by P D Harris

Amazon once had something called Featured Review Categories. You could click on "see my reviews" and not only get what you see now (the ten most recent reviews) but also a list of categories, so that a jazz fan wouldn't have to wade through all my pop and country music reviews to find what he or she wanted. These categories were not always accurate but at least they were well-intentioned. However, it is interesting to note that, should this facility ever be reinstated in anything like its old form, I would have classical music as a featured category. Unfortunately, many of my reviews that fall within the classical music category do not really belong there. Here's the ones I know about (there may be others).

'Appalachian Journey' Appalachian journey - although an unlikely hybrid blend of classical and country music, this owes more to classical than country and deserves to be listed under classical music.

'Appalachia Waltz / Ma, Meyer, O'Connor' Appalachia waltz - the forerunner to Appalachian journey, this is a slightly less unlikely blend of classical and Celtic music. Again, classical is the major influence and I can't argue with its categorization.

'Dream a Dream' Charlotte Church - I'm not a huge fan of Charlotte's music but I like this Christmas album. Actually, I've got the UK version which has one extra track (The first Noel). Like the two previous albums, I can't dispute the classical music tag although none of the three fit my stereotyped image of what classical music really is.

'Haunted Heart' Renée Fleming is one of the world's leading opera singers but this album has only a tenuous connection with classical music. She sings in her natural voice (not her operatic voice) on songs from a variety of sources - pop, jazz, classical and folk - but even the classical pieces are backed by just a piano and a guitar. Some day, I'll review an album more typical of Renée's repertoire but not for a while yet.

'Mistletoe and Wine: A Seasonal Collection' Mediaeval Baebes - choral music from a bygone age. Because they sing with natural voices rather than operatic voices, this seems to me to be more like folk than classical music. But if classical fans appreciate it, I'm not complaining.

'Living a Dream' Katherine Jenkins - an opera singer that includes operatic covers of popular songs as well as more orthodox operatic material. Some of Katherine's albums are listed under popular music as well as classical and that's as it should be. Katherine's music appeals to people who don't normally listen to opera. The question is - are true opera fans really interested in operatic covers of songs originally recorded by Dolly Parton, Judy Garland and Vera Lynn? I don't know, but I'm sure that a lot of people will become opera fans as a result of listening to Katherine.

I also have an album (Voyage) by classical clarinettist Emma Johndon and will eventually post a review on Amazon UK. However, I can't post it here because it's not in the catalog.

'The Best of Rooftop Singers' Rooftop singers - Now things get silly. This folk-pop trio had a big international hit with Walk right in. I believe the lead singer was classically trained but that does not make this classical music of any description. Somebody at Amazon obviously disagrees with me.

'Ticket to Ride -- A Beatles Tribute' Swingle singers - This a-capella group did record a Bach album once, but this is a Beatles tribute. By all means list the Bach album as classical but not this. What is interesting is that you won't find this album by doing a classical music search, yet the product page shows Styles -> Classical -> General at the bottom. So it'll appear in the classical featured review category.

'A Christmas Legacy' Timmins singers - This choir, hailing from Shania Twain's childhood town, has recorded three albums that I know of. The other two, including 'I Remember December' are listed under popular music, but this one is listed under classical music. Popular music is the correct category.

So there you have it - several albums, some of which are not even close to being classical music. Some time in 2006, I hope to review some REAL classical music. Until then, I'll leave that to J Scott Morrison, Christopher Forbes "Weirdears", Grady Harp and all the other classical music experts.

To view search results about classical music, click here