Lesley Garrett - The Very Best of Lesley Garrett (2009)

The younger pop-influenced and tabloid-friendly Katherine Jenkins might have recently stolen her thunder, but Lesley Garrett was the first, and some would say most authentic, contemporary British female soprano to crossover to the mainstream. While she's recently gained more attention for her appearances on Strictly Come Dancing and Comic Relief Does Fame Academy, and her Classic FM radio show, The Very Best of Lesley Garrett is the chance to remind everyone of the hugely powerful vocals which propelled her from the English National Opera's principal soprano to chart-bothering operatic superstar. This two-CD, 38-track compilation, the most comprehensive of her 17-year recording career, cherry-picks the most popular tracks from her ten albums recorded with EMI, from her 1992 debut Prima Donna ("Let the Night Seraphim") to 2004's So Deep Is the Night ("Bailero"). Her more recent Decca albums may have veered into modern-day standards territory, but with the exception of Sting's "Fields of Gold," and the Beatles' "Let It Be," this 2009 collection focuses almost entirely on her previous traditional hymns, classic arias, and film and show tunes output. On the operatic front, there are passionate renditions of works from the 16th and 17th centuries such as "Dido's Lament" from Purcell's Dido and Aeneas and "Soave Sia Il Vento" from Mozart's Cosi Fan Tutti, more recent pieces such as "Brezairola" from Joseph Canteloube's Chants d'Auvergne, and several original compositions penned by Tolga Kashif ("La Violet"). Backed by the London Session Orchestra, choral group London Voices, and the Tiffin School Boys Choir, Garrett also effortlessly transforms iconic musical theater numbers into powerful classical arrangements such as Les Miserables' "I Dreamed a Dream," West Side Story's "A Boy Like That/ I Have Love," and The Wizard of Oz's "Over the Rainbow", while Michael Ball and Bryn Terfel also lend their vocal tones to impressive duets of The Summer of 42 theme, "The Summer Knows" and Porgy and Bess' "Bess You Is My Woman," respectively. Her recently acquired fan base might be deterred by its less populist track list, but for classical purists fed up with anodyne classical pop covers, The Very Best of Lesley Garrett is the real deal.