Customer Reviews

Sensations

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I was browsing the World Music section at Amazon and came upon Liata's "Sensations" quite by accident. Intrigued, I listened to bits of each track and, enchanted, decided to take a chance and purchase the CD. Boy, am I ever glad I am a risk taker! (smile). The music is just beautiful - an eclectic multicultural compilation of ballads from France, Spain, Italy, and Russia, along with some opera.

Mezzo-soprano Rosanna D'Agnillo's lush voice simply soars, turning each song into a special treasure. At times Lynne Cerro joins her in vocal harmonies. Ms. Cerro also accompanies with multicultural instrumentation like the woodwinds, as well as the more eclectic offerings of santur, dulcimer, harp and oud. Lynn Davies is brilliant on the classical guitar. The result of their collaboration is pure elegance with an earthy touch.

Album highlights include: "I'te Vurria Vasa," ("How I Want To Kiss You"), the opening track, is an early 20th century Neapolitan serenade; "Ciao Bella Ciao," a traditional WWII song of the Italian partisan fighters; the contemporary Peruvian "Alma, Corazon y Vida;" "Study in G Major" a gorgeous 18th century composition for classical guitar with an additional melody line for the flute; the haunting traditional Irish ballad "Banks of the Lee," written by Thomas Davis, a 19th century poet and patriot, is another great favorite; the popular American love song "The Twelfth of Never" is beautifully performed here, as is the passionate Russian ballad "Ach Zactchem eta Noch;" and George Bizet's "Je Croix Entendre Encore," from "The Pearl Fishers."

This wonderful album is certainly a well kept secret, at least in the US. I am amazed more people do not know what a jewel Liata's "Sensations" is. Highly recommended!
JANA

In a world that's becoming increasingly more frustrating to find music that embraces

the romance and the beauty of the Latin based languages their are few in this small

musically genre like Andrea Bochelli and Josh Groban who managed to thrive.

For me I think Liata is their feminine counterpart. As one of the millions of

hopeless romantics of this world I was not disappointed after listening to Sensations.

I managed to get MY FIX. The heartbreakingly beautiful vocals and harmonies, the mixture of sweet strings and sad guitars and the variety of other instruments in the arrangement all lead to an interesting, emotionally charged and unpredictable mix. Warning: this album is not for unromantics.

I can't get sick of this sound, this intense synergy. Pure passion, from start to finish. This cd does not disappoint. The vocal broke my heart. It's an unusually feminine but totally modern approach to some of the great old songs - Ciao Bella Ciao, I'te Vurria Vasa. A cool modernized and really ethnic sounding George Brassens "Chanson Pour l"Auvergnat" was a nice surprise. A good mix of fast and slow. A good intro for children to music in European languages - my students loved it.

Of course it is hard to be objective about this album when many of the songs were sung to you by your Sicilian aunts long, long ago. But I will try.

This isn't a coloratura album - these are mainly folk-songs with a long history in European drawing-rooms, much loved by generations of listeners. All of these songs have been done countless times, infinitely better, by greater performers.

The reviewer who urges you to dump Andrea Bocelli in the trash is slightly bonkers -- I hate that kind of aggressively inane remark anyway -- since Bocelli is a consummate professional, who writes and scores ravishingly beautiful songs, and can sing alongside Pavarotti, while these ladies are very minor performers. But there is something endearing about the very amateurishness of the album. I very seldom review anything I hate on Amazon -- I usually only bother if I think something is worth 4 or 5 stars. In this case, I'm happy to recommend Liata.

Rosanna D'Agnillo has a lovely voice, Lynne Cerro is a little uncertain in the lower register. Together they sometimes sound somewhat like my tremulous Aunts on those warm Sicilian evenings long ago, but the effect (for me at least) is delicious. The guitar work is very simple and the keyboard sound is occasionally reminiscent of a chapel of rest. The syrupy old tunes never grow old, however, and the point of this collection is to round up a posy of European favourites so that a new generation of listeners can be enchanted all over again by the likes of J'attendrai and I' te Vurria Vasá. Nor does it hurt to hear their sweet arrangement of the universally adored Je Croix from the Pearl Fishers.

The trio's strong point (apart from the material) is Rosanna D'Agnillo, whose voice is rich as plum jam, though she is not always accurate, and prone to slur notes.

I am sure these three ladies have learned a great deal making this album and will soon come up with another collection (one itches to make suggestions). There is a place for them alongside the likes of Pepe and his Bottle Blondes, Pink Martini and The Paris Combo. I look forward to that!

After seeing Liata perform live I was curious how their lastest CD Sensations would come together. I think it was a brave move for Liata to sing in many different languages on one album yet the music seems to flow easily from one language to another. I think it was a risk worth taking. The vocals of Rosanna D'Agnillo are powerful and full of emotion. The songs weave through layers of vocal harmonies, guitars, accordions, strings and woodwinds. The selection of European ballads are sometimes hauntingly beautiful while other selections capture a more nostagic playfulness. I thoughly enjoyed it.

I'll try to do this systematically:
1) The composition, layout, vocals, all of it, beautiful
2) The selection of songs is very compelling; a handful were familiar, others not, and all of it was very fresh and powerfully delivered.
3) Songs that were familiar to me were arranged so fabulously that they sounded like new songs;
4) the others were outstanding, earthy, and not too remote.

After you listen to this, you will want to dump your Andrea Bocelli CDs in the garbage.
Enjoy!

I bought this CD wihouth listening it first, only for the reviews. So when I have received the CD I heard it found that is a beautiful CD, but a little boring, not what I thought it was. If I have heard it before I would have not been interested in it, because I was thinking it was more like Pink Martini.