Tarja's solo album: My Winter Storm

[C.]

Since the Tarot thread is in here, I figure it only appropriate that news of Tarja's work outside of Nightwish go here too.

Here's some news about her solo album, straight from Sonic Cathedral:

Former NIGHTWISH singer Tarja Turunen has finished filming a video for her new solo single, "I Walk Alone", in Berlin, Germany with director Jörn Heitmann, who previously worked with NIGHTWISH on the "Sleeping Sun" clip in 2005. The single will be released mid-October Universal Music, to be followed by a full-length CD, "My Winter Storm", on November 9.

"My Winter Storm" is being produced by Daniel Presley (FAITH NO MORE, JEWEL, THE BREEDERS), who has been joined in the studio by a truly stellar line-up of musicians: Doug Wimbish on bass (LIVING COLOUR, ANNIE LENNOX, JOE SATRIANI, JEFF BECK, MADONNA, ROLLING STONES), Alex Scholpp on electric guitars (FARMER BOYS) and Earl Harvin on drums (SEAL, PET SHOP BOYS, AIR), a player personally selected by Tarja after she saw him stealing the show at a SEAL concert. Keyboards and programming, meanwhile, are being provided by Torsten Stenzel, whose previous credits include NELLY FURTADO, MOBY, TINA TURNER, VANESSA MAE and more.

Released in 2004, the highly-acclaimed "Once" was Tarja's last studio outing with NIGHTWISH — an album that rose to the top of the charts around the world, from Mexico through to the European Billboard lists; the record picked up platinum awards in Germany and Finland, and turned gold right across Scandinavia, as well as in Brazil, Austria, Switzerland, Greece and Hungary.

 

[Stingray11214]

So much for Tarja's "Opera" career. What a phony.

 

[St Enigma]

This is my reply to Ray's comment. But nothing personal Ray, just for information.

Actually it is a widespread misunderstanding that Tarja is an opera singer. She's not. She has never claimed to become an opera singer, AFAIK. Classical singing include much more than opera which use just one subform of classical singing style. Tarja is classically trained Lied singer. After her church musician studies at the Sibelius Academy, she studied Lied singing for three years in the Karlsruhe Music University in Germany.

Her classical voice, as strong as it sounds live, isn't really strong and more important, lasting enough for extended opera singing, which technically is more like "shouting" with almost excessive force in order to be heard on the back of the theater without electronic amplification. (a classical opera may last several hours!) Opera also takes some acting skills on stage while singing the pieces of the librettos. (Heh, Karita Mattila, the known world class Finnish soprano performed naked in her role on the stage of NY Metropolitan a few years back! All for the art!) Tarja never claimed she had been taking acting lessons related to her singing studies or at any other times.


Tarja signed a contract with Universal Germany last year for releasing her solo album. They have worked hard to build her an image as a distinct crossover artist by seeking material and hiring those well known people working with her.
I genuinely hope that she'll succeed with the effort and the album will sell well. It's only that sometimes too big a production team isn't good for achieving the best results in music. Anyways, I think I'll buy her CD, if not for anything else, then out of sheer curiosity!

 

[metal_grandpa]

So much for Tarja's "Opera" career. What a phony.

Exactly. !!! phony. !!

IMO , the truth is.....she will never make it here in germany.
Of course Universal is trying to push her and built something like a crossover image but she will never make it here. ((Different to scandinavia, maybe.?))
She will never be accepted, because her voice and interpretaiton of the songs is very average when she is doing here songs /(Lieder)
((@St. Enigma, great explaination!! ))
I made it to her live concert in Berlin ...and ..mmmmmmmmh...it was an ok - evening.
No part where I had to think of..WOW..what a kick..!! It was pretty normal..no Ups and Downs...really nothing special. There is no factor...to remember her as an "lied-singer". Sad but true.!! :Smug:

 

[seraph7]

It depends on what she's planning to sing i suppose. If she was going for real heavy stuff like Wagner then yes that does take a great deal out of the voice but something like Baroque music (Handel, Bach etc.) or Classical (Mozart, Haydn) shouldn't be as demanding in terms of sheer volume. One of the first things I know I was taught was a voice student was never sing louder than you can handle. Tarja with all her voice studies will know this.
I only hope her voice coach will help her make the right decisions i.e sing more music suited for her voice and not 'Smells like teen spirit' uke:
I heard that and it definitely wasn't good .

 

[C.]

I actually liked that cover!

But, it's like Enigma said, it seems like she is focusing on making this a "crossover" career, and what better way to do it than with covers of classic rock tunes (wow, I am old, it's hard to believe that Nirvana is considered "classic rock" these days)?

I will definitely *listen* to the album out of sheer curiosity...but buying it is another matter entirely.

 

[Iced Dog]

Enigma, do you have a Ph.D. in Nightwishology?

 

[C.]

He does.

 

[Iced Dog]

I'm impressed

 

[St Enigma]

Enigma, do you have a Ph.D. in Nightwishology?

He does.

How come nobody ever told ME about my degree

I mean, I could add it in my business card to make use of it:


The Enigma
Ph.D. Nightwishology
Metal music consultancy


---------------

 

[C.]

I think that would look great on your business card!

And hey, if Nightwish History is ever considered a college course, I would certainly not mind learning from the Professor.

 

[seraph7]

Has anyone heard ' I walk alone' yet? It's just that I'm curious. If anyone has a link I'd appreciate it.

Ta in advance!

 

[Evol_84]

I heard I walk alone...not bad , neither outstanding.
I was more or less expecting this kind of sound..We'll see..I'm going to buy her album and support her since I appreciate her as a singer . I'm not too fond of this big production teams (hiring musicians with big names, and composers) but Tarja is a singer not a songwriter after all. We'll see.

 

[ivry91]

I heard I walk alone...not bad , neither outstanding.
I was more or less expecting this kind of sound..We'll see..I'm going to buy her album and support her since I appreciate her as a singer . I'm not too fond of this big production teams (hiring musicians with big names, and composers) but Tarja is a singer not a songwriter after all. We'll see.

After listening to i walk alone..you could say she did NOT get over the split? (This is just to fire at the Bye Bye Beautifu not over split storyl)

 

[Evol_84]

Well , I thought the lyrics could reflect what happened with the split ..but I don't know..she didn't write them. She choosed them and said something like this song was reflecting her in a way, and that fans can find their own interpretation because she's not going to explain.

There are some lines which make me wonder..I can't say it's obviously about the split but I can't deny it could reflect Tarja situation after the band kicked her out

 

[C.]

I think it's only natural for fans to draw conclusions like this and assume for a while that every song from each party is going to be a "tit for tat" towards the other.

 

[sinerchris]

is this album all pop? or some rock?

 

[St Enigma]

You can listen to "My Winter Storm" -single * here *

Yeah, she's got the voice, no doubt, the very professional muscians playing in the studio, but the song... shall I use the word "nice"...?
Well, she is with Universal Music (Germany), a mainstream label who pretty much will tell her the musical sandbox she's allowed to move in. Really shame on the artistic point of view, her potential should be used in full rather than making her another nightclub artist. Then again, I need to hear the whole CD before making any conclusions, maybe there will be a pleasant surprise for us - we can still hope can't we?

 

[Iced Dog]

hmz....boooooring

 

[Stingray11214]

If she wrote this single, she needs some serious writing lessons. As for the music itself? This ain't pop. This is a bastardized To-Mera. If Tarja does on this album what she did on "Henkays whosorwhatsis", Marco Hietala would be such the prophet. He said Tarja made a huge mistake in going it alone.

Ye Olde Viking was right.