| Review
by James Ellaby
The
question of whether Hayley Westenra is really
a "classical" artist or not will probably rage
on for as long as she is making records. Given
that she's only 17, that's a long time. The purists
may well argue that she is a "pop star" version
of a classical artist, much as Norah Jones is
castigated by the jazz police, but while both
are making such quality music and selling so many
millions of CDs, they won't really care, and neither
did an ecstatic Bridgewater Hall audience last
night.
Even
though this is the second time this year that
Westenra has visited Manchester, and even though
she had only a re-released album to promote, the
Hall was still packed, and she still went down
a treat, taking numerous bows at the end. This
time she had left her younger siblings at home
and was joined by Greek tenor Mario Frangoulis.
Ushered onstage by the Heart of England Chamber
Ensemble, conduted by Ben Foster and featuring
violinist Fiona Pears, Westenra unleashed her
weapon of mass enchantment, that voice, singing
Amazing Grace.
Some
songs have been done so many times that you can
grow tired of hearing them, and not many versions
of this song stand up to Aretha Franklin's gospel
classic, but with a voice as pure (hence her album
title) as the driven snow and as beautiful as
a mountain stream, the audience was quickly captivated
by young Hayley. However, after the poppy Who
Painted The Moon Black?, she was off already to
go and change her frock. On bounded the charismatic
and swarthy Frangoulis, whose shaky English easily
endeared him to the crowd, while his impressive
operatics - if a little out of tone with the main
fare - were equally popular.
Dress
changed, the New Zealand pixie returned to sing
a few songs from her expanded album, as well as
telling us all about her GCSEs, which she recently
completed. Her stage manner is a pleasant mix
of confidence and youthful shyness, and her grin
during each applause certainly seemed very genuine,
which only makes the crowd applaud more. It's
easy to forget while she is singing just how young
Westenra is, but the sight of her "professional"
demeanour melting into a cheesy grin every time
is infectiously appealing.
But,
almost as soon as she had arrived, it was time
for the interval, and we had barely heard six
songs from the main act yet. The second half began
with two violin jam sessions written by and starring
fellow New Zealander Pears, who stomped round
the stage by a mad Vanessa Mae. It was hugely
entertaining, but not what the audience had paid
to see. With a third dress on, Westenra was back
on stage for three more perfect songs before leaving
the stage to Frangoulis again.
He
was well received and impressed again with more
songs from his new album, and won yet more applause
for saying how nice we all were and how great
it was to end the UK tour in Manchester. However,
he was soon off again and we were treated to the
fourth and final new dress, which was even sparklier
than the previous three and won applause, much
to Hayley's obvious delight. She was even more
excited when telling us that she was about to
sing a song called "Bridal Ballad", which is to
feature in Al Pacino's forthcoming Merchant of
Venice.
But
soon, it was time to go, and she departed yet
again. Thankfully it was only a brief 'walk to
the stage door and turn around for the inevitable
encores' kind of exit, and she returned - in the
same pretty dress - to sing us a rapturously-received
rendition of her signature tune "Pokarekare Ana".
For those few minutes, you could have closed your
eyes and been sitting in an idyllic New Zealand
valley, with the sound of trickling water the
only distraction from that voice. She was back
again for another Maori song "Hine Hine", welcoming
Frangoulis on to join in and share in the many
ovations that they both richly deserved.
While
the format of the show makes for a rather fragmented
experience, and not ALL of the dress changes were
surely necessary, there is no questioning Hayley
Westenra's pure talent. Hopefully in years to
come, her management will feel able to let her
take a rather more dominant role in her concerts,
because this felt a little like a variety show
rather than the Hayley Westenra show. No matter
how impressive Frangoulis and Pears were, there
was no doubting who the star should have been,
and when she is older and stronger, surely she
will be given free reign to really make the most
of her voice. But this will do for now...
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