Charlotte Church - In Jerusalem

Starring:Charlotte Church, Uri Myles, Julian Smith, Marina Blumin
Director: Kriss Russman
Studio: Sony
Product Type: DVD

Amazon.com

Continuing the pilgrimage she began in her 2000 Christmas video, Dream a Dream: Charlotte Church in the Holy Land, the Welsh singing sensation performs a live concert from the Tower of David in Jerusalem. While no longer a 12-year-old cherub, the teenage Church retains her youthful giddiness as she breathlessly introduces numerous songs from her recording career--Parry's "Jerusalem," Puccini's "O Mio Babbino Caro," Andrew Lloyd Webber's "Pie Jesu" (in a duet with Marina Blumen), and the appropriate closer, Stephen Adams's "The Holy City." Uri Miles ("the only Uillean piper in Israel") accompanies "Last Rose of Summer," and the Cantus Choir backs up "The Lord's Prayer" and "Guide Me, O Thou Great Redeemer." Conductor Julian Smith and the Ra'anana Symphonette Orchestra perform brief orchestral interludes from Carmen and Cavalleria Rusticana, during which Church is shown rehearsing and preparing for the concert (in fast motion), then visiting various parts of the city. In fine voice, Church is always respectful, even reverential of her surroundings, and the concert setting, with the stone walls lit against the night sky, is nothing less than stunning. --David Horiuchi

Customer Reviews:

Almost Perfect.......2006-01-27

Charlotte outdoes herself in this concert. Of course she had the help of a fabulous orchestra and conductor. I think that her voice was starting to mature around the time of this concert. She didn't always hit the notes right on (off by a mere half-note), but she always corrected herself. Despite all of that, every song was sung beautifully. Ave Maria is my favorite, with the breeze toying with her gorgeous hair as she sings her heart out.

There is no doubt that Charlotte has worked very hard on her breathing and vocal techniques, which are an improvement from Voice of an Angel. The only part I didn't like was the duet with the Marina girl. Marina had this terrible expression on her face, and sings equally bad and bland. Charlotte can't help but outshine Marina. I always skip this song. I also thought that the silent film playing during intercession could have been made into an extra feature for the DVD. There was one point where it looked like Charlotte was giving an interview; I would have loved to see that on the DVD.

I'm not making any excuses for Charlotte only being 15 during this recording. This is her best classical performance, and she knows exactly what she's doing. I give Char 5 stars for her performance, but the lack of features on the DVD and Marina person take it down to 4.

A wonderful but slightly imperfect Charlotte concert DVD.......2004-12-24

Charlotte Church in Jerusalem is a wonderful concert performed in the shadows of the Tower of David in Jerusalem, and Charlotte is in fine voice throughout, but a couple of things make this my least favorite of Charlotte's concert DVDs. It's relatively short for one thing, clocking in at just 49 minutes - and that includes two orchestra intermissions. For another thing, the lighting is just horrible - maybe it looked great in person, but on video the stage is lit by some very harsh red and blue lights that oftentimes make Charlotte's tongue appear to be blue.

Despite its faults, though, this DVD does give us the always-impressive Charlotte Church singing a number of classical and religious songs, most of which can be found on her second, self-titled album. Singing in such a historically important setting, Charlotte performs with great reverence and grace. She is accompanied by the Ra'anana Symphonette Orchestra under the direction of Julian Smith, and the Chamber Cantus Choir joins her on two songs. There seemed to be a minor timing issue with the chorus on one song, but the orchestra is superb. Uri Miles, possibly Israel's only Uilleann Pipes player, lends an appropriately Irish sound to the song Last Rose of Summer, and Marina Blumen joins Charlotte to sing Pie Jesu. Blumen is greatly overshadowed by Charlotte, who had really settled in to her performance by that point. There are two intermissions, which seems rather strange given the short length of the DVD itself, but the orchestra fills the gaps wonderfully, especially with two selections from Bizet's Carmen.

My favorite songs are, not surprisingly, the ones sung in English. The Lord's Prayer is a beautiful song that Charlotte always sings with great feeling, and she quickly follows up with a powerful version of Guide Me, O Thou Great Redeemer. Ave Maria is another stand-out selection, followed closely by La Pastorella and Plaisir d'amour. Having begun the concert, appropriately enough, with the song Jerusalem, Charlotte concludes by singing The Holy City, which she soon reprises before calling it a night.

The DVD doesn't come with many bonus features. There is a discography of Charlotte CDs and videos, a set of pictures from Charlotte's time in Jerusalem (but the concert itself features a number of video shots of Charlotte touring the city), and - my favorite - a music video for Dream a Dream (featuring Billy Gilman). I absolutely love this particular song, so the inclusion of the video earns much appreciation from this Charlotte fan.

All in all, this is a wonderful DVD; I just wish it were longer and featured more flattering lighting. I would rank this last among Charlotte's DVDs, but that does not mean Charlotte Church in Jerusalem is not worth watching. Devoted fans like myself will definitely want to add this title to their collection.

Not too remarkable lighting and fast chatter sink concert.......2003-12-26

Charlotte's first concert video had her playing at the Brixton Academy in the UK. That was fine, she was full of poise and confidence for a pre-teenager. In doing a concert in Jerusalem, she nearly retains the same poise. No, her vocalizations are perfect; it's inbetween songs that she talks at a clip, belying an apparent nervousness at playing at the Tower of David. After all, it's a very historic site, and maybe the awe that place inspires got to her. Fortunately for her, she doesn't sing as fast as she talks, otherwise this would be a short video, plus it might've been retitled The Chipmunk In Jerusalem. But it's okay--she turned to full form by the time the Enchantment concert in Cardiff was filmed.

Seriously though, all but four songs are taken from Charlotte's self-titled sophomore release. The first of the two is the song she leads off with, "Jerusalem," part of the epic written by poet William Blake, which begins, "And did these feet in ancient times, walk upon England's mountain green."

One of Charlotte's little speeches involves her favourite instrument, the Uillean pipes, which has a sound like a bagpipe except less shrill, and which has been used by Enya and the Corrs, to name at least two Celtic artists. Uri Miles was the only Uillean pipe player they could find in Jerusalem, and he plays on "The Last Rose Of Summer" after giving the crowd a brief demonstration. Hey, at least it floated Charlotte's boat.

There are two intermissions here. During the first, the orchestra playing selections from Georges Bizet's Carmen is intercut with silent footage of preparations for the concert, including soundmen, light people, choreographer, the orchestra, Charlotte of course, and Marina Blumen, who comes out briefly later. In the second, the orchestra plays the Intermezzo Cavalleria Rusticana, while footage of Charlotte walking the streets of the city, wearing a blue dress and purple headscarf, and ordinary citizens of Jerusalem are seen.

Her signature tune "Pie Jesu" is done with Marina Blumen, and here we see the use of second banana done to a tee. Charlotte's clearly the glamorous star, slender, pretty, wearing her sleeveless magenta dress, and having a superior singing voice while Marina, round-faced, taller, a pit on the portly side and wearing a black outfit, pales beside her, vocally as well. Paging Gwillem Evans... (the kid who duetted with her on the first concert video).

She ends her set appropriately enough with "The Holy City," which she reprises the last verse as an encore. She is clearly at her best and most radiant here.

The Ra'anana Symphonette Orchestra led by Julian Smith do a bang on job, as do the Cantus Choir when they back her up in "The Lord's Prayer" and "Guide Me, O Thou Great Redeemer," which is one of the better songs here.

However, the lighting isn't anything to shout home about, and she could've done a few more songs that used the choir more. One other oddity. Despite sporting nice long-sleeved pink dress on the video cover, she never wears it during the concert. Other than that, her voice is perfect, even if her rapid-fire talking gets a bit distracting.

Disgusting.......2003-01-30

Ms. Church does not have a good voice at all....which I expected the opposite of according to all the rave reviews I've been hearing from the media.

Charlotte Chruch at her best!!!.......2002-08-11

Charlotte Church spreads her wings... HIGH in the sky as he sings at the ever History place... in the Holy Land to film her wonderfully done live show. Not much to say on this but "Hey it's Charlotte Chruch and she is a great singer!

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