Sarah Brightman: La Luna Live in Concert

by Brian J. Hay

This concert offers one up happy surprise after another. The special effects seem a bit excessive at times but don't really hurt the show. The same is true with effects added to the video—not all of them work but they don't interfere with the performance. One complaint is that the aspect ratio is off on the closeups that are superimposed over the main images. Beyond that the effects are executed well.The diversity of the musical selections is beyond reproach. It's not often one hears music by Dvorák, Mancini and Brian May on the same programme with some traditional music thrown in to the mix. It's even less often the artist sounds comfortable such a wide variety of material. Sarah Brightman does.

"Scarborough Fair" is a traditional piece. She follows it with "Who Wants to Live Forever". That was a hit for Queen. La Luna is an adaptation of "Song to the Moon" which was written by Antonin Dvoråk. She performs them all beautifully and with a sense of ease which makes them compatible with one another. Her rendition of "Nessun Dorma" (Puccini) brings the house down. Even more touching is her interpretation of "La Califfa". That one was written by Ennio Morricone, the man who provided the magnificent and wonderful music for many of the best films to come from Sergio Leone. He has as much of a gift for songs as for soundtracks. Much of his work is indescribably beautiful. She brings it all to the surface with a ravishing performance of the piece. If this DVD serves only to introduce this bit of music to audiences that haven't heard it then it's done them a service. It is fabulous music.

Her performance of "Time to Say Goodbye" is a thing of beauty. Her performance of the music from "The Phantom of the Opera" is an outpouring of emotion from her to her audience. This work is still very close to her heart and it shows. The treatment she gives it is tender, loving and sensual to the point of being a caress. There's never any doubt that she's singing it directly to somebody. This sounds as much like a deep and heartfelt "thank you" as it does a performance. Any cynicism anyone ever had about her connection to Webber has to vanish when this is heard. I've read that she and Webber are still the best of friends and on seeing this, believe it. She sings these pieces with a love that's as deep as could ever be felt.

There's a lot of money behind this show. The production values and special effects used make that obvious. The money's there because she's succeeded at making it work though, not because she's doing it for the money. No artist that tries to bring material from such a wide range of genre together and present it in one format is doing it just for the money. They're trying to open doors for their audience. She does that and she does it well. That she's as comfortable with this range of material as she is is a credit to her and her production partner Frank Peterson. She is a major talent and an extremely dedicated artist. Her voice is deceptive. It sounds small and fragile but it's not. She has enormous range and the ability to colour all areas of it with a wide variety of shadings. She can sing at a whisper or fill a hall and never strains doing either. He (Peterson) is an extremely gifted musical force. He wrote a lot of the material for "La Luna". He adapted most of the source material he drew on to fit the style they both wanted to use. He arranged everything. The quality of the sound recording and the way it's mixed is exemplary. He oversaw that as well. A lot of people have (or had) reservations about Sarah Brightman and her work because of her rise to fame was so closely connected to Andrew Lloyd Webber and his musical, "The Phantom of the Opera". I know. I was one of them.

I was wrong. I'm a fan now.

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