One of the year's more notable if not outstanding revelations for French classical crossover fans,
Vincerò marks the debut album of 19-year-old prodigy
Amaury Vassili, whose vocal prowess is a wonder to behold. In the course of 12 songs in around 45 minutes,
Vassili proves himself not only a gifted tenor, but versatile, as well. He sings both French- and Italian-language material, and even throws in a couple English-language standards for good measure. The couple English-language songs,
Queen's "Who Wants to Live Forever" and
Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah," are somewhat surprising in that they're both shopworn standards most likely to be heard on an episode of Nouvelle Star than a typical French classical crossover album, but that's precisely why they're such pleasant inclusions. They're welcome reminders that
Vassili is still a teenager and presumably doesn't take himself too seriously. Then again, this is a classical crossover album after all, and songs like these as well as "Parla Più Piano," the Italian-language version of "Speak Softly Love (Love Theme from the Godfather)," are ideal material for crossing over to the popular music marketplace from the realm of classical, which is represented here by a bit of
Beethoven on "Fragile." In collaboration with producer
Quentin Bachelet, composers
Davide Esposito, and
Stanislas Renoult -- both of whom are recording artists themselves, the latter best known as simply
Stanislas -- are tasked with crafting original material for
Vincerò. While the three
Renoult contributions ("Vincerò," "Un Angelo," "Per Te") aren't especially remarkable,
Esposito is credited with the front-loaded highlights "Lucente Stella" and "Io Ti Amerò." ~ Jason Birchmeier