LOTTI KEEPS ON GOING CLASSICAL

Helmut Lotti shouted from the rooftops that it was over with the Classics-albums, that he was ready for something else. Yet he is going to sing Helmut Lotti Goes Classic - The Final Edition. At the same time he adds a Christmas record A Classical Christmas with Helmut Lotti. Lotti has changed his record company. BMG has replaced Polygram. You can imagine what has happened. After three times a half million copies of Classis 1, 2 and 3, Polygram is not crazy. 'Make your dance for the golden calf', they say. If it will be disappointing and there will be "only" 300,000 sold, it still is a giant success. The story of Lotti and his manager Pet Roelen sounds less prosaic. "We truly did not want to make a fourth Classic," Lotti emphasizes. "The idea was a Christmas CD. But that only sells for four weeks. That is why we were thinking to add something special." We found it a great pity that we did not make some beautiful classical numbers", Roelen completed. "That would be the special with the Christmas CD, but finally we came on a complete second album."

"That the project is introduced in a restaurant at Mechelen, is no accident. The two CD's will be recorded on 12, 13 and 14 of August at the St. Rombouts. André Walschaerts leads the Golden Symphonic Orchestra, Wim Bohets writes the arrangements, Peter Koelewijn stands for the production. St. Rombouts is a nice location for Mechelin Walschaerts. He was born a hundred meters from the cathedral, did his stately communion and got married there. Koelewijn gets a serious job: with a handful of specialists, he must think of something to keep the resonance out of the recording. Both CD's will be at the stores the end of October until Christmas together in a luxury gift-box. After Christmas the Christmas CD will be put away for a year and The Final Edition will go alone. Titles on this last Classic will be: Greensleeves, Waltzing Mathilda, The Menuet of Boccherini, F, Elise, Plaisir d'amour, Land of Hope and Glory, and The Clarinet Concerto of Mozart. On the Christmas CD are: Silent Night, Ave Maria from Schubert and Panis Angelicum. Lotti doesn't only change his record company, but also his TV-station. The videos will not be produced by VRT, but by VTM. Production house "Medialounge" will take care of the recording, in cooperation with RTL-TVI for Wallon, TROS for Holland, ARD for Germany and PBS for the US. Australia is in on the agenda What is Helmut's schedule for the coming months? His agenda is enormous: Next week he will leave for Canada for six concerts. July and the first half of august are reserved for the preparation and the recording of the twin CD. At the end of August the conquering of the US will begin by a great promotion tour. From 13 until 23 October Lotti will go back to the US for probably four concerts: at New York, Washington, Boston and Philadelphia. In November there well be a tournament in Germany (21 concerts) and next Austria (Vienna and Linz), Switzerland (Z,rich) and Denmark (Coppenhagen). Around the New Year South Africa is again on the agenda at Capetown, Durban, Bloemfontein and Pretoria. After the New Year France will be visited. This is a few months later as planned. The concert at l'Olympia, which was planned for 9 January, will be moved to March. Australia is in line for a tournament. In the mean time Lotti did receive gold in Denmark and Switzerland. In Austria he is only 500 copies from gold. In South Africa each ot the three Classics is already platinum. J.V.

---

Transcribed by: Marianne from The Official Helmut Lotti Page - Bulletin Board.
From: The Gazet van Antwerpen

|| Concert News Page || HOME ||