Prelude: The Best of Charlotte Church (Ltd. Ed. CD & DVD)

Disc 1
1	Pie Jesu From Requiem 3:25
2	My Lagan Love 3:14
3	In Trutina From Carmina Burana 2:00
4	Panis Angelicus 4:09
5	Amazing Grace 2:42
6	Just Wave Hello (Ford Global Anthem) 3:51
7	La Pastorella Soirees Musicales 2:26
8	She Moved Through the Fair 3:01
9	Ave Maria 2:48
10	Dream a Dream (Elysium) / Billy Gilman 3:50
11	Flower Duet 3:56
12	Habañera 4:27
13	The Prayer / Josh Groban 4:24
14	All Love Can Be From the Soundtrack to A Beautiful Mind 3:16
15	It's the Heart That Matters Most 2:20
16	Tantum Ergo 3:26
17	Bridge Over Troubled Water 4:15
18	Sancta Maria 3:07
Disc 2
1	Program Start DVD
2	Pie Jesu DVD
3	Habañera DVD
4	The Lord's Prayer DVD
5	In Trutina DVD
6	Bridge Over Troubled Water DVD
7	The Prayer / Josh Groban DVD
8	Panis Angelicus DVD
9	Danny Boy DVD
10	La Pastorella DVD
11	My Lagan Love DVD
12	Suo-Gân DVD
13	Bali Ha'i DVD
14	Ave Maria DVD
15	Imagine DVD
16	Jerusalem DVD
17	Somewhere DVD
18	Amazing Grace DVD
19	Credits DVD
20	Dream a Dream / Billy Gilman Bonus Track / DVD
21	Backstage With Charlotte Bonus Track / DVD
22	Video Tour of Cardiff With Charlotte Bonus Track / DVD
23	Interview With Charlotte Bonus Track / DVD
24	Aerial Tour of South Wales Bonus Track / DVD

Barnes & Noble

Charlotte Church was only 12 when her debut album, Voice of an Angel, was released 1998, launching the precocious Welsh soprano into overnight stardom with a program of traditional and classical songs. A self-titled disc followed in 1999 that focused on operatic classics; the Christmas-themed Dream a Dream came out in 2000; and Enchantment appeared in 2001, broadening the singer's repertoire into Broadway song. Prelude: The Best of Charlotte Church gathers highlights from each of these top-selling albums, beginning with "Pie Jesu," the opening track from Church's debut disc, and continuing with "Amazing Grace," "Ave Maria," and more. Also included are selections not found on the singer's solo discs, such as "All Love Can Be" from the soundtrack to A Beautiful Mind and "The Prayer," a duet with another young sensation, Josh Groban, that was featured on his debut disc. Four previously unreleased tracks complete the collection, including Church's cover of the Simon & Garfunkel classic, "Bridge Over Troubled Water."

All Music Guide

Even in the youth-conscious era of the turn of the 21st century, there couldn't have been too many best-of compilations issued by 16-year-olds. But Charlotte Church had been recording regularly since she was 12, with a reported ten million albums sold worldwide (including one gold and three platinum certifications in the U.S.), which seems to justify this hour-long stock-taking effort, when you throw in "All That Love Can Be," from the soundtrack to A Beautiful Mind, and, inevitably, four new recordings. Talking sales may be crass when discussing a classical artist, but not a classical crossover artist, and Church (or her advisors) made the decision early that she was going to pursue a career in the popular market that would make use of her voice in public long before some opera company might have gotten around to featuring her. It's a compromised posture, of course, resulting in music that is classical lite leaning toward adult contemporary, the musical niche carved out by Sarah Brightman. No surprise, then, that this set begins with Church's version of "Pie Jesu" by Brightman's old flame, Andrew Lloyd Webber. Opera excerpts, Celtic airs, spirituals, pop songs, and ersatz classical numbers (e.g., the Josh Groban duet "The Prayer," penned by David Foster and translated into Italian) follow, and Church brings her even-handed, lovely approach to each. Has there ever been a Carmen as calm as hers on "Habañera"? Ordinarily, one might say this is classical music for people who don't like classical music, but it is actually grown-up-sounding music for children, sung, appropriately enough, by a child. [A CD/DVD version was also released.] William Ruhlmann