Reviewed by Steven Whitehead

This is a strange album. Stuart Pendred is an accomplished singer with a pleasant voice who, to misquote Eric Morecambe, gets all the right notes in the right places. But here, on 'Benedizioni', he presents 12 worship songs in an operatic style, even down to singing some of them in Italian. As I say, Pendred sings well but I do not think that he has the vocal strength to pull this off. He is, to my mind, more of a Gilbert & Sullivan tenor than a Grand Operatic tenor. (This is not a snide put-down, I am a great admirer of G&S.) What we get are pleasant, easy going renditions of 12 worship songs, with 11 of them being sung in Italian. The exception is "Amazing Grace" although, in truth, the music world does not really need another version of this classic hymn in English or Italian. The Redmans' "Let My Words Be Few" becomes "Non Piu' Parole", and "Face Down" is now "Santo Timore", then there is "Pace Al Mio Cuore" which you may know as "It Is Well With My Soul". It is an interesting idea that does not quite work for me but then I prefer my opera to be red-blooded and loud, though this may appeal to MOR worshippers who understand Italian or who like bland background music with a spiritual dimension. That's my mum's Christmas present sorted then.

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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