My Secret Heart

Michael Whalen | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (February 1, 2005)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Narada
• Run Time: 53 minutes
• ASIN: B00074CC6E
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #226,154 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

With song titles like "Swimming in a Lovely Sea of You," one might expect Michael Whalen's My Secret Heart to be as deep in the schmaltz as Yanni playing a candlelight étude for Linda Evans. The fact that he avoids a saccharin overdose is one of the few minor successes on this album of ambient piano compositions. Taking cues from artists like Harold Budd and Suzanne Ciani, Whalen orchestrates a series of romantic mood pieces full of deeply echoing piano and electronic effects that shimmer in the background. Like Ciani, he wears his heart on his keyboard. Unlike Budd, however, he lacks the emotional austerity and distance that would allow his music to speak at a deeper level. Although Whalen spends most of his time doing nature documentary soundtracks and jingles, he does have a gift for ambient space, as evidenced by his albums Nightscenes and Like Rain Through My Hands. My Secret Heart fits in as a minor extension of these works, but the maudlin inscriptions--"Two as One" or "Addicted to You"--wouldn't pass muster on a Hallmark Valentine's Day card. Absent any irony, they trigger an automatic gag reflex that's only slightly overcome by music that deserves better. --John Diliberto

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Piece of Heaven, February 12, 2005

By 

Diane Arkenstone - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: My Secret Heart (Audio CD)

From the moment I first heard Michael Whalen's new CD, "My Secret Heart", I was absolutely captivated. I adore this CD. The music is quite beautiful and evocative, it is as if Michael captured a piece of Heaven in his hands, and it spilled forth and transformed into this beautiful music.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Most Powerful Music Yet, February 9, 2005

By 

Peter Giles (Purchase, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: My Secret Heart (Audio CD)

"My Secret Heart, romantic meditations for ambient piano" is by far Whalen's most ambitious and revealing project to date. Imagine all your deepest, darkest secrets hanging out for the world to see? Well, that is what is embodied in this album.

From the first track, "I Have Loved You For A Thousand Lifetimes," Whalen succeeds at what I think is the fundamental goal of this album: to make the music accessible and inviting to the listener. Even deeper: to show a side of Michael that few people get to see-a vulnerability, a longing, an HONESTY...who hasn't wanted to express these emotions???

Whalen has chosen exactly the right notes, at the right time, giving ample time for each shimmering note to breathe. More important, the simplicity of this CD invites you into Michael's world, which is about music he cares about expressing-because of who he is, and what he believes in.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Seductive and Ethereal, May 7, 2006

By 

Trish (Connecticut) - See all my reviews

This review is from: My Secret Heart (Audio CD)

I was immediately mesmerized on hearing this on Soundscapes. Michael Whalen has composed and performed the most haunting and lingering piano sounds I have heard in a long time. You feel each piano note deeply, sometimes holding a breath not wanting to miss its penetrating moment. It is not only seductive it is intoxicating. I have played it for listening and for dining, all my friends and guests are captivated by it.