La Luna

Sarah Brightman (Artist)

Product Details

• Audio CD (August 29, 2000)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Angel Records
• ASIN: B00004UDNP
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (200 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #7,969 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

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  #18 in	Music > Classical > Historical Periods > Early Music > Vocal & Song

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
Superstar crossover vocalist Sarah Brightman greets the new millennium with an even surer, bolder sense of her unique musical niche than that evident from 1999's Eden. Like Eden, La Luna is a concept album only in a vaguely free-associative sense. The selection of material here touches on images of the moon that reinforce its ambiguity as a force known to draw together "the lunatic, the lover, and the poet" (Brightman's photo shoots for the album do seem to suggest a sort of Titania-like figure out of a New Age Midsummer Night's Dream). And it's a stylistic as well as thematic voyage, coursing from such contemporary sounds as synth pop (on "This Love") through vintage jazz standards (Billie Holiday's atmospheric and haunting "Gloomy Sunday") to high opera for the title track (a version of the sublime "Song of the Moon" from Dvorák's fairy-tale opera Rusalka), and drawing elsewhere on the gorgeously sinuous melodies of Bach, Handel, and Rachmaninov--one song, "Figlio Perduto," even adapts the slow movement of Beethoven's Seventh Symphony. Throughout, producer Frank Peterson swathes Brightman's shiny small voice in luxuriant fabrics of sound. Detractors will lament the resulting sameness of tone--no matter what the style involved--but Brightman's focus on spinning an ethereal spell never gets eclipsed. This domestic release includes three tracks not available on the import version and has a special treat hidden in the final track as a bonus. --Thomas May

Product Description

Sarah Brightman Photos

More from Sarah Brightman

Time to Say Goodbye	Diva: The Singles Collection	Eden
Diva: The Video Collection	Harem	La Luna (Live in Concert)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

52 of 54 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Angel from the moon, September 23, 2000

By	Anthony Morelli "Woofbear" (Montreal, Canada) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Congrats Sarah! I've been taken to the moon & back. The long awaited Brightman disc has arrived. The songs are ranging from her amazing classical renditions to her angelic versions of pop hits. Sarah is dreamy & laid back in her new cd "La Luna".Don't let the idea of Sarah brightman singing cover versions spoil your likes for her.

The first track "La Lune" brings the hair up on my neck just by listening to the keyboard intro. The 2nd track, "Winter in july", is one of Sarah's "pop married to classic" tracks. The lyrics are heartfelt & reflect her feelings about life. "Scarborough fair" is light and dreamy and "A whiter shade of pale" is operatic and revisited "à la Sarah". Beethoven's "Figlio Perduto" is my 2nd fav. track, I love how Sarah rearranged it to fit her voice. "How Fair this place" is pretty, but too short. The tracks continue into one another, like a multi-mood story of music. I find that tracks like "Here with me" and "Hijo De La Luna" are different tunes all together because "Hijo De La Luna" has a ballroom sound to it, with Spanish lyrics. It is sung à la Kate Bush. "Here with me" is more rock or "Dive-ish". "Gloomy Sunday" tones down the pace resulting in a bluesey, rainy-day track. Keeping with the moon theme, the title track "La Luna", is absolutely amazing. Sarah builds suspense in every breath of this track. Her voice soars as the song reaches its climax, wowing me every time. Unfortunately, the orchestra slightly drowns Sarah out at the end. The disc also features a hidden track. It is a breathy, up close & personal version of "Moon River". Sarah knows how to catch the attention of her fans.

The photos in "La Luna" are breath-taking, right down to the album cover.I dig the space-age lettering of her name on the cover. In comparison, Eden took on a heavier classical flavour, as so with "Time to say good-bye". Nevertheless, "La Luna" balances Sarah's career between "Dive" back in '93 to the present. Don't consider her slowing down even though the thought of a greatest hits double set sounds quite interesting.

I've had the golden opportunity to see Sarah in Montreal at the Molson Center on september 18 for her "La Luna" tour. Describe it, you say, Well, I have one word......EXTRAORDINARY! To hear her is one thing, but to see this woman perform was simply amazing. Definitely worth the money! Sing on Sarah! Hers is definitely one of the glorious voices.

44 of 49 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Classic Sarah, September 4, 2000

By	Chad Rockwell (San Francisco, CA USA) - See all my reviews

If you already love Sarah and her gorgeous voice, this CD will not disappoint you one bit. If you're not already a fan, she may win you over here. There are the usual classical pieces on which SB can more than hold her own. But the ethereal, sultry, and passionate pop/vocal tracks are where she shines on this CD. "Here With Me" rings of longing and passion (and stands out as my favorite), "He Doesn't See Me" has a bittersweet, dreamy quality, and "Gloomy Sunday" has a blues-y, downtrodden feel, befitting the sad lyrics. I'm glad Sarah steered clear of the cheesy, sentimental garbage that often marred her past pop albums (e.g., Eden's "Dust in the Wind," or "Johnny Wanna Live" on Dive). This is a top-notch effort that only gets better with each listening. And once again Sarah has melded seemingly disparate musical genres into a cohesive album that sticks to one theme: in this case, La Luna. My only quibble is in the covers of "Whiter Shade of Pale" and "Scarborough Fair" -- these classics don't seem appropriate to Sarah's voice, and vice versa.

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Return to Eden with a little more Theme Thrown In, August 30, 2000

By	Brett D. Cullum (Houston, TX United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Sarah Brightman's newest CD offers more of the same ecclectic approach to combining opera and pop music side by side with electronic music as well as orchestras. The result is haunting and deeply personal. LA LUNA is not a departure for Sarah, but rather a continuation of the style she honed by the time EDEN was released. Prior to that album she had TIME TO SAY GOODBYE (a largely classical album save the cover of Queen's "Who Wants to Live Forever) and DIVE (almost entirely quirky pop). EDEN marked the first album to combine the two genres -- she did classical pieces, covers done classically, and pop tunes sung in the same style with choirs and various instruments. LA LUNA finds Sarah doing everything from Handel and Beethoven, even the folk song "Scarborough Fair", and a cover of "Here With Me" which was written and performed by DIDO on her 1999 release. So Sarah covers several centuries, and makes it sound seamless. Is it better than EDEN? Yes and no. Yes, the material is much more even (EDEN went from "Dust in the Wind" into a classical aria). Here the elements transition smoothely. But EDEN was a rare blend of the dramatic, and LA LUNA does not always offer you the highs and lows of that previous release. But it's a solid piece of work. If you are a fan...you'll love this. If you're new to Sarah...it's a great album. So all in all...it's a spell worth casting! Stand out track for me is "He Doesn't See Me", but from all I've seen everybody will pick their personal favorite.