Adiemus Iv-The Eternal Knot

Adiemus - Adiemus Iv-The Eternal Knot

Adiemus Iv-The Eternal Knot
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CD Details

Artist: Adiemus
Edition: Music CD
CD Release Date: 2011-11-22
Music Label: Blue Note
Soundtracks:
  1. Cu Chullain
  2. The Eternal Knot
  3. Palace Of The Crystal Bridge
  4. The Wooing Of Etain
  5. King Of The Sacred Grove
  6. Saint Declan's Drone
  7. Salm O 'Dewi Sant'
  8. Connla's Well
  9. The Dagda
  10. Children Of Dannu
  11. Ceridwen's Curse
  12. Hermit Of The Sea Rock
  13. Isle Of The Mystic Lake
  14. Math Was A Wizard

Music reviews of Adiemus Iv-The Eternal Knot

Music Review: Enya's "The Celts" Did Much Better
Rating: 2 Stars

I have been hearing bits and pieces of news regarding Karl Jenkins as one of the greatest orchestral/New Age musicians of the decade for quite some time now. I have also enjoyed a few pieces of his music in the Adiemus series, but never had I actually bought and listened to an entire album. With his forth release - "The Eternal Knot" - my love for Celtic music overwhelmed me, and I was quite excited to listen to a full-length Adiemus album, fashioned to my liking!

Admittedly, I expected too much, and I was mildly disappointed. For starters, I think Karl should revamp his style of strong strings and percussion backing up choral vocals, because it's starting to lack punch. Unlike one of his earliest releases (or was it his first?) - "Adiemus", which had a very dreamy, hypnotic and lulling feel to it - the music on "The Eternal Knot" has the listener hardly stirring emotionally, aside from catchy or humorous tunes. After the majestic but not-quite-there opening track "Cu Chullain", those pleasant and playful melodies to look out for are "Palace of the Crystal Bridge", "King of the Sacred Grove", "Saint Declan's Drone" (you'll love this one over and over again...), "Connla's Well" (the trivial title gives way to a tantalizing composition), "Ceridwen's Curse" and "Isle of the Mystic Lake". These are tracks that should bring Adiemus to its next level in musical variety, after its try at African music.

But, alas, even the title track doesn't jolt you! Tracks like "The Dagda" and "The Wooing of Etain" could lull you to sleep with their monotonous lengths, and others like "Salm O `Dewi Sant'" prove ineffective in putting Irish traditional instruments to good use.

Overall, this soundtrack emphasizes the power of even a simple, basic tune. Enya's "The Celts" was very skeletal in its music, but the tunes were so beautiful they made you sit up and marvel at their wonderfully creative simplicity. Yet with all the instruments Karl Jenkins could have made better use of, he just had to spin out another record that shames the rest of the Adiemus series.

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Description of Adiemus Iv-The Eternal Knot

Adiemus Iv-The Eternal Knot by Adiemus

This product is manufactured on demand using CD-R recordable media. Amazon.com's standard return policy will apply.


When British composer Karl Jenkins launched Adiemus with the Songs of Sanctuary album in 1995, it was a fresh and exhilarating take on global music. Jenkins used choral vocals similar to Enya's, but spiked with a language of the imagination (merging African and Latin phonemes) and stoked by Jenkins's pastoral arrangements. Never wholly original--Lisa Gerrard and Elizabeth Fraser had already worked out fantasy vocal designs and the 1960s African mass "Missa Luba" effected a similar choral/African/Latin sound--Adiemus nevertheless found a new take on English composers' penchant for choirs. However, after six years and four albums mining this vein, Jenkins's sound rings more hollow with each recording.

The Eternal Knot is drawn from Jenkins's soundtrack to a BBC documentary called The Celts. You might recall that Enya also evolved her sound in the late 1980s doing a soundtrack for another documentary called The Celts. Taking his titles from the Celtic legends that populate the documentary, Jenkins orchestrates cinematic landscapes full of swelling crescendos and dynamic cadences. Less oppressive than the heavily orchestrated Adiemus II, The Eternal Knot still wears thin. He casts Miriam Stockley's voice into a boys-choir register, turning her staccato phonemes into incessant prattle. But when she's in her warmer middle range, her layered voice is enveloping. Despite the theme of the album, Celtic music is only used as an occasional touchstone, with uilleann piper Davy Spillane, a few bodhran-style percussion grooves, and harpist Catrin Finch providing some relief from Jenkins's string-laden classical pretensions. --John Diliberto

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