Well, like many people, I adore Sarah Brightman. She is a rare gem of a modern soprano.
To begin with, I was allured by her theatrical background with 'Phantom of the Opera'-I'm only sorry that, being born in 1989, I wasn't around to see her as Chistine Daae with Michael Crawfords Phantom.
Well, after listening to her albums 'Time to Say Goodbye', 'La Luna', 'Surrender' and 'Classics', I bought 'Symphony' expecting to hear Sarah's original, breathtaking soprano melting into classic orchestra, and then levitated with bursts of contemporary sound such as electric guitars and synphasizers.
I have always admired Sarah's flexibility and unique style of soprano, which is both modern and classic, but 'Symphony' is obviously a step away from that towards that god-awful, unholy genre we call 'pop'. I don't know why Sarah would want to be a part of the pop world, where everything is so over-commercialised, over-sexed, meaninglessly fashionable and insubstantial...she already has an enormous amount of fans all over the world; does she think by converting to pop she'll get more than she needs?
Symphony isn't all that bad, if you want to hear classic opera. I loved 'Schwere Traume' and 'Attesa', and 'Fleur du Mal' was another of Sarah's classic rock meets classic opera moments, which I loved. But I-HATED-'I Will be with You', because it was just so clearly pop-inspired. I would have thought that Sarah Brightman meets KISS vocalist Paul Stanley would have equalled absolute musical ecstasy, but it wasn't so! I was very dissapointed-and another thing that made 'I Will be with You' so god-awful was its close ties with the latest Pokemon movie. Sarah, how could you stoop so low!?
Numerous dull, disappointing, uninspired, pop-songs later I was at the end of the album, listening to 'Sarahbande', and I was on the verge of falling in love with it-Sarah's classic soprano sound had returned! When all of a sudden it started getting all techno, like a nightclub dance anthem!? I wondered what on earth somebody as evidently cultured and artistic as Sarah Brightman was doing even THINKING about playing with such vulgar sound effects!
I asked myself, "what on EARTH are you doing Sarah?! You're a gorgeous soprano, and you're forsaking your great talent just to sound like a plebs dream???"
So, I don't want to condemn this album-picking it up in HMV in its glistening, sumptuous packaging was a joy in itself, and some part of me likes Sarah's 'Within Temptation'-inspired photo shoot/album art. I don't usually like that kind of thing, having lost interest in gothic opera years ago, but then again whats wrong with it? It is a little unusual to see Sarah doing it though-I'm getting the impression that she's going out like Madonna, donning different appearences and 'themes' each time she makes an album. Thats not a bad thing-Sarah is extremely beautiful, and I love a lot of her photo's, but she shouldn't aspire to be like Madonna the pop-icon...she doesn't need to be a pop-icon; shes Sarah Brightman.
Buy 'Symphony' if you want Sarah Brightman at her most contemporary; if you want classic opera buy her 'Classics' album.
