What's in a Name?

Classical Crossover is known under a number of different names, including classical pop, popera, operatic pop, neoclassical, contemporary classical or even just crossover. Many just refer to it as classical whilst others completely dismiss the idea that the genre exists. All of these terms or ideas are either problematic or are simply incorrect.

First of all, neoclassical and contemporary classical are already well established sub-genres that refer to completely different movements within Classical music. The term crossover on its own, is simply a descriptive, as any artist in any genre can crossover into other genres. Labelling artists as ‘crossover’ does not give their sound any identity away from other crossover genres.

Popera or operatic pop could be seen as a sub-genre within Classical Crossover, but the genre is still so small, it is quite unneccessary. The reason this label does not work generally is because not all Classical Crossover artists sing operatically. Indeed, many do not even sing at all. Although many artists do sing arias, they never feature as a majority, as many artists opt to sing traditional standards that do not require operatic vocals.

There is not actually anything linguistically wrong with classical pop, it just has not really caught on. The term pop, afterall, means popular, and the term “crossover” in the genre context literally means to cross previously unpopular music over into the popular realm. The reason this term is not used is probably due to the astonishing speed that Classical Crossover entered into the music industry. Because no genre was established, many people opted to describe what techniques artists used to change their sound, rather than just slotting it with one name. This is true of all new movements, but usually, they happen gradually, which was not the case with Classical Crossover.

To critics, albums like Vanessa-Mae’s The Violin Player, Sarah Brightman’s Timeless and Russell Watson’s The Voice were simply light classical music, crossing over into public consciousness and into the charts. It is logical for the term to follow. Little was it known that this new technique was to be taken up by countless of other artists throughout the next decade.

Despite the same type of artists performing the same type of sound for this long, many purists are still indenial of its existence, simply labelling it at pop or easy listening (indeed, easy listening does seem to be its closest relative). Perhaps the label is premature as the genre has only enjoyed little over ten years of success and popularity, and despite its success, if you bring the term up to someone on the street, they have not heard of it. On the other hand, if you give somebody a few examples of who the genre’s artists are, they will probably have a pretty good understanding of what the genre sounds like. The whole point of genres and categorisations are to acknowledge certain conventions, and Classical Crossover definitely has its own conventions.

Equally as damaging is putting Classical Crossover artists under the same umbrella as, for lack of a better term, “real” classical artists. Many classical enthusiasts are offended by the likes of Katherine Jenkins being put alongside Maria Callas, and criticisms emerge about how Jenkins, Bocelli and Watson cannot sing. Jenkins and Watson are not opera singers, and to compare their abilities to Placido Domingo, a full fledged opera singer, is incredibly unfair. Classical Crossover artists do not have the same aim as opera singers; their technique is different and are put to different uses. They therefore should not be compared, and therefore, should not be put in the same genre. If any of these artists should be judged, it should, at least, be against artists on their own level. You wouldn’t compare a hip-hop singer against a soul singer, so why do it here?

The genre known as Classical Crossover is very recent but it has gained recognition in the US and the UK: the US has given it its own official chart, whilst the UK is splitting the classical charts in two as “real” classical music does not have a chance to chart when up against its crossover counterparts. It has also had an impact on the web, as it has its own websites and its own groups of social networking sites like Facebook, Last.fm and Myspace. Many of the genre’s artists also describe themselves using the Classical Crossover term. In short, as unsnappy as the name is, Classical Crossover is the term that has taken hold for this movement in music.