Written by Nhung Candy
Inside I'm singing is a gift of heavenly music
We think every true band has an album which breaks their ordinary style and reaches different musical ideas.Even many listeners don't accept the fact that the duo want to change their style , this album is still an unique mark.Unlike any previous album, this album has only 2 instrumental songs ( Theme of The Mermaird Chair and Sortie). Both of them are as melodic as ever and capture the original ideas: Melody tells stories. Other songs are from previous album with new lyrics and arrangements ( except for My land, Thank you, Did I not love you and Song for a stormy night).
This album is the most romantic one with beautiful touching lyrics ( best for using in weddings!)
Did I not Love you
Before this life time
Did you not hear
My music in your soul
Did I not need you
Beyond forever
And now I'll leave you
Not forever more
The widest ocean
I have crossed over
No boat did I row
But love to carry me
I have been ever in constant motion
I have been finding you eternally
And I've been traveling
Throughout the ages
Down through the pages
Of history
Just for this moment
This timeless moment
This wondrous moment
Of you and me
- Did I not love you
If I held in my hand,
Every grain of sand
Since time first began to me
Still I could never count,
Measure the amount;
Of all the things you are to me
If I paint the sky,
Hang it up to dry
I would want the sky to be
Oh, such a grand design
An everlasting sign
Of all the things you are to me
You are the sun that comes on summer winds
You are the falling year that autumn brings
You are the wonder and the mystery
In everything I see… the things you are to me
- The things you are to me
Inside I'm singing also reaches important message :Loving and protecting the ones we love, being grateful, giving care and thoughts to them
If I lived to be a thousand years,
If I ruled the word - it's hemispheres,
I could not repay the love you brought my way,
So, I want to say it now
To thank you for each day you gave me.
Thank you for the Mondays,
Saturdays and Sundays,
Everyday, the whole year through;
Thank you for the fun days,
All those number-one days,
Battles-to-be-won days, too;
I just want to say it,
Thank you for each day with…you.- Thank you
The rain beats hard at my window
While you, so softly do sleep
And you can’t hear the cold wind blow
You are sleeping so deep
Outside it's dark, the moon hiding
By starlight only I see
The host of the night-time go riding
But you are safe here with me
So, while the world out there is sleeping
And everyone wrapped up so tight
Oh, I am here a vigil keeping
On this stormy night
I promised I always would love you
If skies would be gray or be blue
I whisper this prayer now above you
That there will always be you- Song for a stormy night
Being proud of where we belong ( My land)
How green are your valleys
How blue your great skies
Your mountains stand tall in their glory
Your rivers run free
The bright stars are your eyes
Your beauty is endless before me
For you are the song ever singing in me
And you are the heart ever true
For you are my land
And you always will be
The voice ever calling me home to you
When to your green valleys
Some day I return
When you lay your mantle around me
At rest I will be
Where the heart will not yearn
Then my land will ever surround me
This album is a thank from the duo to the listeners and artists who support their musical journey for 13 years
- by Nhung Candy
New light. New moods. Musical messages keep developing .
For us, this album has 3 moods : Hymn moods ( Prayers,Dawn of a new century, Aria, In our tears). Sad mood ( Evensong,Aquarell), dancing/uptempo mood ( Elan, Lore of the loom, Divertimento, Children of the river) and romantic/love mood ( Sona, Dreamcatcher, Moongate)
This album and White Stones have a lot in common. The touching melodies of love is not only a creative musical element but also bring the listeners deep emotions and unforgetable experience/reminders. We think that in our lives, we have been struggling with many problems.When our hearts are filled with despair, we lost in tears and long to find a sign or searching for the peace of mind
Prayer
Let your arms enfold us
Through the dark of night
Will your angels hold us
Till we see the light
Hush, lay down your troubled mind
The day has vanished and left us behind
And the wind, whispering soft lullabies
Will soothe, so close your weary eyes
Let your arms enfold us
Through the dark of night
Will your angels hold us
Till we see the light
Sleep, angels will watch over you
And soon beautiful dreams will come true
Can you feel spirits embracing your soul
So dream while secrets of darkness unfold
-PrayersThe light of the sun sun took us strolling
with the treasures of the world lying ahead,
Magic stones as bright as our eyes
lighting a path before us
The peace of the woods was music to our hearts
echoing the sound of the streams,
Autumn leaves - the voice on the wind
as nature is the source of our love
Now the stones are dancing in the sky
while the world is quietly sleeping,
Lovely visions in the secret garden,
of dreams floating all around us
Travelling in this forest like a lost soul
Bright stars of knowledge shining for the king
Travelling in this forest like a lost soul
Bright stones lighting our way
Eyes ever shining with light
Eyes under a secret spell
Dreaming of the jewels in the garden
of wonders that will never be revealed
- Sona ( English Translation)
For the very first time the duo record their own vocal parts ( Fi sang Sona/ Dreamcatcher and Rolf on backing vocal). Rolf's voice is warm and Fi's voice reminds ( a little bit) of Enya ( especially when she sings Sona in Gaelic).
That distinguishes Dawn of a new century from other ones
The melancholy flows throughout the album. As always Fi's violin captures true sentimental moods.
Moongate opens the album elegantly and romantically when both violin and bass guitar sound flow and fly endlessly. Dreamcatcher recalls a dark, mysterious space, expressed perfectlly by whispering string sound and voice .
Evensong is like the natural call from long distance. Close our eyes, we can feel the blue echoes on our mind. Aquarell is a sign of silent moments from " a sleepless night" when both piano and violin sound create sound like a gentle whisper.
The album also has a strong side. Title track Dawn of a new century is a perfect combination of instrumental/ orchestral sound, choir( Anuna) and narration. Like a hymn of the history, the song reflects times from the past and yearning for the promisig future. Children of the river takes inspiration from Chinese traditional music, which bring first new strong unique Asian sound to the listeners.
The uptempo songs from the album are lighter than the ones in White Stones. We're impressed by Elan,violin sound shines and rises over the percussion/piano background
Dawn of a new century is our inspiration.
Written By Nhung
We are coming home with Winter poem
Throughout the album. the warm, heart- touching sound reminds us of beautiful eternal winter memories & landscape.For the duo and us, winter is not an ending, it's just a new beginning :" We love to choose titles that are important to us and reflect where we are at the time of writing. Winter is a very special time for us in Secret Garden, the long dark nights tend to bring out the melancholy creative side of Rolf! This, balanced out with hopeful, crisp white snowy Norwegian days, a frozen landscape that inspires and helps us through the darkest nights!". It's the beginning of joy, reunion, love and wonder. An album with beautiful messages.
Make a wish is a magical song.Synthesizer, piano, violin and background vocal create a romantic and heavenly mood. Anticipation is a call from home, the exciting feeling when we return to where we belong after a long time being away from home. Frozen in time and lament from a frozen flower are like still photos of winter snowy white lanscae-breathtakingly beautiful and magical.Winter poem also has a lot of life messages.The Dream, performed by the duo and Moya Brennan from Clannad,has a strong message :
"We reach for the impossible
As unreal it may seem
Still we sail 'cross the ocean
And follow the dream
Her uplifting voice gives the song a power.
Powered by Nature, with the lyrics written by Rolf, flows naturally. Espend and Tracey make the best duet when they perform this song.
Secret Garden revealed :"... our inspiration comes from many different places and we did not feel we were the best choice to produce another “Santa Type” song". But WP has a beautiful Christmas song- Mary's Lament, sung by a friend of the duo- Fionnuala Gill.
We've read several cooments about this album, e.g : " Formula and Predictable", " Nothing special, reminds me of White Stones". We disagree with that. This album is a true gift, with new light but still keep the original spirit: melodies tell stories and stories without words/ Throughout the album, you can hear new sound, especially the vocal layers/ background- whic creates a very poetic mood to most of the songs. We also mention Suite- a 15 minute track- an unspoken story with endless mood, beautiful sound and arrrangements
Written by Nhung Candy
Earthsongs is a simple, beautiful and healing album. Violin and piano sound are extremely pure, like a spring wind, the summer sun and an autumn stream.. The harmony of sound is not only natural but also sentimental. The opening track Sometimes when it rains was inspired by Rolf's rainy autumn mood, when he realised: " the repetitive rhythm of raindrops tapping on the window still createda poetic melancholy." The song wont be poetic without Fi's soulful violin and Des Moore's romantic guitar sound. Field of Fortune leads us to the land of endless fantasy when keyfiddle sound recalls the voice of dreams and desire :" One of our most valued assets is our ability to dream, to give our thoughts wing to fly. By wandering in our mind, we can visit places without physical limitation, and hourey to beautiful imagined lanscape.Music is our way of traveling- a free ticket to go anywhere, anytime. Fields of Fortune is a fairytale journey to where we find oneness with the earth and its precious treasures". Return from that journey, we let the darkness surround ouss to bring us back to the memories- most of them are sad but still close to us.Rolf's piano sound is deep in sorrow , strong in reminiscence ( we can feel that in Searching for the past too).Out of the night, here comes the light- Always there, a warm, heart touching piece,with wonderful lyrics written by Brendan Graham: When I'm less than I should be
And I just can't face the dayWh
en darkness falls around me
And I just can't find my way
When my eyes don't clearly see
And I stumble through it all
You, I lean upon, you keep me strong
And you rise me when I fall
You are there when I most need you
You are there so constantly
You come shining through, you always do
You are always there for me
There are MORE special things here, in this album. The Reel-Violin duet of Fionnuala and Maread Nesbitt, a " 21st century reel" and Daughter of Erins give us joy and energy. And how wonderful it is to see the band play this song live! Earthsongs also have some melancholic pieces like Lotus- influented by Chinese traditional music and expressed by violin and erhu sound.We also mention Grace, an elegant piece with Baroque- inspired moment and trumpet sound
What a gift!
written by Nhung
Once in red moon is the darkest album of SG. It's like a reminder of the past, the call from where we belong and silent moments in our everyday life.The album has only an up tempo track- Invitation. The rest of the songs for us are full of reminiscence. The opening track Awakening (inspired by the 1899 novel of the same name by Kate Chopin.) is close to a discover of ourselves. Unique piano, violin and key fiddle sound leads our mind to where we can look inside.Belonging and Silent wings are the call from the nature,Duo is a perfect marriage of violin and cello sound. And Elegie have a global energy sound of 66 piano players.Once in a red moon is also an album to raise our souls, givess us light to believe and shine ( You raise me up,Greenwave and Gates of Dawn).This album is deeper and more different from others. It;s not only an album for relaxion, but also an album of old memories and life inspirations
*written by Nhung Candy
White Stones is the follow up of Songs from a Secret Garden. It still keeps the spirit of the previous album but also has new light and new moods.Rolf and Fi take the inspiration from the fairytale of Hansel and Gretel- all songs tell this story beautifully.We are deeply moved by the haunting melodies,Rolf calm, heart touching piano sound and Fionnuala passionate violin playing.Unlike Song from a Secret Garden,White stoness have both up tempo songs and slow sad songs. Upbeat songs like Steps, Moving, Escape make us want to dance and go with the melodies'flow. Slow songs have full of life and love messages.Hymn to Hope reminds me of keeping our spirits high even we're sorrowful.Passacalia and Santuary are dedicated to the duo's fathers. Home is a calm solo piano song- a remind of where we belong.First day of spring, Illumination, Reflection and Appasionate are dreamy and magical.. The making of White Stones really match the music's messgaes: During recording sessions of this album,Fi suffered with her shoulder's injury.Despite the pain, she "wanted to work even more".And that explains why this album is a magic- the duo gave their souls, their hearts,talent and inspiration to every melody, every note they play.
This was written by Nhung Candy but the two of us has discussed so much about this album so we call it " our review Songs from a Secret Garden is an open gate to our own Secret Garden, a beginning to your the journey to your own haven. The piano and violin sound in this album are like the voice inside our souls and a gentle whisper for us and for those who have broken hearts.Every song is wonderful and has it own magic. We love all the songs, not only for their beautiful, heart-touching melodies,but also their sad moods.Most of the songs from this album are melancholic, but they won't make us all miserable.They make us more calm.Listen to Papillon, Serenade to Spring and Chaconne, for us it's like wandering in a quiet, peaceful garden with no worries.Listen to Nocturne, Atlantia and Cantoluna,we feel like we've lost in a mysterious moonlit forest, where we can find some moments to forget all tough things we have to face and find ourselves in a natural , balance way.Song from a Secret Garden, Adagio and Hearstrings are our soulmates which help us express the sadness, frustration and sorrow AND above all to let the bad feelings go, to believe ourselves and live better.Together with The Rap- an upbeat song, the whole album gives listeners magic, peace, joy and lights their souls.Songs from a Secret Garden has become an important part of our lives, fills our hearts with the healing sound
|
RSS Feed