Artist: Loreena McKennitt
Title: Troubadours On The Rhine (A Trio Performance)
Genre: World / Celtic Music
Release Date: 2nd March 2012
Label: Quinlan Road Music
Album Review
After her latest CD release, ‘The Wind That Shakes The Barley’ (2010), the Canadian Loreena McKennitt during her promo European tour, found herself in a radio station in Mainz, Germany, where she gave a concert in front of 300, pre-selected, members of audience. Obviously the material here comes from her previous work, which spans a period of over 25 years. What is evident is that the role of the troubadour which she dressed herself in this CD suits her perfectly. The result has neither the sterile feeling of a “proper” CD nor the, at times, chaotic sensation caused from big audiences. As for the songs themselves Loreena McKennitt digs mainly into the Irish culture to sing about oak trees (like in the case of ‘Bonny Portmore’), the farewell of two lovers of which one is going to fight the British like in ‘The Wind That Shakes The Barley’, and generally speaking, about a world that hardly exists anymore.
The point here is that this world is reanimated mainly to her superb vocal abilities as her soprano voice is the perfect guide to this endeavour. If you add to that the help provided by the talented members of her band you get an idea why this time trip is rather successful. And yet one should not forget that here what we have is a New Age approach of these issues, as if the Atlantic Ocean is enough to wash out all the tensions that are intrinsic to the Irish culture, in order to transform them into sad, albeit wonderful, songs. From that point of view Loreena McKennitt is not Ken Loach and she cannot deal with a multiple layered interpretation of the songs as the film director is capable of. The quality of the songs chosen to be sung here is without a doubt superb though you might have the feeling that a more edgy approach would do much more justice to them.
Tracklist
01. Bonny Portmore
02. Down By The Sally Gardens
03. The Wind That Shakes The Barley
04. Between The Shadows
05. The Lady Of Shallot
06. Stolen Child
07. Penelope’s Song
08. The Bonny Swans
09. The Parting Glass
Line-up
Loreena McKennitt – Vocals
Brian Hughes – Guitar
Carolyne Lavelle – Cello
Websites
https://www.facebook.com/loreenamckennitt / http://www.quinlanroad.com/
Cover Picture
Rating
Music: 8
Sound: 9
Total: 8.5 / 10
Buy the album here!
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