How would you define Classical Crossover?

Nicola

Obviously, this musical genre is not really 'official' by any means, it doesn't have it's own little section in the record store, most fo the artists are shoved into the easy listening section. Some people describe it as 'popera'.

Whilst popera could fit with some artists like G4 and Russell Watson this doesn't really capture the likes of Katherine Jenkins who does, on the whole, keep to classical pieces. 'Popera' just doesn't fit as a name as it is too narrow in the genre that is classical crossover.

How would I describe classical crossover genre?
It could simply be "classical music with a contempory feel" but I think that is problematic also. Is the likes of Vanessa Mae and G4 a 'contempory feel'? Though this is part of the definition that can't be it alone. No, I think they branch further away so can't call it that. My idea has always been that there are classical elements in the songs. It could be stretched as far as a singer singing pop but with an orchestra (Josh Groban), or they mix pop with folk/traditional songs (such as Hayley Westrnra) Personally, I don't like this stretch and it strectches too far for me. I have to hear a real classical influence in a CD to call it crossover. This doesn't mean the song itself has to be crossover; the singer could be singing operatically but with a pop backing (Keedie). Or the song is classical but it is given a very different treatment such as Sarah Brightmans transitions of 'Un Bel Di' (Which she converted to 'It's a Beautiful Day') or 'La Wally' (Which she converted to 'Question of Honour'). Must important of all a classical crossover artist (for me) has to stretch themselves and experiment with both the classical and pop elements.

Conclusion then: material that takes classical elements with a knack of making it popular using fusions of different genres of music.

When replying try and do one of these lists. It doesn't matter what anyone else thinks, its your personal opinion:

Who I would class as crossover:
Sarah Brightman
Vanessa Mae
Amy Nuttall
Sissel
Keedie
Era
Russell Watson
Katherine Jenkins (only scrapping the barrell here, she is very close to being purely classical, but she has converted some pop songs and has a beat in a few of her songs, she also isn't very experimental)

Artists which are usually called crossover but I don't quite agree:
Josh Groban (Pop)
Hayley Westenra (Folk/Easy Listening)
Aled Jones (Easy Listening)
Emmy Rossum (Classical)
Becky Jane Taylor (Pop/Easy Listening - depends on which album)
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Comprehensive Buying Guide: Sarah Brightman's Discography

Doppleganger · Joined: Jan 17, 2006 Posts: 29 Location: Scotland

I would define this music as more of a movement rather than an actual genre all by itself. You can attempt to define it but there will always be artists that don't quite fit the description. You could take almost any genre of music and find the same examples within it. I guess I would define a genre (if I had to) by its audience rather than by its artists. Thus it would be right to lump Hayley Westerna and Katherine Jenkins together as their music is, by and large, bought by the same market.

This poses another question. Charlotte Church is a featured artist on this website but who buys her music? Is it mainly the same people that buy G4 or Il Divo albums or is it the same people who buy Girls Aloud or Atomic Kitten tracks? In fact, some people will buy both. Where do you draw the line?

xotic · Posted: Thu Jan 19, 2006 4:50 pm Post subject:

Honestly ... I have no idea. I have thought about this issue quite often, in fact I think about it whenever I walk through music stores and find Il Divo put into the pop section or Helmut Lotti put into classic. However I could not find a proper definition for myself yet. But I'll go on thinking about it and if I find a definition, I'll let you know. Smile

What I found interesting is the article on crossover in music (not only classical, but in general) on wikipedia. You can have a look here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crossover_%28music%29.

Nicola · Posted: Thu Jan 19, 2006 4:56 pm Post subject:

Nicola · Posted: Thu Jan 19, 2006 5:03 pm Post subject:

Thank you, Nadine! I'm glad Sarah was a top artist... Laughing

It was very interesting and very accurate. It was about crossover in general though and not just classical crossover (though it briefly mentioned it).

I think classical Crossover has gone further than what Wikipedia describes.
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Comprehensive Buying Guide: Sarah Brightman's Discography

xotic · Posted: Thu Jan 19, 2006 5:04 pm Post subject:

Nicola · Posted: Thu Jan 19, 2006 5:08 pm Post subject:

I don't think he means an audeience of the same sex, age, ethnic origin etc. I think he means that these artists have a collective audience. People that buy Katherine Jenkins albums, are also very likely to have a Russell Watson album or a Hayley Westenra album. Whoever has a Hayley Westenra album is likely to have a Charlotte Church album and so on. I think he is saying all the artists has an interlinked audience. If that's not what he meant, then sorry. But, that's also what I think is true anyway.
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Comprehensive Buying Guide: Sarah Brightman's Discography

xotic · Posted: Thu Jan 19, 2006 5:14 pm Post subject:

xotic · Posted: Thu Jan 19, 2006 5:18 pm Post subject:

Doppleganger · Joined: Jan 17, 2006 Posts: 29 Location: Scotland

xrainy · Posted: Sat Jan 21, 2006 11:34 pm Post subject:

i just see classical crossover as, artists who dont use all classical on their albums and dont use all pop on their albums. They use a mix of the two - sometimes even merging them on songs.
Pretty basic , but thats how i see it Very Happy

kcuteus · Joined: Jan 14, 2006 Posts: 172

I think that classical crossover can be say to be may things and many ways of having it. Like I think there are some people that are classical crossover artist and some people that are not that can have a crossover cd. than I think there are some people that are say to be classical crossover but there cds do not sound like they are much like that.

Like with Jose Carreras ,Placido Domingo ,Renee Fleming ,Lucianno Pavarotti they did classical crossover cds.

than you have people like Russell watson, Keedie, Katherine Jenkins, Amici Forever and more

than you have to ones like hayley westrana and josh groan.

I think it if hard to say what classical crossover is as it is what someone thinks it is. Very Happy

Stephanie · Joined: Jan 14, 2006 Posts: 66

I define classical crossover as many thing's as it is late I we get into what I think about it latter and what artist I define as classical crossover .

Nicola · Posted: Sun Jan 22, 2006 5:20 pm Post subject:

Doppleganger · Joined: Jan 17, 2006 Posts: 29 Location: Scotland