

Here it is (via Google translate):

translate.google.com/translate?js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&layout=2&eotf=1&sl=de&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.de%2FParadiso-Hayley-Westenra%2Fdp%2FB004VPHPQ2%2Fref%3Dpd_sim_sbs_m_1&act=url

I checked the France and Italy Amazon sites, too. France lists it as an import, released on Sept. 6. Italy does not list it, and all her other releases listed appear to be from Germany. So it's not looking like there'll be a special version for each European country. Probably just Germany.

[Simba]

Btw...you guys were all right about the Whispers in the dream music video (how much ever I tried to defend it) XD....I just watched the Wuthering Heights one and Both sides now, my goodness how perfect they were.....

[Libby]

I like the video very much now, actually. Even though it doesn't really seem to illustrate what she's singing, it's still a very nice video.

[Libby]

Now, the German Amazon site says the release date is August 30, and the label just says "Decca (Universal)", and nothing about Switzerland.

So, I guess we can assume this is accurate. What I'm not sure about is whether to call it the German version, the European version, or what? I'd like to make a thread for it, but I want to be accurate. And I'm not sure if the import that France is showing is the UK or German version. If it's the German, then I guess that one would be the European version.

[Libby]

Since nobody seems to have any objections or input, I'm going to make a thread for the German/European release of Paradiso. Not that anybody'll notice.