One of the greatest musicals of all time is The Phantom of the Opera due to its powerful and strong music. One could imagine that with its fame, the musical would inspire quite a few musical covers of its main songs. The central, and most famous, song of the musical, which goes by the same name, “The Phantom of the Opera”, has had many covers, many of which are quite successful. A successful cover is not easy to create; Jeff Turrentine, an editor for the OnEarth magazine, understands that the issue with many covers is “the over-reverent and / or unimaginative way in which the songs themselves are typically approached” (Turrentine 253).
The original cast’s rendition of “The Phantom of the Opera” in 1986 set a standard that few later covers …show more content…
Though failure is common, there are a few who have succeeded in making it their own. One such group is Nightwish. Nightwish takes this song, which was originally a rock song and turns it into a rock’n’roll song. The song shifts from an ethereal timbre to a dramatic, desperate struggling timbre. The main cause of this shift is the instrumental accompaniment taking a larger role in Nightwish’s cover. In the original version the song nicely balanced both the lyrics and the accompaniment, but Nightwish changes this balance to favor the accompaniment. The electric guitar and drum control the song, varying in pitch with a large dynamic range. The instrumentalists control the tempo and it seems as if the vocalists are accompanying them, opposed being accompanied by them. While the instrumentalists may have a larger role in this cover than they had in the original, the vocalists still play a significant role. The harshness of the phantoms voice and the desperateness of Christine’s tone strongly emphasizes the dramatic timbre of the song. Without the vocalists the song simply wouldn’t be a dramatic nor would there be much of, or any of, a feeling of …show more content…
Its strength comes from its lack of vocalists. Successful covers are unique and removing the vocalists gave this cover a very different feeling. Clayderman’s ability to grow the drama and tension throughout the piece engages the listener, pulls him in, and he can’t stop listening to the cover. Clayderman’s use of rubatos, by suddenly changing the dynamics, helped in creating the tense feeling. It’s almost as if the song is preparing itself for a huge event. It is relaxed to start with but as time goes on everything moves faster and more excitedly.
For a cover to be successful it needs originality. Many covers of The Phantom of the Opera’s “The Phantom of the Opera” don’t stray far from the original piece and fail to engage the listener in a way that the original doesn’t. Nightwish and Clayderman are two exceptions to this rule, they broke from the established path and created unique and significant covers that could compete with the original song as the best performance of “The Phantom of the
The original cast’s rendition of “The Phantom of the Opera” in 1986 set a standard that few later covers …show more content…
Though failure is common, there are a few who have succeeded in making it their own. One such group is Nightwish. Nightwish takes this song, which was originally a rock song and turns it into a rock’n’roll song. The song shifts from an ethereal timbre to a dramatic, desperate struggling timbre. The main cause of this shift is the instrumental accompaniment taking a larger role in Nightwish’s cover. In the original version the song nicely balanced both the lyrics and the accompaniment, but Nightwish changes this balance to favor the accompaniment. The electric guitar and drum control the song, varying in pitch with a large dynamic range. The instrumentalists control the tempo and it seems as if the vocalists are accompanying them, opposed being accompanied by them. While the instrumentalists may have a larger role in this cover than they had in the original, the vocalists still play a significant role. The harshness of the phantoms voice and the desperateness of Christine’s tone strongly emphasizes the dramatic timbre of the song. Without the vocalists the song simply wouldn’t be a dramatic nor would there be much of, or any of, a feeling of …show more content…
Its strength comes from its lack of vocalists. Successful covers are unique and removing the vocalists gave this cover a very different feeling. Clayderman’s ability to grow the drama and tension throughout the piece engages the listener, pulls him in, and he can’t stop listening to the cover. Clayderman’s use of rubatos, by suddenly changing the dynamics, helped in creating the tense feeling. It’s almost as if the song is preparing itself for a huge event. It is relaxed to start with but as time goes on everything moves faster and more excitedly.
For a cover to be successful it needs originality. Many covers of The Phantom of the Opera’s “The Phantom of the Opera” don’t stray far from the original piece and fail to engage the listener in a way that the original doesn’t. Nightwish and Clayderman are two exceptions to this rule, they broke from the established path and created unique and significant covers that could compete with the original song as the best performance of “The Phantom of the