Personnel includes: Sarah Brightman (vocals); Paul Bateman (conductor); Peter Weihe (guitar); Michael Soltau, Peter Murray (keyboards); London Symphony Orchestra; Royal Philharmonic Orchestra; Englisg National Orchestra; Prague Symphony Orchestra; The Bach Choir; The Choir Of New College.
Engineers: Michael Soltau, John Timperly, Frank Peterson.
Sure, she's as close as you can get to naked in the album artwork. OK, so there's an insert hawking Sarah Brightman calendars, coffee mugs, and sweatshirts. Yes, there's a fair amount of calculation likely in her pop-classical crossover. That doesn't mean the lady can't sing like an angel. Before the embryo-with-pipes known as Charlotte Church came along, Brightman was THE pop-classical singer, whose supernatural pipes allowed her to appeal to both camps with equal verve. CLASSICS proves that, aided by a bevy of orchestras and choirs, Brightman is still big coin in the crossover world. And she's got a lot more traditional operatic chops than little Miss Church to boot. Making her way through old warhorses like "Pie Jesu," "Ave Maria," and "Nessun Dorma," Brightman manages to invest these tracks with new life, and when she takes on the Linda Ronstadt tune "Winter Light" she brings to it an ethereal majesty that leaves no question as to her interpretive abilities on the pop side of the fence.
What the critics say…
Entertainment Weekly (11/23/01, p.83) - "…Brightman's a stronger song stylist than a singer, but her reedy soprano sounds less shrill and more mature here…" - Rating: B-
