| classicfm :: top ten
[for Saturday 24th April 2004] |
| |
The Top
Ten
| This
Week |
Last
Week |
Album |
Artist |
| 1 |
1 |
PREMIERE |
KATHERINE
JENKINS |
| 2 |
2 |
HALL
OF FAME - THE GREAT COMPOSERS |
VARIOUS
ARTISTS |
| 3 |
3 |
PURE |
HAYLEY
WESTENRA |
| 4 |
4 |
LORD
OF THE RINGS - RETURN OF THE KING |
HOWARD
SHORE |
| 5 |
5 |
THE
LORD OF THE RINGS - TRILOGY |
HOWARD
SHORE |
| 6 |
6 |
THE
PASSION OF THE CHRIST - OST |
JOHN
DEBNEY |
| 7 |
9 |
BRYN |
BRYN
TERFEL |
| 8 |
16 |
MASTER
AND COMMANDER |
ORIGINAL
SOUNDTRACK |
| 9 |
7 |
PEACE
- PURE CLASSICAL CALM |
VARIOUS
ARTISTS |
| 10 |
10 |
THE
ARMED MAN - A MASS FOR PEACE |
KARL
JENKINS |
|
Amidst
all the excitement about US charts, Saturday's Classic FM
chart went up yesterday evening (if you know where to look).
It seems to get earlier and earlier and is looking more and
more out of date by the time it's broadcast. The week Katherine
Jenkins was released made me suspicious - supposedly released
Monday - but wasn't in the following Saturday's ClassicFM
chart.
This
week's chart certainly can't include any sales after Wednesday
- possibly earlier. I'm still trying to work out exactly
when is the cut-off date ;
View
Source
Chart
'n chat thanks to Dave Ludlow
classicfm
:: hayley westenra 
It was
during the performance of a primary school Christmas play
that New Zealanders Jill and Gerald Westenra first witnessed
their daughter Hayley's extraordinary talent. Her natural
ability to perform - alongside her evident perfect pitch -
convinced Hayley's teacher that the young girl should be encouraged
to prusue music lessons, beginning on the violin. This was
the beginning of a relationship with music that's been the
driving force of the teenager's life ever since.
A year
later, Hayley was also taking piano and recorder tuition and
had learnt to read music. A passion for music theatre soon
followed, and by the age of eleven she had appeared in over
40 stage productions, sung on TV shows and performed in major
concerts.
"It's
a great feeling... when you're on stage in darkness and then
you step out into the lights. It is like you've moved into
a different world." recalls 16-year-old Hayley,
Although
still very young when compared to most other performers Hayley
has already sung with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Russell
Watson and, most recently, Bryn Terfel at the Faenol Festival
in Wales, and has just released her debut international album
Pure, to critical acclaim. One reviewer commented, "The
variety of tunes and breadth of tone is superb, the two Latin
numbers are charming and the tradional Maori piece? Kiri Te
Kanawa would love it."
Hayley
sees herself as primarily a classical performer, but she does
not wish to put herself in a stylistic corner; on Pure she
also explores the world of pop and gives a new freshness to
well-known classical repertoire. Her new album is sure to
propel Hayley to even greater things, having gone straight
in at No.1 in the New Zealand and Australian pop charts, turned
triple-platinum and made Hayley the fastest-selling local
artist in her country's history.
She is
now being coached by the opera diva Dame Malvina Major, who
was so impressed when hearing Hayley sing that she offered
her lessons. On Hayley's voice, Dame Malvina comments, "It's
absolutely musically true. A lot of young singers have beautiful
voices but they have to be guided into that sort of clarity.
She has it naturally." Hayley's unique singing ability
and ambition will, it seems, ensure that this angelic voice
continues to shine.
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