La Luna

La Luna (Italian and Spanish for "the Moon") is the seventh album recorded by English soprano Sarah Brightman in 2000. It was released under license by Nemo Studios to Angel Records. The album combines pieces written by classical and modern composers. It is the 17th top-selling classical album of the 2000s in the US, according to Nielsen SoundScan, and is Brightman's second highest seller in the country after her 1997 release Timeless/Time to Say Goodbye. Aside from the US, the album experienced its strongest sales in Asia, where it received a quintuple platinum certification in Taiwan and earned Brightman's first Gold award in Japan. Album information The classical pieces are "How Fair This Place" ("Здесь хорошо") by Rachmaninov; "Figlio Perduto" is based on the second movement "Allegretto" of Ludwig van Beethoven's Symphony No. 7; "Solo Con Te" is based on Siegfried Ochs' (attributed to Handel) Dank sei dir, Herr; "La Luna" is an adapted Italian version of the aria "Song to the Moon" from Dvořák's opera Rusalka. With La Luna, Brightman combined elements of classical singing with her newer style of pop music. "Hijo de la Luna" is a cover originally performed by the Spanish synthpop band Mecano. "La Califfa", composed by Ennio Morricone, is the title track of the 1970 Italian film with the same name. The underlying concept of the album is the moon. Track listing Europe This original European track listing is now out of print. All pressings now use the USA track listing, along with its versions of "This Love", "Here with Me", and "La Luna". It also replaces "How Fair This Spot" and "She Doesn't See Him" with the lyrically different "How Fair This Place" and "He Doesn't See Me". "La Luna" is performed in full soprano here compared to the more contemporary USA version and "First of May" is removed all together from later releases.