Loreena McKennitt's 1994 album, The Mask and Mirror, is a continuing improvement in musical arrangements and choice of songs from her earlier albums - not that the previous albums were bad, but the combination of McKennitt's beautiful voice and the songs on this album make this set a much stronger musical effort. Particularly impressive are "Night Market in Marrakesh" and "Santiago." Also, the bonus/enhanced CD is definitely a bonus, as much of it deals with the making of this album. Those two songs in particular have stories behind them, why they were selected for this album and giving a flavor to the land that they were based on. In all, this is an excellent album.

And that secret would be Loreena's beautiful voice and seemingly effortless singing on this album. This album has been her biggest commercial success, due to the song "Mummer's Dance" which hit the charts in 1997, but the other songs more than carry their own weight. Meticulous research of her songs and a knowledge of people and history aid immensely in Loreena obtaining the right feel for a song.

A 1996 Academy Award nominee for Best Dramatic Score, Braveheart is one of composer James (Titanic) Horner's most accomplished works. Utilizing the full range of the London Symphony Orchestra, the Choristers of Westminster Abbey, and a small ensemble of traditional folk instrumentalists, Horner largely eschews the bombast typical of the genre and cuts a more emotionally complex--and satisfying--musical course through this 14th-century tale of betrayal and rebellion. This album presents ample evidence of why Horner is currently at the peak of his profession. --Jerry McCulley

Sarah McLachlan's drop-dead beautiful "I Will Remember You" is the calling card here. The bonus is that the Celtic score by composer/flautist Seamus Egan is a gentle treat in itself and merits comparison with Mark Knopfler's work on Local Hero and Cal. --Jeff Bateman

Score composer Howard Shore has informed this first installment of the Lord of the Rings trilogy with his distinctly modern sensibilities. Revolving loosely around a brief, heroic brass theme, this epic is infused with a powerful rhythmic thrust and a musical range that encompasses centuries (from the Renaissance pastoralism of "Concerning Hobbits" to the fiery, Prokofiev-influenced drama of "A Knife in the Dark").

Howard Shore's music for the massively successful first film chapter of Tolkien's Ring saga won him the Oscar^® for Best Original Score, something of a surprise given the music's ambitious scale and determinedly dark overtones, factors that handily blurred the line between typical film fantasy music and accomplished concert work. Its sequel takes the same, often Wagnerian-scaled dramatic tack, following the film's story line into even more brooding and ominous dark corners.

This final chapter of Peter Jackson's sprawling adaptation of Tolkien's "Ring" trilogy closes out one of the most accomplished cycles in cinema--and film music--history. As he's done for the saga's first two installments, composer Howard Shore has honed a mature, brooding orchestral masterpiece that's long on subtle shadings of mood and nuance, while eschewing the hollow bombast that's characterized all too many mainstream action and adventure films for three decades.

New Age diva Enya first became widely known when her 1988 album Watermark sold 4 million copies and launched the single "Orinoco Flow." Her follow-up, Shepherd Moons, was even more successful, selling over 10 million copies despite its slightly lower grade of ethereal enchantment. In 1997 she released Paint the Sky with Stars, an assortment of her best work from these two early albums plus gems from 1995's The Memory of Trees and the soundtrack to the BBC series The Celts.

This CD represents an excellent mix of traditional and modern Celtic music by women artists. The songs range the full emotional continuum from extremely joyful to extremely sad. The upbeat songs will make even the most resistant listener tap their feet. And if you are looking for a good cry, try THESE sad songs. Whatever you want, this CD contains some of the very best in women's Celtic music. A must have for any Celtic music enthusiast.

This album is exciting and wonderful in every way. Each song brings to life a touching insight to a life lived in "older" Scotland, love, loss, war and memories. Keeping alive tradition and blending with a new world, it is a delight on the senses for this truly romantic language, my favorite by far.

More than three decades and many albums spent charting the gorgeous musical landscape of Ireland have made the Chieftains by far the world's most recognized and qualified ambassadors of Celtic sound and rhythm. Having toured the globe and garnered numerous awards, the traditional sextet has set its sights on something bigger: the pop charts.

Great traditional Celtic music performed as originally intended. Makes you want to dance. You can't resist singing along with the ones you know.  I whole-heartedly recommend this CD!

The work of artists from Ireland, Scotland, Brittany, Wales, Cape Breton Island, Galicia and America is featured in this primarily gentle and reflective collection featuring both acoustic and electronic instruments, as well as some vocals. Though mostly mellow, these evocative, heartfelt selections still command one's attention, leaving one yearning for more.

Karen Matheson and Connie Dover's voices are magnificent. If you enjoy Celtic music, this CD is a must. Love songs are even more enchanting when you can't understand the words (some songs are in English, though)! The music really draws you in. I find myself playing it over and over.

One of the most joyful music there is. This disc offers beautifully performed traditional music with ever so subtle interpretative treatment that brings it to present. The cover suggests only a fiddle and piano duets but here comes the surprise. There are three other musicians accompanying Alasdair Fraser and Paul Machus, including Glenn Moore ("Oregon") on double bass.

Disc 1 is a traditional 'best of' containing some of the best songs from Mary's albums from 'Babes in the Wood' up until 'Speaking With the Angel'. It also contains two previously unreleased songs Eileen Laverty's 'Wildest Dreams' and Steve Cooney's 'Just a Journey'. Both are good additions to the Black repertoire but despite this, Disc 1 may appeal most to completists; mind you are the recordings remastered here because the tracks from 'Speaking With the Angel' seem clearer, crisper somehow? Happily for Black fans and those seeking an introduction, Disc 2 is a real gem. Called 'Hidden Harvest' it might have been called 'Hidden Treasure' and it is here that we have the other concept of 'best of'.

'Celtic Voices' featuring Mary McLaughlin, Connie Dover, Maireid Sulllivan and Emma Christian is a wondrous blend of traditional and contemporary folk compositions. This 14 track compilation moves smoothly and seamlessly through a fascinating soundscape of mood and emotion with each performer leaving her own indelible mark on the listener.

By turns mournful and mystical, these 14 Celtic lullabies performed by musicians from around the world give voice to the experience of mother and child in haunting, evocative folk songs. "More often than not," veteran Irish singer Nóirín Ní Riain writes in the liner notes, "a true lullaby is more indicative of the mental state of the mother than of her wish to lull her child to sleep, and so often her frustrations find a legitimate voice through song."

So much has been made of the music for babies and children to sleep, eat, and have their brains grow optimally that a collection of lullabies might seem a little suspect. But when the folks at Ellipsis Arts take up the task of creating a lullaby collection, the results are bound to be fruitful. Sure, the emphasis in this collection of 19 songs is on gentleness, but this music is so seldom heard that it's endlessly enticing.

The popular twosome--Irish violinist Fionnuala (fi-NOO-la) Sherry and Norwegian pianist/keyboardist Rolf Lovland--have attracted a sizable following with their heart-touching specialty: a wistful, violin-rooted, pop-folk-classical melange that often strikes the ear as a film score in search of some delicate romantic tale. Songs from a Secret Garden is the duo's debut recording from 1995, and it principally offers a series of pensive dialogues between Sherry's stately violin and Lovland's subdued piano, yielding equal measures of sweetness and melancholy.

There is just something a tad magical about the Irish language that when put to music with a voice like Emer Kenny's makes it all the more enjoyable. I liked Siobhan a lot, and the others are close behind. Kenny's voice is sweet and pure, though not as angelic as westenra or brightman - still worth listening to.