The Andrew Lloyd Webber Collection

by Sarah Brightman

Overview

Despite a long history of pop and musical-theater success in England, Sarah Brightman was not well known in the U.S. until her 1997 album Time to Say Goodbye became a triumph, topping the Billboard classical crossover chart for most of 1998. Really Useful Records, her former husband Andrew Lloyd Webber's label, took advantage of her sudden popularity to release this compilation of recordings of Lloyd Webber songs she'd made between 1985 and 1995, and since she had served as a real muse to the composer, many of his most popular songs were included. Several of them -- "Pie Jesu," "All I Ask of You," "Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again," and "Amigos Para Siempre (Friends for Life)" -- had been chart hits for Brightman in the U.K. So had "The Phantom of the Opera," the title song of a musical Lloyd Webber had written for her and in which she had starred, albeit in a different recording from the one included here, which was the Original London Cast version featuring her co-star, Michael Crawford. Also included were the most memorable songs from such Lloyd Webber shows as Evita ("Don't Cry for Me Argentina"), Song & Dance ("Unexpected Song," "Tell Me on a Sunday"), Aspects of Love ("Love Changes Everything"), and Cats ("Memory," "Gus: The Theatre Cat," "Macavity: The Mystery Cat"). Even the songs that had not been tailored specifically for Brightman had been written for her kind of voice, a full-bodied, dramatic soprano, and she sang with a thorough understanding of the composer's intentions. The result was an excellent primer for anyone who had first encountered Brightman with "Time to Say Goodbye" and was wondering where she came from. ~ William Ruhlmann

Product Details

Release Date:	06/01/1999
Label:	Decca / Polygram
UPC:	0731453933026
Rank:	181719

Tracks

1. Phantom of the Opera, musical~The Phantom of the Opera
2. Song and Dance, musical~Unexpected Song
3. Aspects of Love [From Chanson d'Enfance]
4. Phantom of the Opera, musical~All I Ask of You
5. Evita, musical~Don't Cry for Me Argentina
6. Evita, musical~Another Suitcase in Another Hall
7. Aspects of Love [From Love Changes Everything]
8. Amigos Para Siempre (Friends for Life) [Official Theme of the Barcelona 1992 Games]
9. Cats, musical~Memory
10. Cats, musical~Gus: The Theatre Cat
11. Aspects of Love [From Anything but Lonely]
12. Cats, musical~Macavity: The Mystery Cat
13. Tell Me on a Sunday, musical (original version)~Tell Me on a Sunday
14. Phantom of the Opera, musical~Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again
15. Requiem for soloists, chorus & orchestra~Pie Jesu
16. Phantom of the Opera, musical~The Music of the Night

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Sarah Brightman   Primary Artist,Vocals
Jose Carreras   Primary Artist,Guest Artist,Tenor (Vocal),Vocals
Cliff Richard   Primary Artist,Guest Artist,Vocals
Choir of Winchester Cathedral   Primary Artist,Ensemble,Orchestra,Choir/Chorus
John Gielgud   Primary Artist,Guest Artist,Vocals
Paul Miles-Kingston   Primary Artist,Vocals
Andrew Lloyd Webber   Primary Artist
Michael Crawford   Primary Artist,Guest Artist,Vocals
Lorin Maazel   Conductor
Michael Reed   Conductor
Martin Neary   Conductor
Orchester der Vereinigten Buehnen Wien   Ensemble,Orchestra
Harry Rabinowitz   Conductor
Steve Barton   Vocals
English Chamber Orchestra   Ensemble,Orchestra
David Caddick   Conductor,Choir Conductor,Vocal Conductor

Technical Credits

Noel Harris   Assistant Engineer
Lee McCutcheon   Assistant Engineer
Simon Fowler   Photography
Don Black   Composer,Lyricist,Text
Donald Black   Composer
Charles Hart   Text,Composer,Lyricist
Andrew Lloyd Webber   Composer,Producer,Orchestration,Piano Accompanist
T.S. Eliot   Text,Composer,Original Material
Trevor Nunn   Text,Composer,Lyricist
Simon Rhodes   Engineer
Robin Sellars   Engineer
Richard Stilgoe   Text,Composer,Lyricist
Martin Levan   Engineer
Tim Rice   Text,Composer
Thomas Z. Shepard   Engineer
David Cullen   Orchestration
Mike Batt   Text,Composer
Larry Wilcox   Orchestration
Nigel Wright   Producer,Orchestration
Dave Hunt   Engineer
Lewis Mulatero   Photography
Steve Margoshes   Orchestration
David R. Murray   Producer