This debut album from the singer is the final result of a 10 year collaboration between Salvadori and composer Sandro Mussida. While it is bold and experimental, it sounds as though it has crammed too many ideas into one album that makes it difficult to appreciate.
(c) Olivia Salvadori, YouTube.
This extraordinary debut album is filled with stories and emotions, designed to take those listening on a wonderfully bizarre journey while opening minds about the full potential of classical music in a modern age.
In part Dare Voce works because of its ability to combine a range of everyday sounds with the world of classical music, particularly on tracks such as ‘Respiro’ and ‘Here & Now’ which shows what Mussida and Salvadori are hoping to achieve with great effect.
Yet at the same time, the album does become slightly overconfident and some of the tracks certainly feel chaotic and over the top that it is difficult to appreciate them. ‘Isola’ and ‘Il Nome Delle Piante’ are examples in which the vocals are beautifully haunting, but the music behind them is all over the place and doesn’t feel as though it flows with as much ease as it could.
However, there is no denying the level of ambition that Salvadori and Mussida have put towards this album, creating some interesting moments musically as heard on ‘Moonsun’ which is wonderfully exotic and luxurious in sound and reveals the pair’s desire to challenge the listener and what classical music can mean today.
Olivia Salvadori’s vocals throughout consistently reveal the depth and range of her voice, with the way in which she is able to interpret music that somehow works with everything else going on is a skill that is something she has clearly worked on in the last few years.
The main strength of the album is to showcase a powerful voice who is able to adapt to any situation, while the music composed by Sandro Mussida is perhaps too bold and pushes forward a different type of classical music that doesn’t quite work. A shame as there is real potential in Salvadori’s voice that deserves better material to work with.