Helmut Lotti Goes Classic

Flemish pop sensation Helmut Lotti here presents another side of his chameleon-like personality. But there's no mistaking the lightweight, smoothly pleasing voice that his legions of fans have come to depend on. The "classic" angle to these selections--recorded at Belgium's Cleydael Castle--refers to Lotti's arrangements (often to his own lyrics) of familiar tunes from the likes of Brahms, Grieg, and Tchaikovsky rather than to high-flying operatic feats. For all the schmaltz of Lotti's phrasing, his demeanor is likeably unpretentious, making no claims to assume the status of the "fourth tenor." Indeed, the echoes here are less of Pavarotti than of Lotti's idol Elvis, of whom he gives a credible, crooning imitation in "Amazing Grace" and "John Brown's Body." Lotti's evident sense of fun throughout the proceedings is infectious. --Thomas May