Modern Arias by British Tenor Tony Henry

A Review of Tony Henry's 2003 CD Turning Pop Songs into Opera Arias

May 25, 2009

With the surge of interest in Paul Potts and Susan Boyle, a 2003 CD by Tony Henry deserves a second look. Songs such as Without You, Delilah, and Yesterday go operatic.

The enormous interest generated by Susan Boyle and Paul Potts (evidenced by Youtube viewings alone) is not so much for classical music but for the beauty of the human voice in flight. It is, then, perhaps timely to revive an interest in another unlikely hero of the voice, Tony Henry, with a review of his 2003 CD Modern Arias.

Tony Henry’s Background

Like Paul Potts and Susan Boyle, Henry comes from a humble background, his talent was recognized in a lucky break and he went on to achieve a certain amount of fame. In the Mail on Sunday, Katie Nicholl reveals that he was one of a family of five children raised in a Hertfordshire council estate.

He initially worked in a restaurant, went to London and trained as a singer and actor, and then took some singing gigs in the restaurant where he was heard by some record producers, who signed him. His successes include singing at Buckingham Palace, singing at the FA Cup Final and appearances at the Albert Hall.

Tony Henry’s first effort was a risky ‘cross-over’ offering: it certainly would not have satisfied opera lovers, may have thoroughly disenchanted pop fans, and yet would have won hearts among the present enormous following of Paul Potts and Susan Boyle.

Henry, aided and abetted by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, has devised a devilish scheme to bring opera to the masses. He has taken a strange mix of pop songs and rendered them in a brawny, extroverted operatic tenor style that transforms them and makes them near unrecognizable.

To further confound the listener, the songs have been translated into the lingua franca of opera, Italian. The arrangements performed by the Royal Philharmonic are tweaked to add a touch of Mozart or Rossini. The effect is a little tongue-in-cheek and comical: the opening bars of the 4th track La Nostra Favola are broadly reminiscent of a cheeky Figaro aria and then Henry’s melody line makes it clear that the listener is being treated to the most unlikely rendition of Tom Jones’ old faithful, Delilah.

The song is quite effective and perhaps suggests there is a fine line between musical traditions. Here the plot line of Delilah is as melodramatic as any opera and Henry’s ebullient vocal style brings the melody solidly into line with comic opera.

Tony Henry’s Rendition of Without You, All By Myself and I Want to Know What Love Is

Henry’s lower register is a resonant, almost gravelly tone but when he leaps into his upper register the power and astonishing beauty of his voice is revealed. His choice of Harry Nilson’s Without You, Eric Carmen’s All By Myself and Foreigner’s I want to Know What Love Is was inspired. Each has a punchy chorus that soars into life and gives Henry a chance to show what an operatic delivery can do for a simple melody. The songs are transformed and the Italian lyrics add a lushness, even if most listeners will be busily translating into the ‘old’ lyrics.

Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word

In his rendition of Elton John’s Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word, it is perhaps this move to Italian that excites as much as the vocals. They seem so right! Listeners will find themselves echoing the title line la parola piu difficile to savour its sweetness.

Some tracks suggest that they will be excellent subjects for Tony Henry’s operatic treatment, but don’t realize the expectation. While they are pleasant and most people will enjoy them, Roberta Flack’s The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face, Aznavour’s She and the all-time Beatle classic Yesterday are a little disappointing. To analyse the problem, it may be that the songs are too slow and gentle in their style to allow Henry to unpack the power of his voice. They tend to sound rather labored as he plods along in the lower register.

Other tracks include Hero, Something Inside So Strong, Everybody Hurts, Whatever You Want, Seach for the Hero, and (rather strangely) O Solo Mio.

The CD certainly is an interesting concept – the reverse of the much earlier Mozartmania, which took popular classical pieces by Mozart and gave them a pop treatment. The entire CD is very listenable, holds a few surprises and was a justifiable excursion. Henry’s second CD of this nature, Modern Classics, includes such pop standards as Whiter Shade of Pale, and We will Rock You. Whether the world has had enough of this cross-over genre will be revealed in the record store sales.

The copyright of the article Modern Arias by British Tenor Tony Henry in Opera Stars is owned by James Parsons. Permission to republish Modern Arias by British Tenor Tony Henry in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.