Customer Reviews

Angels Candles

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is one of my most favorite albums and it is by one of Ireland's finest musicians. Maire Breatnach an exceptional fiddler and composer. Her music creates a part of Ireland full of magic and dances. Along with the engaging violin and viola, she plays keyboards and piano, which makes a lovely enchanting harmony. She also has additional musicians playing accordian, flute, and acoustics intruments. Track 9 also includes uillean pipes, which proves that this truly is a pure Celtic album. The style varies from lullabies to high spirited jigs. These jigs, especially "Mystic's Slipjigs", "Carollions/Moling", and "Goban/Halloween Jig" will be fun to dance to. Ms. Breatnach also plays soothing slow tunes, like the beautiful title track, the enchanting "Swans at Coole", the very poignant "Cuimhne", and the happy lullabies "A West Ocean Waltz" and "Dreamer". Though her music is Irish, much of it sounds like American folk music, which makes sense because American music has its roots to Irish music. When she is not playing the fiddle, Ms. Breatnach is singing in the powerful Gaelic language(I love her accent!). The very lovely "Eist" tells the story of Midir and Etain, much like the theme of Enya's "Fairytale". Then there is the very engaging "Aisling Samhan"(Halloween Vision), which uses the Gaelic language to express an important message to the listeners. All in all, what more can I say? This music is very enchanting, spirited, and perfectly arranged withot any flaws. It is a wonderful album to listen to and defines Celtic music.

This is an incredibly beautiful recording. My favorite track is number 1, "The Mystic's Slipjigs". I hope anyone else enjoys it as much as I did. As for the other recordings- some are haunting, like "Aisling Samhna", some are uplifting with an air of sadness, such as "Cuimhne." While these were particularly outstanding for me, most of the other tracks seem to be almost repeating themselves, note for note. However, this still didn't deter me from giving this album 5 stars... how about you?

This cd was the first in my Celtic collection, and it is almost completely responsible for my love of Celtic music. Breatnach's sounds are compelling and haunting. Track 13 is my favorite! It's also wonderful to hear a true Irish voice singing in Gaelic. This is the kind of music to drift off to sleep to on a cool summer evening.