The pop side of classical music: Jeff Beck, “Nessun dorma”
2010 Jeff Beck – Nobody sleeps
He has consistently been ranked in the top five in various magazines’ lists of the greatest guitarists, yet Jeff Beck, although he recorded two successful solo albums (Blow by Blow of 1975 and Wired (1976), and received the Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance six times, has not achieved or maintained the commercial success of his contemporaries and bandmates.
Having passed away in 2023, Beck crossed his career with that of rock music legends: in 1965 he was recruited by the Yardbirds to succeed Eric Clapton, in 1967 he risked joining Pink Floyd after Syd Barrett left the group, but – said drummer Nick Mason – «none of us had the courage to ask him», and in 1969, after the death of Brian Jones, he was even contacted to join the Rolling Stones. And then the solo albums, those with different lineups – Beck, Bogert & Appice – and the countless collaborations with artists of the most disparate genres: David Bowie, Jan Hammer, Kate Bush, Rod Stewart, Roger Waters…
After a few years of obscurity, in 2010 Beck returned to the studio, seven years after the previous album, and created Emotion & Commotionwith the collaboration of some singers, including Joss Stone, and a 64-piece orchestra. On the album, together with a cover of Over the rainbowalso finds a place Nobody sleepsone of Giacomo Puccini’s most famous arias, from the composer’s last opera, Turandotleft unfinished and completed by Franco Alfano.
Beck’s reworking cannot in fact be defined as a “rock” version of Puccini’s aria, as a rhythm section is completely absent, but rather a version in which the electric guitar replaces the human voice, and it is an experiment that succeeds perfectly. In the song Beck shows all his musicality, demonstrating that technique alone is not enough, and gives the long solo an exceptional elasticity, transmitting the sensation of vocal poise and rubato typical of opera music. Accompanied by a large orchestra, arranged and conducted by Pete Murray, his guitar really seems to sing and conveys all the pathos of Puccini’s music.
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This sheet is taken from the book “Rock Me Amadeus. The pop side of classical music, the classic heart of rock. When Classical meets Pop, Rock and Disco” by Davide Pezzi (Youcanprint, 252 pages, €19.50, available here) courtesy of the author.
What happens when Mozart, Bach or Beethoven come down from the podium of great music and find themselves among electric guitars, synthesizers and disco lights? “Rock Me Amadeus” explores the fascinating (and sometimes surprising) universe of pop, rock and disco reinterpretations of famous classical songs.
The book offers a journey that is both historical and curious, spanning decades of experiments, contaminations and revisitations. There is no shortage of pages dedicated to the less successful versions – testimonies of an era and a taste – which help to understand even better the inexhaustible strength of classical music as a source of inspiration.
With an accessible and documented style, the author guides the reader through anecdotes, records, musicians and arrangements, showing how the dialogue between apparently distant musical worlds can generate new forms of creativity, between genius and (sometimes) naive clumsiness.
