Fernando Ortega

Fernando Ortega | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (May 18, 2011)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Curb Records
• ASIN: B0002IQFIQ
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #48,978 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Fernando Ortega

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Highly inspiring, even for an atheist..., March 14, 2005

By 

Ivar - See all my reviews

This review is from: Fernando Ortega (Audio CD)

I'm an atheist as you can see in the title, but this CD went straight through my heart anyway. I heard "Mildred Madalyn Johnson" in the car driving home from work abroad and I immediately bought the album online the next day (availability of this album in Dutch record stores is poor).

This album is a true gem, a masterpiece when it comes to music, lyrics and sonics. For me, the stand-outs of the album are "California Town", "Sleepless Night" and "Mildred Madalyn Johnson". If this music doesn't move you, I don't know what will. The music and lyrics have the rare combination of being refreshing yet familiar at the same time, but in no way boring. You can play this over and over and get exited about it every single time you hear it.

An album like this only pass by once every couple of years; Grammy winning material but will probably be ignored by the mass market which suffers from an overall lack of musical taste anyway. Fernando Ortega, keep up the good work for us who DO care about music!

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Life and Worship Rich and Full, November 15, 2006

By 

M. Christensen (Colorado) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Fernando Ortega (Audio CD)

This album is on of the finest Christian albums available. It represents rich new territory for Fernando Ortega without neglecting what he has done so well in the past. Ortega canvases the whole range of life experience from a well thought out Christian worldview that never degenerates into the drivel that marks so much of CCM.

"California Town" is romance at its barest essence without sappy sentimentailty, but sentimental nonetheless in a good way. One will be suprised at "Dragonfly" and "When the Coyote Comes." The songs are hard to classify which is good. Each has a bit of a bluesy, gospel flavor and a country-pop twang to boot that will leave your toes tapping every time. They may be the best songs of the lot and certainly the funnest.

The next three songs, "Sleepless Nights", "Shame" and "Noonday Devil" expresses a realist sort of spirituality that grapples with the difficulty of the Christian life. The songs do not wallow in self-pity, reductionistic ditties or the sort of psychobabble that passes for Christian reflection so pervasive today. "Sleepless Nights" calls the anxious heart to hide in Christ. "Shame" deals with the harsh reality of failing to meet false expectations that drives so much of our behavior. Shame from real guilt is good and leads to repentance. Shame from false guilt is crippling. "Noonday Devil" is a clever stab at mortifying the flesh and temptation. To do battle with sin, we must despise it with a holy hatred.

"Mildred Madalyn Johnson" is a wonderful little song that seems so out of place in our self-absorbed culture. What I like about this song is the lost art of paying the homage and honor that our elderly citizens deserve. What a tribute to grandmothers so dearly loved. Switching gears, "All That Time" expresses the difficulty love must endure in relationships if it passes the test of time.

Fernando Ortega is perhaps the best hymn revivalist of our day. No one has treated the hymns with such sensitivity and care for their treasures. "Rock of Ages" and "Immortal, Invisible" are no exceptions. As good a lyricists as Ortega is, I think he realizes that he cannot match the depth of orthodoxy and orthopraxy that the classic hymns have achieved. One must especially meditate on these two selections, saturating your mind with their truths almost with the same intensity and devotion one would to the Scripture itself. "Immortal, Invisible" is one of my favorite hymns. When I heard this rendition I was immediately enraptured with its beautiful yet haunting melody. I will never sing that hymn again without thinking of Fernando's wonderful adaptation.

"Take Heart, My Friend" reveals more of the heart of Ortega's godly spirit. It is a salve for the soul of the fainthearted believer who wonders if he'll make it. He will - God promises to complete what He began, and He uses fellow believers as divine encouragers to the task.

The album concludes with a final hymn, "More Love to Thee" written by Elizabeth Prentiss. Any Christian woman who has read her fictional diary of the struggle for womanly godliness, "Stepping Heavenward" will aprreciate this famous hymn she wrote as well. We thank you Fernando for reviving it.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ortega is a gift!, October 22, 2004

By 

Rev. Chris "Rev. Chris" (Southern California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Fernando Ortega (Audio CD)

Fernando never ceases to amaze. This album may rank as his best of his career. It seduces you with its rolling melodies and beautiful vocals and then jars you with its candid and honest lyrics. What person has never felt like Fernando in "Noonday Devil," with it's pleading to God for any emotion, even if it is unpleasant? "Dragonfly" is just an escapist's delight, while "Mildred Madalyn Johnson" solidifies Ortega as perhaps America's richest and clearest lyricist. Fernando ends this jewel with a simple and plaintive rendering of the hymn, "More love to Thee."

Fernando Ortega is a composer, pianist, singer, and an artist that really has no equal working today. He is a gift.