www.bocelli.de

titel:

Cieli di Toscana

year:

2001

record company:

Sugar /Polydor/ Universal

order numbers

589 244-2
or
UK version: 589 245-2
(Bonustrack: Tornerà la neve and CDrom)
or
Spanish: 589 223-2, 589285-2
(4 songs in Spanish: Un dulce Melodramma, Mil lunas, mil olas, El mistero del amor, El Encuentro)

or
Italian: 300 368-2
(Someone like you in English, L'incontro: poem in Italian language recited by Andrea)
or
French: 589 247-2
(L'incontro: poem in French recited by Richard Depardieu)

tracklist (UNIVERSAL)

and at www.andreabocelli.com (incl. lyrics and video)

Foto: Sarah Wong/2001, mit freundlicher Genehmigung von Polydor Deutschland

more information about
the composers of Melodramma and Mascagni and about the Premio Bocelli

Scuola Grande di San Rocco in Venice
October 4, 2001

presentation of		Cieli di Toscana
	right site: Andrea with long-standing fans: Astrid Eywo, Renate Bausch, Alberto Bellucci
Outstanding achievement award for more than 40 million albums sold worldwide, given October 4th, 2001 in Venice

October 5, 2001
VOICES OF THE PRESS
after the presentation of Cieli di Toscana
in Venice

Corriere della sera: "I use pop to introduce opera."
(complete article in English and French translations)


Avvenire Online
(...)
It's a resonant postcard of Italy and of the musical essence of Italy, as seen and heard by foreigners. (...). This is one of those rare CDs that's destined for adults.
(...)
Brescia oggi
(...)
At first listening the artist seems to have succeeded this time in touching the right chords - to hit the bull's eye - to elicit the most intimate emotions of his listeners. Melodies, full of orchestration, and technical perfection compete to try to make the final product almost impeccable. However, it's the vibrant humanity of the artist that brings strength to his very popular and beloved vocal style, in songs that benefit from the usual intimate accents and reflexive walks. But there's still room for sudden shakeups. In particular, that's the case of "L'angelo e il diavolo," one of the first songs written by him at the end of the 80s, that causes an unexpected interruption, a danceable rhythm in the otherwise calm proceedings.
(...)

Il Messaggero
(...)
...but the songs are certainly destined to please. A lot. Thanks to the strength and the classic components of the words, the great vocal extension, the simple bravura, the profound humanity, the "Tuscan-ness" of Bocelli, a serious man, simple, a father, a happy husband. Divo. Against his will

La Nuova Sardegna
(...)
It's called "Cieli di Toscana," an homage to the beloved land of his origin, and the source of new inspirations, the new CD that signals Andrea Bocelli's return to the pop genre. In the expectation of its worldwide release on October 15^th, Sugar chose Venice for the presentation to the international press. A priceless frame for the album with which Bocelli (...) returns to encounter pop again. More exactly, with his "non-classical music." An encounter that also represents "a moment to relax, vocally and psychologically," says the Tuscan singer himself, after the last two years of classical music engagements, either recording or in the theater. And on the occasion, Bocelli also emphasizes, to return to an audience that has followed him through pop but not yet on the classical side.
(...)

La Nuova (Venezia)
Venice discovers itself in love with Bocelli
He speaks of melancholy and love, of solitude and joy. Perhaps this is the simple reason for the planetary success that has conquered 40 millon albums sold worldwide, and above all of the passion that surrounds him. In Venice, in the Scuola Grande di San Rocco, Andrea Bocelli has assembled his record company, musicians, and friends, to present his latest CD, "Cieli di Toscana."
(...)
Perhaps it's the poetry that's missing, or the serenity, in the dark days. So the romance, the ballads, return to comfort and soothe the listener. And there's plenty of it when Andrea Bocelli sings.
(...)

La Stampa
(...)
However, for Andrea Bocelli a pop album is always a little bit like medicine to take so that he can then dedicate himself in peace to the great love of his life. (...) The sumptuous album, constructed with great passion and technique but inevitably approved, satisfies his true audience, who look for romantic songs on which to dream, filled however by a powerful and velvety voice; and who appreciate the workings of opera but who gratefully welcome that there isn't the heavy weight of tradition and who love the freshness of modern ways and current sounds.

The Voice of Andrea: Quotes from the press
October 5, 2001

Il Nuovo
"The composers have basically understood the characteristics of my voice. We spent a lot of time together to select the songs. It was a beautiful challenge. 'Melodramma' could be the story of my life, because it presents a melodic line that's typically Italian. 'Mascagni' is a beautiful song dedicated to the Tuscan composer Pietro Mascagni, with the theme of Cavalleria Rusticana within it. 'L'incontro' is a profound celebration of the relationship between a father and his son: the words are based on a poem that I wrote when my son Amos was born. In the version for abroad, the poetry is recited in English by Bono and in French by Gerard Depardieu."
"It's very difficult for a song to withstand time. I hope that the songs of 'Cieli di Toscana' really succeed in this, to survive with time."
"I have a vast audience that has followed the course of my experiments, from 'Romanza' to 'Sogno.' This audience, however, hasn't followed my during my exploration of classic repertoire. Because I really owe a lot to them, I decided to record 'Cieli di Toscana.'"

Il Mattino
"I study and I love grand opera. I have in preparation a CD of 'ancient arias' with Lorin Maazel, and a Trovatore (...). But I'm also thinking about a CD dedicated to classic American songs, maybe translated into Italian." ("because my English isn't perfect." La Stampa)

La Nuova (Venezia)
"When you use your voice like an instrument, there's always a double aspect, one from a technical side, the other emotional. However there's no difference if the whole is what we call art and that the Greeks defined with the word 'techne,' something that wasn't technique, but art. The distinction between classical and pop music becomes radical, because with the first you have to travel with precise and established laws, while with the second, you can let yourself go and forget the rules. It's not easier, it's really different. The difficulty is to find beautiful songs and therefore find composers that still have emotions to transmit."
(About "Melodramma") "A song that unintentionally touches on autobiographical themes. The story of someone who was born in open spaces and then goes away, uprooted, and despite fortune and success finds within himself a homesickness for those who are far away, and he suffers inside."

La Repubblica
"The songs for me are only about love, not politics or social issues. And loves end, so they're sad. Of course, that's not to say that when a love ends it leaves you sad: at times it's a liberation."
Does it make a big difference to sing conducted by Gergiev or Mehta, or to be accompanied by a pop band?
"There aren't terms of comparison. Opera follows iron rules, pop music allows more liberty. But this doesn't mean that it's easier to sing."
When asked about the recent tragic events:
Il Mattino
"It seems insane to me to continue to present a CD, but I know that I have to do it. What's happening is atrocious - I don't know what else to say. I'm only a singer, my throat is an instrument to make music: Celine Dion says that if God had a voice, he would have a voice like mine. I thank her, but I hope that at this moment God has other things to do. I've been at the Twin Towers many times, I've often traveled on the Boston-New York line, maybe actually on that cursed airplane. I'm with Giuliani: we have to start working again, to fly. Soon I'll return to America to introduce my new album. If the flow of life returns, the terrorists will be defeated before any military operation."
"I want to clear it up immediately. There's a piece, very beautiful, "Se la gente usasse un cuore," that someone could connect with the American tragedy. Nothing could be further from the truth: using the heart would have resolved the problems of any historical era and I don't speculate on misfortune."

Il Messaggero
"I can't hide, like everyone else, my dismay and profound grief. I agree, however with the words of the mayor of New York, Giuliani: 'Terrorism must not intimidate the world, we must fight it and return to normal life, rebuild even more beautiful towers, higher than before." I will return to flying, to bring my music to the world. And that is my assignment."

La Stampa
Bocelli, you're an artist of two world, very famous in the United States: how you feel about releasing a CD in such a tragic moment?
These events are so serious that it isn't up to me to speak about them, I'm just a singer. I can only express all my fear, my desperation. I was at the Twin Towers many times, I would have maybe traveled on one of the airplanes used as a projectile. Believe me, I've spent 10 sleepless nights. However, then the words of Giuliani struck me in a positive way: terrorism mustn't find us unprepared, we mustn't be panic-stricken, we must continue to travel and to live as we've always done. And I'm about to leave for America, and I'll return there in November, for concerts and promotions.
There's a touching song in the album, "Se la gente usasse il cuore," whose words echo many of today's discussions.
That song was written in former times for the soundtrack of "Cuore" by De Amicis that you can see on Channel 5. It says very useful things, and also cites a piece by Vangelo: but I don't want to profit from a song, I'm very upset about those who speculated on the market over the tragedy, just imagine if I'd do it.

compilation and translation: M. Morgan

traduction française of:
MESSAGERO VENETO - 5 octobre 2001

Un moment de relax aussi bien vocal que psychologique dédié à sa terre toujours aimée
Bocelli revient au genre pop
Sortie mondiale le 15 octobre du dernier disque "Cieli di Toscana"

par Luciana Borsatti

Venise - Il s'appelle Cieux de Toscane en hommage à une terre d'origine toujours aimée et source de nouvelles inspirations, le nouveau disque qui marque le retour d'Andrea Bocelli au genre pop. A proximité de la sortie mondiale du 15 octobre, Sugar a choisi Venise pour la présentation de l'album à la presse internationale, d'abord à l'Excelsior du Lido et ensuite, dans l'après-midi, à la Scuola Grande di San Rocco avec la participation de Bocelli lui-même. Un cadre précieux et suggestif, donc, pour l'album avec lequel Bocelli (après Romanza en 1996 et Sogno en 1999) revient se confronter à la musique pop. Plus précisément avec sa musique non classique. Une confrontation qui représente aussi "un moment de relax aussi bien vocal que psychologique" - comme le définit lui-même le chanteur toscan, après les deux dernières années d'engagements aussi bien discographiques qu'au théâtre avec la musique classique (de la Bohème à Verdi, de Tosca à Aïda) et avec un monde qu'il juge "très sélectif, très dur, très âpre".
"C'est une occasion - souligne encore Bocelli - pour revenir à un public qui l'a suivi à travers le pop mais pas encore sur le versant classique, aussi parce que le pop, dit-il, "est un jeu à travers lequel on peut communiquer des émotions fortes à un très grand public, et ensuite se lie à la contemporanéité". A la première écoute l'artiste semble avoir réussi cette fois aussi à toucher les cordes sensibles pour faire mouche,c'est-à-dire pour solliciter les émotions les plus intimes des auditeurs. Mélodies, amples volutes des orchestrations, mais aussi des perfectionnismes techniques dans les tramages digitaux concourent ainsi à la confection d'un produit qui tend à être impeccable, mais où c'est quand même la vibrante humanité de l'artiste qui imprime la force à sa vocalité si populaire et aimée, dans des morceaux qui privilégient les habituels accents intimes et les allures réfléchies, mais ne manquent pas cependant d'accélérations et de secousses inattendues. C'est le cas, en particulier, de 'l'angelo e il diavolo', une des premières chansons écrites par lui à la fin des années quatre-vingts, qui fait arriver de façon inopinée un rythme dansant dans le calme développement de l'ensemble. Mais c'est aussi le cas de l'apparition surprenante d'une nouvelle et jeune voix, celle d'une jeune de dix-huit ans Helena Helling qui est aux côtés de Bocelli dans 'l'abitudine' de Pierpaolo Guerrini et Giorgio Calabrese. Mais l'album rassemble dans son ensemble une multiplicité de langages, de l'ouverture que la production définit comme hollywoodienne de 'Melodramma' à beaucoup d'hommages à la tradition italienne, de l'hommage à Pietro Mascagni du morceau homonyme qui commence par les notes de 'Cavalleria Rusticana' aux tons enchanteurs et rêvants de 'Mille lune mille onde' et de 'Chiara' du franchissement de frontières de la tradition anglo-américaine de 'Someone like you' aux nostalgies mordantes et mélancoliques de 'Amori perduti e paesaggi lontani'.
Mais il y a aussi d'autres surprises parmi les Cieli di Toscana, comme la présence de Tony Renis en qualité d'auteur de 'Si la gente usasse il cuore' indicatif de la prochaine fiction de Canale 5 tirée de 'Coeur' par De Amicis que Renis lui-même présente comme un message plus actuel que jamais parmi le souffle de guerre de ces jours-ci. Et il y a la double version, en italien et en anglais, de la poésie de Bocelli qui introduit l'Incontro : un touchant éloge de la paternité en mémoire de son père disparu, confié à la voix d'Andrea lui-même et Bono, mais aussi dans la version française de Gérard Depardieu.

Traduction F. Senger

Andrea Bocelli has just finished recording a new CD, with a focus on popular repertoire and the lush touch we've come to expect from the superstar tenor. Cieli di Toscana, due in stores on October 16, 2001 is his first "pop" album since Sogno. Cieli di Toscana is a poet's album, Bocelli's own love song to the sun-and-music drenched romance of Tuscany, and it's a project that comes directly from the singer's heart, on which he has brought to bear his considerable forces - as a lover of music, a son of Italy and a father of sons.

For the new CD, Bocelli chose songs with equal attention to storytelling and sound. "The language of a pop song should be genuine...I wanted to work with writers who are inspired, first and foremost. " The project has been rewarding and exciting for him: "We were fortunate to find writers who have really sought to grasp my vocal characteristics, to understand me as a singer. We spent a lot of time considering many beautiful songs...we have so many great songs."

"Melodramma," the opening track, could be "the story of my life," according to Bocelli. The song concerns a man who leaves his homeland. "Even though life has smiled on him," the tenor says, "what he sees in his memories is what is most dear to him. And it possesses one of the most typically Italian melodies you could find. It radiates sunshine."

"L'Incontro," written with Francesco Sartori, "is a celebration of the relationship that binds a father to a newborn child." Sartori created the music around a sonnet the tenor wrote on the birth of his first son. The original poem forms a spoken introduction to the song, and is given a warm and intimate reading by U2's Bono on the US version of Cieli di Toscana, by Gérard Depardieu on the French release, and by Bocelli himself in the Italian release.

Bocelli cherishes the opportunity to champion the art of music and support the work of other artists. In fact, two of the songs on the new CD came out of an international songwriting competition, the "Premio Andrea Bocelli" - the winning composition, "E Mi Manchi Tu," by Czech composer Zdenek Bartak, and the impressive runner-up, Italian composer Matteo Musumeci's "Resta Qui." On another piece, "L'abitudine," Bocelli introduces Helena - a rising young Italian star whom he discovered - to his international audience.

On working with Bocelli, producer Mauro Malavasi commented, "What I like best about working with Andrea is his sense of humor. We laugh a lot, we talk a lot...the truth is, we often argue and debate a lot, probably because we share the view that music has to be a living force."

MELODRAMMA

This is the love song of a man deeply rooted to his native land and family, and who loves a woman still ever present in his memories. His feelings and his pain are so strong that a melodrama grows in his heart, a reminder that amid the fields, amid the smell of must and the countryside, his destiny was born. The life and landscapes of his childhood haunts come back to mind. The morning is clear. His nostalgia becomes a song dedicated to all that lost world. Now through every stage of life, his melodrama is by his side.

MILLE LUNE MILLE ONDE (A THOUSAND MOONS A THOUSAND WAVES)

Re-awakening and the power of love are the main themes of this song. The two lovers are side by side in the morning. The night just past here becomes a metaphor for all the highs and lows and problems they are living through. The song develops into an invitation to find the strength to fully live the other, forgetting the past and looking to the future, discovering and nurturing their love.

E SARA' A SETTEMBRE (AND IT WILL BE SEPTEMBER)

At times it's the wind to push us towards our loved one, the wind as a destiny that convinces us to look again for the one we left. Perhaps a journey took us far away, but now here we are turning back, retracing the same steps, the journey back following the voice of the wind who shows the way. September is that special month. It takes us behind the still fresh memories of summer. The first sign of autumn are on the way. It's a bittersweet month, intense yet fading colors. In September our him and her meet up again, but this will be forever.

SOMEONE LIKE YOU

The feeling of love is like a wind that lightly blows and comes and goes continually. A breeze that whispers words in the ear, words we can't hear when immersed in the day's confusion. They seem too simple, too elementary. But they are the suns that will let falling in love continue forever. They are the words that break down barriers between bodies and they make us be thankful every day to have found that someone else on our road, exactly the right person for us.

CHIARA

The song is set in a garden and tells of a man struck by the serene air of a woman sitting on a bench, reading a book. After a while, he approaches and they begin to talk.

MASCAGNI

With this song the writers have wanted to pay homage to Pietro Mascagni, the great composer from Livorno. Key moments in the maestro's life are celebrated and the main features of his personality outlined. In particular the writers wanted to underline how his ethnic roots, the difficulties or his tormented career and finally his intense love life all strongly influenced his music and creative process. The writers have noted, in the energy that leaps out of his music and in the surge of his immortal melodies, the crucial influence of the places where Mascagni took his first steps. That is, his native city, which with its sea and typical weather offered him: a lively cultural life, spontaneity, the tendency to live life to the full, and meet every new love with passion.

RESTA QUI (STAY HERE)

Something's broken. One of the two went too far. He was too sure of himself, he didn't care about anything, too confident in the eternal devotion of the other. Their pact is broken, and trust has to be earned again. With all the tenderness and promises of joy and freedom of the early days, with words and gestures that can open a closed heart. Because he has feared unhappiness.

IL MISTERO DELL'AMORE (THE MYSTERY OF LOVE)

This is a song of a man in search of lost love, the way fraught with difficulty and intense emotion. There are oceans to cross, the horizons know no bounds. A journey deep into the soul to discover love, the true aim of our life.

SE LA GENTE USSASE IL CUORE (IF PEOPLE USED THEIR HEART)

All that is needed is for everyone, all over the world, to use the feelings that come from the heart so that they can know happiness. Indifference would be won over. And only you, my heart, you that are living these emotions, have to be the first to give up your selfish ways because everything that you will give, you will find. You won't regret it because you will have the joy of seeing the suffering around you get less. It won't take much for you to be like a king of generosity and feelings. And it will be only you to win my heart.

SI VOLTO' (SHE TURNED AROUND)

This is the story of a man involved with a much younger girl. But he realizes the age gap is too much and it cannot last. He pretends the affair is of little importance. He bids her farewell but feels he was deeply in love with her.

L'ABITUDINE (THE HABIT)

Loneliness in time becomes a habit, not a choice you've made. But suddenly something happens, and you just can't be alone any more.

L'INCONTRO (THE MEETING)

The whole song is a description of the very first moments a father encounters his child. The idea came from a poem written by Bocelli himself on the birth of his son.

E MI MANCHI TU (I MISS YOU)

Here there is too much silence, too much tranquility. I tell myself lies about you coming back, which will never happen. And day after day, there remains inside me your happiness, your smile as you left, and a useless hoping against hope. And I miss you.

IL DIAVOLO E L'ANGELO (THE DEVIL AND THE ANGEL)

The clash between body and soul is a timeless theme. We have both. We have inside us the hunter's predatory instinct as well as that of the prey, the sensual desire and the absence of any desire, the calm of peace and the fire of war. We change according to the moment (and sometimes in the same moment) into angels and devils, we become unrecognizable to the other as we do to ourselves. To deny this is pointless.

L'ULTIMO RE (THE LAST KING)

The Last King deals with unconditional love offered to your beloved total love, expressed in very few, but simple and universal words: "I want to be at your side to give you all the wonderful things I have. I want to be at your side to dare the impossible and make you happy. Your happiness will make of me the last of the kings."

TORNERA' LA NEVE (IT WILL SNOW AGAIN)

The snow is a metaphor for the Spirit. This is sung by a man embittered by the loss of an important love. But he has faith and believes that the Spirit will come and make all new and connect with the same inside us.