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25/08/2004 Renee Fleming to release jazz album
American soprano Renee Fleming - possibly the most celebrated diva currently strutting the world stage - is to release a jazz album. Fleming has long supplied the burgeoning crossover market, recording show tunes from the Great American Songbook alongside operatic arias, but a whole album of jazz tunes is a much higher risk venture. Ms Fleming revealed the jazz release, as well as letting slip that she is curently writing a book drawing lessons from her career to help young singers, on yesterday's broadcast of Voices, on BBC Radio 3. Interviewed by Ian Burnside, and playing and discussing selections from her impressively wide repertoire for an hour, Fleming showed once again why she's a publicist's dream. Apart from her peachy good looks and immaculate dress sense, she has a very attractive personality - open, warm, generous, humorous and entirely without the ego package which usually arrives with the diva badge. Though I'm not over-fond of classical crossover discs - I like most of the music covered, but find the changes of mood required when listening to different genres collected on the same CD bewildering - I find the prospect of a Fleming jazz disc intriguing. Watch this space. I caught Renee Fleming's London visit on her recent world tour, and repeat below the rave review posted on Daily Update.
Renee Fleming's Violetta in the Met's current production of La Traviata had reminded you that she's one of the world's finest sopranos. But Radio 3's live broadcast hadn't prepared you for the on-stage charisma. From the moment she climbed to the stage, until she finally left, burdened down by bouquets, after four encores, two hours later, Fleming captivated last night's sell-out audience at London's Royal Festival Hall. A Diva for the Oughties. Renee Fleming at the Royal Festival Hall: the best £8 I've ever spent on a gig. Tonight's concert was part of a world tour promoting her eclectic new compilation album, By Request. Earlier, equally highly recommended Fleming recital CDs, on Decca, include The Beautiful Voice, Mozart Arias, Great Opera Scenes, Renee Fleming, and Bel Canto. One of the attractions of opera - no, make that all of high culture - is that it's refreshingly European - unlike much popular culture, which is Anglo-American. Delightful multi-lingual set lists like tonight's, along with European football competitions, will do far more than political programmes ever will to unite the peoples of Europe. I'd wager there weren't many Euro-sceptic Brits in the audience by the time the curtain fell on tonight's show. The Royal Festival Hall, part of the South Bank Centre, has been denigrated over the years, both as a building and a concert hall. It's due to close soon for multi-million pound alterations. I wonder why. It's an exquisite structure - both inside and out; one of London's very finest public buildings. Despite criticisms of the acoustics, the sound I heard tonight, in the back row of the balcony, was perfect. And neither Renee Fleming nor the orchestra were amplified - not a single microphone was used. I could even make out every word when the star joked about the flowers she had just received. The views of the London riverside skyline from the upper floors of the RFH are breathtaking, day or night. If you haven't yet experienced this sight, you owe it to yourself to make the effort. It's free. There might be better urban vistas, but I've yet to see them. Gerry Smith
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