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Frequently Bought Together
Product Details
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Track Listings
| 1. The Mystic's Dream |
| 2. The Bonny Swans |
| 3. The Dark Night Of The Soul |
| 4. Marrakesh Night Market |
| 5. Full Circle |
| 6. Santiago |
| 7. Cé Hé Mise Le Ulaingt? |
| 8. The Two Trees |
| 9. Prospero's Speech |
Product Description
From Amazon.com
Loreena McKennitt drew her inspiration for this album from 15th century Spain, where the cultures of Christianity, Judaism, and Islam coexisted uneasily, tied together by a common tradition of religious mysticism. McKennitt reflects the multi-culturalism in arrangements that mix the half-tone intervals and familiar instruments of the Aryan north with the quarter-tone intervals and dumbeg, oud, and tamboura of the Semitic south. The results are often intoxicating, even if the composer consistently prefers slow-moving tempos. There's a tension and density to this music that safely removes it from the new- age category. McKennitt's attempts to evoke medieval mysticism in her lyrics are less successful. She fares best when she draws her texts from other sources: Prospero's closing speech from Shakespeare's "The Tempest," Yeats's "The Two Trees," "The Dark Night of the Soul" by the medieval Spanish mystic St. John of the Cross, and the traditional narrative ballad, "The Bonny Swans." One these numbers, the shadowy, mesmerizing atmospheres conjured up by McKennitt's music are enhanced by the words rather than spoiled by them. --Geoffrey Himes
Amazon.com essential recording
McKennitt's travels through Spain and Morocco flavor this album with a distinctly Mediterranean tinge, from the opening "The Mystic's Dream," with its dancing percussion arrangements, to "Marrakesh Night Market," to "Full Circle" and the instrumental "Santiago." "Marrakesh Night Market" is an especially strong performance, with an interesting musical texture; the balalaika, udu drum, and dumbek are played alongside a synthesizer. As usual, McKennitt has set a poem to music, this time Yeats's "The Two Trees," with a lovely introduction on the Uillean pipes. There's also "The Bonny Swans," a traditional lyric, and the CD closes with Shakespeare, as McKennitt sets some of Prospero's words from The Tempest to her own music. Excerpts from McKennitt's journals, included in the CD booklet, make for interesting reading as they shed some light on her source material and inspiration for writing each song. --Genevieve Williams
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Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fabulous!!!,
By Music Lover "Ab" (Victoria, BC Canada) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Mask And Mirror (Audio CD)
This is a beautiful cd and my absolute favourite of Loreena's. More imaginative, mystical and creative than her previous recordings, I would highly recommend this to anyone.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wow...,
By
This review is from: The Mask and Mirror (Audio CD)
My friend advised me to buy this CD, so I did. And WOW! It's so pretty! Her voice is amazing! Almost everything my friend suggest me to buy is **Really good** but this is the best of them yet! Now I long for more of her music...Song number three is good for a story... very pretty, talking about love and night. Number four has this nice touch to it that makes me want to hear it over and over again.
4.0 out of 5 stars
"All for the love of you . . .",
By "pale_eye" (MO United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Mask and Mirror (Audio CD)
Indeed. Or rather, quite. Or shall I say... well you get it. The point is that this is Loreena McKennitt at her most -- how shall we say this? -- mystical? Eerie doesn't quite work... Dream-like perhaps? Well suffice it to say that Elemental was thoroughly folk, The Book of Secrets was a neutral new age work of art, and this, this is in a realm all its own.One can see this easily when one hears the chanting that opens "The Mystic's Dream." Loreena McKennitt in my opinion is better than Enya, and this because there are more layers to her music. Enya has a lovely voice and makes lovely music, mind you, but Loreena McKennitt captures the feel and essence of her subject whether this be a mystic or a lover, Prospero or what have you. If I didn't know better I might venture to say that "The Mask and Mirror" is slightly darker than McKennitt's other work. Why do I say this? I haven't the foggiest. Perhaps because the elements presented are more or less beneath the surface. This is difficult to explain right here on an Amazon review but I would strongly suggest that you purchase this CD and just see for yourself what I mean. All things said and done. Buy it. Enjoy it. Thank yourself profusely.
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