Giorgia Fumanti - From My Heart (2007)

Frequently presented as the female Andrea Bocelli, the multi-lingual Italian born soprano offered a remarkably beautiful and diverse collection for her major-label affiliated debut (after 2004's independently released Like a Dream). Singing English impeccably and without an accent, she not only pays glorious homage to Barbra Streisand on "I've Dreamed of You," she nearly surpasses her idol's subtle emotional power. Giorgia Fumanti also charms in her own language throughout the disc, on the soaring and percussive, choir enhanced "Espiritu," her heartbreaking and flawless translation of Sting's "Fields of Gold" (here titled "Campi d'Oro") and especially on three themes by Italian film composer Ennio Morricone. Fumanti shows off her stunning high range over the orchestral swells of "Your Love (Theme from Once Upon a Time in the West)" and the tender and romantic "A Rose Among Thorns" (from The Mission). Her soothing and dreamy twist on "Cinema Paradiso" completes this Morricone trilogy with magical sweetness. Aside from her vocal range and dynamics, the most remarkable aspect of this collection is the way she adapts so gracefully to both monstrously busy and sparse arrangements. The bigger productions by producer Craig Leon are exciting, but the tracks that endure are the ones where all the power emanates from the emotions Fumanti draws from a voice that ultimately defies easy adjectives.