Sarah Brightman -- Sarah Brightman in Concert -- video / DVD

Video/DVD: Sarah Brightman in Concert

On 5 September 1997 I saw Sarah Brightman's concert in Edinburgh and I thought it was great. It was one of a short series of concerts in the United Kingdom and one of these concerts, the one in the Royal Albert Hall (London, 24 Sept.), was recorded with cameras. This concert has been turned into a 80 minute video, which I bought on 27 February 1998, not long after its release on VHS; later it was also released on DVD.

On this page I share some things about the video with you; all pictures (most of them very small!) are taken from the video case. See also the programme of the concert in Edinburgh.

During the concert in Edinburgh there were some numbers without Sarah singing, and no doubt that was also the case in London, but these numbers are not on the video (except for the overtures). The lighting of the orchestra seems a bit strange to me from time to time, but for the rest the concert is filmed very well. The concert in London, also with the English National Orchestra, conducted by Paul Bateman, had two special guests: Andrea Bocelli and Andrew Lloyd Webber.

The video starts with some pictures and fragments of video recordings with Sarah from different sources and from different years. Some of this shows a rather young Sarah, doing musical songs for instance. You can also see her together with Andrew Lloyd Webber then, and there are some holiday snaps. And you see Sarah arriving at the Royal Albert Hall. On the background you can hear the orchestra playing the first number of the concert, the Overture.

Contents of the concert on the video, with links to available lyrics (if the song appears on one of Sarah's CDs, that CD is mentioned; in that case there is no link back to this page):

Overture: Capriccio Espagnol / Scena Y Canto Gitano / Fandango Asturian
Baïlèro - from The songs of the Auvergne
===> lyrics [on: Eden -- but with slighly different lyrics]
Les filles de Cadiz - from Chanson Espagnol
===> lyrics
O Mio Babbino Caro - from Gianni Schicchi
===> lyrics [on: Timeless]
Solveig's Song - from Peer Gynt, suite no. 2
===> lyrics
Summertime - from Porgy & Bess
===> lyrics
Pie Jesu - from Requiem - duet with Adam Clarke
===> small picture: jpeg (5.7 kb) / gif (14.9 kb)
===> lyrics [on: Surrender]
Overture / Mambo & Cha-Cha - from West Side Story
Medley: Somewhere / I feel pretty / Tonight - from West Side Story
===> lyrics
Tú Quieres Volver - written by Gypsy Kings
===> small picture: jpeg (6.7 kb) / gif (18.2 kb)
===> lyrics [on: Timeless]
Who Wants To Live Forever - written by Brian May
===> lyrics [on: Timeless]
Whistle Down The Wind - on piano Andrew Lloyd Webber
===> very small picture: jpeg (2.7 kb) / gif (5.7 kb)
===> lyrics
Overture / Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again - from The phantom of the opera
===> lyrics [on: Surrender]
The Music Of The Night - from The phantom of the opera
===> lyrics [on: Surrender]
Time To Say Goodbye (Con Te Partiò) - duet with Andrea Bocelli
===> very small picture: jpeg (2.8 kb) / gif (6.2 kb)
===> lyrics [on: Timeless]
Don't Cry For Me Argentina - from Evita
===> lyrics [on: The Andrew Lloyd Webber Collection]

Like with the concert in Edinburgh, the first part of the concert is most opera-like, which is not so much mu taste, though Sarah's voice sound wonderful. The dress Sarah is wearing during this part is simply wonderful, if I may say so (and different from the one she was wearing in Edinburgh):

[Sarah in first part] jpeg (19.2 kb) / gif (82.8 kb)

I very much liked the second part of the programme, which is more musical-like. (In this part, Sarah wears the same two dresses as she did in Edinburgh.) This part features a wonderful Tú Quieres Volver, and some other grand songs.

The song where Andrew Lloyd Webber plays the piano (Whistle Down The Wind) is the title song from his musical, for which Jim Steinman wrote the lyrics -- that musical opened in July 1998. (To be honest, I do not think the song is very good.) This song was not performed in Edinburgh.

The first encore is the famous duet with Andrea Bocelli, Time To Say Goodbye (Con Te Partiò); Sarah sang this solo in Edinburgh. The second encore, Don't Cry For Me Argentina, also not performed in Edinburgh, is a grand finale! And again Sarah raises her arms to except the deserved ovation, as shown on this small picture:

[Sarah in first part] jpeg (6.0 kb) / gif (16.0 kb)

The (quite large) picture at the top of this page is the cover of the video:
jpeg (37.3 kb) / gif (161.1 kb)

Notes:

Sarah Brightman Fan Club.
The video is © 1997 by Peterson/Brightman.
It is released in Europe by Warner Music Vision (3984-21400-3)
and in the USA by VCI (Columbia Trustier).
There is a video (released early 1998(?) by Polygram) of the concert Andrea Bocelli gave in Tuscany at the end of 1997, and in the finale of that concert Sarah joins Andrea to sing the duet; Andrea sang the fully Italian version alone earlier in that concert.
Warner Music released a DVD of the concert (3984-21400-2), which contains exactly the same as the VHS video, except for a menu giving the viewer the possibility to go directly to a certain song. There are no extras on the DVD.

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