Most Helpful Customer Reviews
15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Taking Celtic Music to a new level, 19 Oct 2006
What can you say about this album ? I first heard it the year it came out, attracted by my liking of other works by Stivell, and, all these years later its still a regular play on my music system. Powerful,grand and orchestral, with soaring celtic melodies and rythmns, and great use of pipes, harp (of course) bombardes and other traditional celtic instruments, this is a modern masterpeice which clearly sets out Alan's credentials as much more than a folk musician, much more than a virtuoso harpist. Truly a symphony, but impossible to categorise. Reaching back to those early classical / rock fusion experiments of the Nice, Deep Purple, Barclay James Harvest, The Enid, but going beyond that, fusing Celtic, folk, rock and classical western music in a piece that while routed in the tradition of the past, very much looks to the future. Way ahead of its time. A truly unique piece of music.Listen to it, be amazed, and, who knows, maybe seek out more stuff by the massively underrated Breton legend that is Alan Stivell.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Brilliant, 8 Oct 2007
Let me begin to say that reviewer Alogilvy "Al" from the UK has already put forward most of the reasons why I give this work five stars.
When trying to marry different rhytms and "influences" the results are not always good. Actually, I find that most of the efforts made are a bit lacking since it's wasy to ampliate the shortcomings of each style instead of their combined merits. "Tir na nOg" is fortunately one of the best works I know that manages to pull that in such perfection that I can't help feeling shivers down my spine when listening to it even after years of continual listening. While it's obvious that Alan Stivell uses many different influences the outcome is surprisingly "pure" in the way it is presented, and the aethereal nature of most the the musics attest to the brilliant execution. A Symphony it is, and undoubtebly Celtic in its essence and ressonance, with some of the most inspiring bagpipe and harp sequences I have come across in this genre of neo-traditional recreations, there are some tracks that in my eyes are almost hymns honouring a difuse and hard to explain mix of tradition and modernity that is absolutely compeling to my ears.
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5.0 out of 5 stars
Universal spirit music., 10 Jun 2010
The great Brazilian genius of sound, Hermeto Pascoal, talks about his work not as Jazz or Samba or Fusion, but as Universal music. I think this is the only correct term for the marvelous Symphonie Celtique. Though it uses the materials of Stivell's original Breton folk- rock alloy, (its instruments and themes,) this work goes beyond all the rest of that genre as a rocket goes beyond the planet's gravity.
It's a very hard work to describe sufficiently. Broadly, it holds a three- movement structure. Within each phase are different strands, each leading from one mood to another. (A real advantage of the CD over the vinyl is that this flow need not be interrupted by having to turn the disc over!) The opening half of this work is majestic and stately- huge flowing tapestries of gorgeous tonalities. The final suite is one big party. Beyond that, I'm afraid, my words can't any further help you. You'll have to do yourself a favour and hear it with your own ears!
All I can helpfully add now is that there are very slight changes to the CD edit from the record; a short section has been cut from what was side three. But I feel it is an improvement to the pacing of the piece as a whole. And finally, it's very nice, in a CD, to get a proper lyric book, containing all the many languages sung in their original scripts, just as came in the LP, but with some Stivell original texts (in French,) added.
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