Lossless / HD Music

  The "churchman (or churchwoman) with a golden voice" formula has been increasingly often applied by European labels, but for those who enjoy the genre here's a release with a difference. Friar Alessandro is Alessandro Brustenghi, an Italian Franciscan friar and tenor who came to music after a long personal struggle to integrate it into his religious vocation. Voice of Peace marks an advance over his earlier Voice from Assisi album, and it has much to offer besides the charm of hearing Amazing Grace sung in an Italian accent. The inclusion of that song might seem a blatant bid for American sales, but in fact, the appeal of the program here lies in the relative lack of familiarity of most of the material, in America or anywhere else. Friar Alessandro has a few hits, like the Bach tune generally known as Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring, and the Bach-Gounod Ave Maria, but mostly he delves into some odder items from the past. Two of these, and possibly a third, are forgeries of Baroque works from the early years when Baroque music was being discovered: the Ave Maria written by a Soviet guitarist and attributed to Giulio Caccini, and the famed Albinoni Adagio for strings, actually the product of a musicologist named Remo Giazotto. To the second of these Friar Alessandro adds his own text, and the whole thing is nicely arranged to place his distinctively gravelly voice into a texture that evokes the antique without actually being antique. The arrangements for the Camerata Ducale orchestra also work well in this respect, as does the sound. Curiously, the friar's website lists rock producer Mike Hedges (U2, Manic Street Preachers, the Cure) as producer, but the album notes give John Fraser instead. Whoever it was, there's a flat, bright sound that emphasizes the shades in Friar Alessandro's voice. An attractive release of vocal tunes for the holiday season.