Celine, Whitney, Barbra ... the verdict is out!

A Celine Dion concert is much more rewarding than one by Whitney Houston, but it does not possess the rich texture from a similar outing by Barbra Streisand.

Of the three divas, Celine has a voice that is closest to the glorious one recorded in studio, while Houston live was a mere shadow of her recording.

Unlike Whitney, Celine takes great care of her voice and gives her all on stage.

Chinese fans do not like the rendition of a hit song totally unrecognizable or a melodious line chopped into pieces, umm, Whitney-style.

But Celine does not deliver slavish copies of her recordings either. She has the right ratio of spontaneity to dazzle audiences in this culture.

What I found lacking is a variation of treatment. Many of the songs are orchestrated in such a similar way - with spare instrumentation at the beginning, building to a crescendo and topped with a leap in octaves - that there seems to be too many climaxes along the way.

Imagine The Power of Love as a second number. Over here, it could well be the one before Titanic theme song.

The arrangements of the songs have their own logic: The program gives names like "Passion", "Rock" etc. But it does not have a dramatic arc like Streisand's Timeless concert.

If only Celine Dion had performed in stage musical productions, she would have gained a sharper sense of on-stage tempo.

Likewise, fans like me would love to hear her in such Broadway classic numbers as You'll Never Walk Alone and Climb Every Mountain, where the typical Celine treatment would bring out a new pop sensitivity.

When she covers the right songs, like, say, The Power of Love, she puts her imprint on it and makes it her own. People may even forget the original version. With her gusto and vocal gift, she may even be a contender for an ever-soaring Olympic theme song.

(China Daily 03/25/2008 page19)