Most people are familiar with the 1996 collaboration between Andrea Bocelli and Sarah Brightman, Time to Say Goodbye, since it was a worldwide smash, selling over 12 million copies and making it one of the best-selling singles of all time. However, it was the year before, in 1995, that Andrea Bocelli first performed this sumptuous neo-classical song in its original Italian form, as a solo piece: Con Te Partirò.

The song was written specially for Bocelli by Francesco Sartori and Lucio Quarantotto, and appeared on his second album. Bocelli had already had his big break a few years earlier in 1992 when Luciano Pavarotti heard a demo tape of Bocelli singing Miserere, a song intended for Pavarotti (and co-written by U2’s Bono of all people). Pavarotti was impressed and in the end, he and Bocelli recorded it together. That song became a worldwide hit and catapulted Bocelli into the limelight. At Italy’s Sanremo Music Festival in 1994 he won honours in the newcomers’ category, and success was cemented.

In the following year, Bocelli appeared at Sanremo again. Watch him here, performing his signature piece, Con Te Partirò. His honeyed voice and distinctive timbre, together with the beautiful melody and rich orchestration, produced a masterpiece of emotional strength. Stupendous.