Search - Anuna :: Sensation

All Music Guide Review

Graarg | Ireland | 04/23/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Sensation, the 10th album by Irish choral ensemble Anúna, brings together a wide assortment of music, all of it arranged or composed by its conductor, Michael McGlynn. While McGlynn's treatments may rankle purists, who, for instance, only want to hear Hildegard von Bingen performed by unaccompanied women's voices, when taken on its own terms, his cross-pollination of musical styles is never less than intriguing and is most often beguiling.



McGlynn's sophistication as a composer accounts for much of the album's appeal. The title track, featuring a speaker reciting an idyllic Rimbaud poem, accompanied by violin, harp, and women's chorus singing a sensual, impressionistic setting of the same text, vividly captures the serenity and eroticism of Rimbaud's imagery. McGlynn's setting of the medieval text Maid in the Moor Lay is disarming in its folk-like simplicity and purity. His O Maria is harmonically and texturally complex, but never sounds "difficult," and conveys an otherworldly and enveloping serenity. Other pieces, such as Silver River and Shining Water, bring a new age sensibility to the Irish folk tradition.



The other factor in making this album so sensually appealing and rewarding is the extraordinary technical prowess and secure musicianship of the singers. The ease and precision and musicality of their performances of extremely demanding music puts them in the ranks of the very finest chamber choirs. It would be a pleasure to hear them bring their formidable strength to the broader repertoire of exceptional (and exceptionally difficult to perform) choral music that is being written today.



Review by Stephen Eddins"