Incanto

Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli has offered readings of pop hits, film songs and opera arias, but 2008’s Incanto—released close to the singer’s 50th birthday—is a return to the rhapsodic, lyrical Neapolitan songs of his homeland. His performance of national classic “Funiculì, Funiculà” is boisterous and communal, as is his tempestuous reading of “A Marechiare”. With its blissfully melodic (“Amapola”) and joyously sentimental (“Mamma”) tracks, Bocelli’s heartfelt Incanto brings colour and relevance to the pop music of the late-19th and early/mid-20th century.