Friday March 29, 2024
CD: Hayley Westenra: Celtic Treasure
Review

CD: Hayley Westenra: Celtic Treasure

By Damian Madden
March 8 2007

Celtic Treasure is the latest album from 19-year-old New Zealand soprano Hayley Westenra. Although it follows on from her internationally successful Odyssey and Pure, Celtic Treasure features a distinct shift in musical style, demonstrating Westnera's maturity both as a singer and a performer.

Whereas the earlier collections were, in the main, chosen by record company management and A&R executives with the intention of pushing the young singer into the pop-opera mould, this album is different. Celtic Treasure gathers a series of traditional folk songs, selected by Westenra because they've "stood the test of time," and combines them with new songs (some written by Westenra herself) that set out to capture the spirit and feeling of their predecessors, while at the same time establishing their own traditions.

Although the songbook Westenra is drawing from here has been well and truly plundered over the years (Danny Boy, Scarborough Fair, Shenandoah) the versions presented on Celtic Treasure are far from standard. Imbued with a youthful enthusiasm and featuring Westenra's remarkable voice and interpretations, all of the tracks sound new and in some cases come close to definitive versions.

The decision to include new compositions on this album alongside such standards as Danny Boy, hymns like Whispering Hope - which is performed a capella with a choir and is one of the highlights - and the work of composers such as Puccini (Madama Butterfly’s One Fine Day aria) could be viewed as a risk given the lofty position of such music within popular culture. However, the new songs presented on the CD (including album opener Let Me Lie) blend seamlessly with those around them, turning Celtic Treasure from just another nice sounding folk album into something far more appealing.

Seamless in its construction and featuring an assured and well thought out song choice,

CD: Hayley Westenra: Celtic Treasure

Hayley Westenra's Celtic Treasure is her most accomplished album to date.

Celtic Treasure available from March 17 through Universal Music.

 

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