Customer Reviews

Renaissance of the Celtic Harp

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Renaissance of the Celtic Harp was my first try at Alan Stivell, one of the big names of Celtic music from Brittany in France, the area where the language and culture is Breton, in which the language is Celtic, unlike French which is a Romance tongue. I am not familiar with Breton folk music, but from my understanding is this album contains Breton, Irish, Scottish, Welsh, and Manx styles. Since that time, I also acquired Chemins de Terre (1973) (actually the German LP version called Attention!), 'Roak Dilestra (Before Landing) (1977), Journée à la Maison (1978) and Celtic Symphonie (1980), and they all are quite varied, from the folk-rock of Chemins de Terres to the more proggy (but without forsaking his Celtic roots) Before Landing to the more mellow Journée à la Maison to the highly ambitious symphonic style of Celtic Symphony (no surprise the style given the album title).

What I understand of Alan Stivell is he helped launch the careers of Malicorne (Gabriel Yacoub played with Stivell up until 1973's Chemins de Terre) and Dan Ar Bras (who would eventually become a member of Fairport Convention, one of the biggest and most important British folk/rock groups).

Renaissance of the Celtic Harp aka Renaissance de la Harpe Celtique was released in 1971 as the followup to Reflets (1970) and unsurprisingly (as the title suggest) the Celtic harp is the most dominant instrument, although some tabla, bass guitar, drums, fiddle, and bagpipes are used, even a little orchestra and choir used on one cut. Unlike Reflets, or most of his other albums, this one is all-instrumental. The original cover was more psychedelic, with the harp clearly shown. That was the harp that Alan's father made and gave to him as a child. The Rounder reissue shows an older Alan Stivell with a different harp (not the one seen on the original pressing).

I am not a fan of Celtic music, I tend to prefer prog rock, and Alan Stivell is one of the few Celtic musicians that's of interest to prog rock fans. Strangely a lot of this album reminds me of the more acoustic moments of Anthony Phillips (like what you hear on The Geese & The Ghost) or Trespass-era Genesis (when he was still in that group) during that album's more pastoral moments, without the rock influence of that group, and (unsurprisingly) a stronger Celtic feel. His music is often of interest to progressive rock fans, because he often had a progressive attitude towards Celtic music, that's something Irish groups generally didn't do (with the possible exception of Horslips). Perhaps it's because France was more prog friendly than Ireland (France, after all, did give us groups like Ange, Pulsar, Magma, Gong, Atoll, etc.).

Renaissance of the Celtic Harp starts with "Ys" which is a collection of different Breton harp songs, with the sounds of the ocean seguing the songs. The album tells the story of the town of "Ys" in Armorica which was destroyed by the ocean due to the sins of the local townsfolk (it sounds a whole lot like a Celtic version of Atlantis). Much of the rest of the first half of the album also consists of more Breton material. The big exception being "Ap Huw/Penllyn", which are Welsh songs. The second half contains the side-length "Gaeltacht", which really is a collection of various songs, including some jigs and reels from the Gaelic speaking regions, that is Irish, Scots, and even Manx.

Renaissance of the Celtic Harp tends to have a more somber mood, and the use of electric guitar from Dan ar Bras is pretty limited here. On Alan's more rock-oriented albums like Chemins de Terre or Before Landing, Dan really gets to show what he's made of.

Alan Stivell really is a pan-Celtic musician, he realized that if he concentrated solely on Breton material, he probably would not have gone as far. Of course he's done other things than cover traditional Celtic material, like the Before Landing album, which was all self-penned, or the occasional cover of a non-Celtic folk song, like "The Trees They Do Grow High" (yes, the Pentangle did their version of off their album Sweet Child) which was an English folk song (but remember: English folk music often gets put in the Celtic category, probably due to musical similarities, and sharing a similar geographical location, but England and English culture is not Celtic). Or Celtic Symphony where it's really difficult where he gets all the ideas, since so much is going on on that album. Plus I haven't heard everything from him, and I'm certain he probably had a dry spell (releasing albums not worth listening to).

Truly a wonderful album to have if you enjoy Celtic music (and even someone like me who isn't in to Celtic music).

On one of my trips to Japan I had the pleasure of listening to a harp being played by a beautiful young lady with no accompanying instruments (solo) from few feet away. It was Vivaldi's "Four Seasons", a composition very popular with the Japanese. Knowing what a harp sounds like in its pure form and in reality even though it was not the Celtic harp, I'd say that the natural ambience and delicate sound of the harp is captured on this album very beautifully. Recording a solo harp is one of the most daunting tasks for any recording engineer. On the other hand, getting the audio system to reproduce the sound of harp faithfully is equally frustrating. If you need to perform maintenance of your system, a harp is an instrument of choice for finding out which screws need to be tightened! You will be surprised how many of them are loose once the harp starts to resonate. On equipment capable of bringing out the last ounce of detail, a very slight hiss can be noticed, only on certain very quite passages where the harp is the only instrument playing, that too if heard very, very carefully. I personally did not find it disturbing in any way whatsoever and I am sure most would not even notice it. At times, if you are really engrossed, the sound of the harp will be like a breath of fresh air.

I have five Alan Stivell albums in my collection and if I were asked to recommend another album of Alan Stivell to complement "Renaissance of the Celtic Harp", it would be "Harp of the New Age", recorded and mastered in digital domain. This album is actually a sequel to "Renaissance....." and is a solo effort by Alan Stivell, which also features the newer electro-acoustic harps built by him. You can actually revitalise your soul by sprinkling some of the music from this album.

On several occasions I have come across websites featuring graphics where angels are depicted playing the harp in heavenly surroundings. Could it be that the angels, from amongst all the known instruments, prefer the harp? Well, we may never know. Nevertheless, harp is an instrument that at times, I believe, is featured in one's dreams. "Renaissance of the Celtic Harp" is perfectly suited to be the soundtrack of your dreams.

I've had a copy of this since I was a teenager. It is, unfortunately, out of print. I was thrilled to find a copy of it at a reasonable price. Delivery was fine.

This recording has been cited by Fionna Richie (the long time host of NPR's Thistle and Shamrock radio show) as one of the reasons she got into Traditional music, at a time when rock and pop was pushing out other music forms. Very few rock songs or tunes will be remembered 100 years from now, but there is always going to be an interest in Traditional music- because it transcends time and speaks to the next generation. From there it is tweaked with the influences of the day and continues on. This is one of those tunes.
The recording does not appear to be remastered, and shows the limitations of the studio of 1971. Not that I'm complaining- it's a genuine clean copy of the original, and hasn't been artistically changed in any way. Which is a good thing, as the orginal was a masterpiece.

This is the first time I have purchased off the net. Have heard all the horror stories, this is not one of them. SOOooo impressed with service. Thank you

I have been a fan of Alan Stivell from the very first time I heard his music. I have had to purchase several analog copies of this album over the years as it would go "missing" from my record collection. My current vinyl copy is on its last legs as my children were perhaps not as careful with it as they should have been.
I have been searching for this in CD format for years and on a whim did another search here on Amazon. To my delight it showed up. I caught my eldest daughter fawning over it suspiciously just the second day it was in my collection. Its now hidden in a special place.
It is curious to me in retrospect that not long after this incredible piece of music was released that the serious celtic revival began. It wasn't long brfore people were spinning Paddy Maloney and the Chieftains and Planxty or that the pipes and certain lilts were finding their way into more pedestrian faire.
My words cannot do justice but if you take the time to look up the album review on wikipedia a more elegant treatment is given.

This is an album that will wash all the grime from your soul.

very original, ranging from sprightly to tranquil, but capturing and holding attention and appreciation.

I received this album as a present shortly after its issue and have listened to it all my life. It remains my favorite album of all time--one of ten things I would want if stranded on a desert island.

Anyone who knows and loves Alain Stivell's albums 'A l'Olympia' or 'From Celtic Roots' would be disappointed with the Muzak qualities of this offering. The aim of it is presumably to showcase the beautiful tones of the Celtic harp but only Track 5 will appeal to those who like their folk lively.