Customer Reviews

Ultimate Secret Garden

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is a haunting and ethereal disk with many of the songs that have made Secret Garden so loved - by the people who love Secret Garden, that is. There is of course always those folk who don't see the simple beauty of the music, like the previous reviewer who felt compelled to classify it in some way. Secret Garden defies classification.

That being said, I believe I would have to recommend the CD "Dreamcatcher" instead of this one if you're seeking a compendium or "Greatest Hits" type recording. Both CDs have most of the same titles, with a couple extra on this one. The only advantage to "Ultimate Secret Garden" is the beautiful mezzo voice of the featured Asian Artist. I don't have the CD case in front of me so don't know her name, but her voice is amazing.

The versions of most of the songs are pretty similar, except that a number of the ones on disk 2 of this set are from live performances; the renditions are weaker, intonation is a bit off in places, and the applause is distracting. The pivotal, breathtaking "Dawn of a New Century" in particular is far stronger on the Dreamcatcher recording and is a piece not to be missed!

I love the music from the Secret Garden. This collection contains the best that the group has previously released in different albums. I bought it in Hong Kong and the package is a double CDs. The first CD is a collection of songs whereas the second CD is a live version of their performance in their tours. I would especially mention the first two songs in the collection which are newly prepared with a good taste and memory to combine the culture from the east (an Korean and a Chinese) and the west. Hope every one enjoy the music from the group and anticiapting to listen more their songs in the near future.

Secret Garden is one of those phenomenons that you either seem to love or hate - they definitely do not fit into any strictly defined category - and I'm sure do not plan to change to fit any-ones preconceived notions!

I love Classical music, and Rock, and many other genere's ...

and can just enjoy this music when I'm in the mood to listen to its soothing melodies and occaisional lyrics.

If you're in the mood for something else - go listen to it - but don't bash the beauty of something you aren't able to comprehend. There are way too many music 'Nazi's' who seem to believe that everything must fit in some tiny preconceived little box in order for their tiny little minds to enjoy it.

This is music which soars and floats and takes your mind completely away from the days troubles or the endless sea of cars plaguing your daily commute.

All the more power to this dynamic duo for their beautiful efforts.

I just recently got into secret garden and I really love their music. And since I can't afford to buy all their albums, I bought this one. After reading the precious reviews, I'll say that different people have different tastes. And I really love Secret Garden's music. But i do agree that you can't classify music as 'faux classical' when its not classical.

I don't like dance music but I'm not a granny. And I am sick of pop these days.

I was around 12 yo when I first heard about Secret Garden on the 1995 Eurovision song contest when they won the first place with the Nocturne. I was allured by the magnificent sounds I have never heard that far in the pop/tecnho/trance of the 90s. Secret Garden is the reason I since then dream to learn how to play the violin, and although I never succeeded in that goal, I hope that one day me or my kids will make that dream come true. Nocturne was a special, different song but managed to win in a stereotypical music contest and expanded the limits to the present days. Secret Garden's music is surely not only celtic, nor new age or classic, its a mixture of all, combined in the most pleasant way. It manages to fill my soul with emotions each and every time I listen to a song and brings a smile to my face each time I spot a secret garden's song in a movie or a tv series on the "wordless" romantic/emotional scenes where emotion is suposed to flow on the air. I recomend this cd as a good start of secret garden's music.

I would have rated this CD with 5 stars instead of 4 if the sound quality was clearer on the CD product I received. The release I obtained was from a pressing from Universal Music (2004, pressed in Malaysia). The sound quality on the vocal and the instruments sounds like it is 85% clear. At times, it is very hard to understand the words being sung (when in English).

As I listened to the music on this collection of "best of", I thought of similarity of styles to classical composers like Massenet and Debussy. This CD, I think would appeal most to listeners who like the romantic classical period and/or soothing "new age" music of a Celtic and classical influence.

Although I could not understand the lyrics to the two songs sung in Korean, the performer's voice was very pleasing (reminding me of a vocal range of something like an alto soprano - one reviewer commented that her voice was that of a mezzo) with what sounded like perfect pitch. While her voice isn't that expressive, she nails each note perfectly and gives it a pleasing tone complimenting the background instrumentation. (Contrast her steady tone to the vocal on "You Raise Me Up," whose emotional expression at times seems to veer off from actually singing - I love that song, so I was able to overlook the substandard nature of the vocal rendition.)

Speaking of instrumentation, the sound of instruments on this pressing sounded somewhat more muted than I am used to hearing. I wonder if purchasers of more recent pressings have noticed a sound quality that is somewhat muted or lacking crystal clear quality.

And getting back to the lyrics being sung in Korean ... I listened as a native English speaking person. To my taste, the sound of the romance languages, such as French and Italian, and even Mandarin sound more pleasing to the ear, having a more pleasing aesthetic to this western ear, than Korean. Each language has a certain aesthetic that fits well into certain genres. I didn't find the use of the Korean language to sing in served the sentiment of the song as much as I had hoped. But if I understood Korean and/or had grown up in an environment of that language, my views would most likely be different. (romance languages and even Mandarin strike me as having more "vowel" sounds than the harsher consonant sounds I was hearing from the Korean used in the singing of two songs)

I did enjoy the lyrics of the other songs sung in English and found they matched the romantic and idealistic spirit of the songs.

Regarding the sequence of the selections - there are many many songs in this two disc CD collection, and it seems that there is a greater number of songs that are slower in nature following each other than the greater variation of slow and fast found on other CD's. There is some decent alternation between instrumental only and vocal selections.

What I found to be smart was the placement of the two most Celtic influenced songs, "The Rap," and "Moving," positioned after each other. That placement helps to keep the more upbeat mood in place.

Another smart positioning involves the final two songs on the second CD, "Dreamcatcher," and "Dawn of a New Century." Both involve some spoken narrative. The final selection is such an upbeat number it is incomprehensible to think of it being in any other position other than the final one. Opening up selection 1 on the first CD is "Song from a Secret Garden," an appropriate tribute to the name of their first CD.

In reading the various posts, I was concerned that the second CD would be unpleasant given the "live" recording which supposedly involved lighter orchestration, different intonation at times from that used in studio recordings, and the intrusive nature of applause.

I will address these three issues - at first, the inclusion of the applause was offsetting to my ear, but then I noticed that it was consistently used at the beginning and ending of each song for no more than one second (very fast fade in and fade out) to remind the listener of the "live in concert" nature of the selection/performance. Second, I found the orchestration adequate - while not as full as the studio sound, I was appreciative of what sounded to me like a more than full sound, including overdubbing multitracking of vocals and other instrumentation. (While "Dawn of a New Century" isn't played with the full blown orchestration as found on the studio version, it does include what sounded to me like overdubbing and multi-tracking of vocals and inclusion of many other instruments not played physcially by onstage musicians. If I had not heard the studio version of this song, I would have been blown away by this version. As the finale, the sound engineer let the applause last for a second or two longer than that heard after other songs.)
And last, as far as intonation goes, there is a different treatment given at times by musicians to the musical phrasing. I noticed at times a longer hesitation, but didn't find it disconcerting, but rather an expression of the musician attending to the moment and adding personal expression.

(As an edited comment here, on rereading some reviews of this CD, I read that the second CD is taken from the audio of the DVD of SG's live performance featuring a choral group. Perhaps some of what sounded like overdubbing and/or multitracking of voices is, in fact, the sound of the choral voices.)

The more than adequate sound of performances heard on the second CD inspires me to want to see SG perform as featured on their "A Night With Secret Garden" DVD. I can't imagine how exhilirating it must have been to have been in the audience listening and watching them perform various songs, such as "Sona," and "Dawn of a New Century."

The benefits of a "best of" collection, is that each song is memorable. Two songs that are favorites of mine not found on this CD are "Illumination" (from "White Stones") and "Raise Your Voices" (from "EarthSongs"). Those are the only two cuts that I can think of that are not featured in this collection that I really miss.

What surprised me was that when I heard my two favorite pieces, "Adagio," and "Passacaglia," they didn't strike me in the same way as they do on the other CD's they are featured on. I figured out why - they are surrounded by near equally beautiful pieces! This CD isn't called a "best of" collection by accident! One beautiful piece flows into another gorgeous piece.

As has been said before, the sound of Secret Garden is something you either love or find boring. I have to be in the mood for this genre to fully appreciate it, given its more contemplative and quiet nature. For listeners who like this genre of music, this collection is memorable.

This certainly isn't the "Ultimate" (neither best nor complete compilation of) Secret Garden, but it contains melodies that defined the Secret Garden. This is a good introduction to Secret Garden. Unlike the DreamCatcher, this album actually contains three unique tracks that you won't be able to find elsewhere - Swan (track #4), Hymn To Hope (track #19), Song From A Secret Garden (track #20). All three of those tracks are sung by a Korean soprano, and her voice is simply amazing. The applauses on the 2nd CD are annoying though.

This is a beautiful compilation of Secret Garden. It is just so wonderful to listen to in the car or sitting by the fire reading a book. It takes all your troubles away as it moves you to a peaceful place.

The first time I heard the songs was given by my son. The music are terrific and full of emotion. It will bring you back to think and memorize what was happened to your life. Honestly, it will make you crys if you are in sad mode. Not too many musicians can do that and for sure "Secret Garden" is one of them.

This disc has good collection that I spent a lot of time to research and pre-listen. If you like Secret Garden, you don't want to miss this alburn.

I enjoy listening to disc one but found the in concert disc to be not as enjoyable as the flow was interupted by the applause.