From Amazon.com
Album de referencia de Natalie MacMaster
Album Rating: (5 of 5 stars)
Review Comments: Un fenomeal album de Natalie MacMaster, con una acertada selección y combinación de temas y melodías, desde el sonido más tradicional de Cape Breton hasta modernas adaptaciones compuetas en base a temas celtas tradicionales, con perfectos arreglos que proporcionan un sonido contemporáneo espléndido. Por su ritmo son espedialmente recomendables los temas In My Hands, Olympic Reel y Space Ceilidh.
In My Hands
Album Rating: (5 of 5 stars)
Review Comments: In My Hands is an excellent CD I've missed. I have seen Natalie Mac Master in concert here in VT 4 times and never tire of her creative, energetic music. I misplaced the CD, so now it's within reach. A++ KT
Niel Gow would have been proud.
Album Rating: (4 of 5 stars)
Review Comments: This CD is well worth purchasing just to have "Blue Bonnets Over the Border" and "Get Me Through December". Both airs (slow fiddle tunes) are incredibly beautiful and haunting. I have heard the 18th Century air "Niel Gow's Lament for the Death of His Second Wife" played by many different Scottish fiddlers in its traditional form, including by Natalie MacMaster in concert, and it always takes my breath away. Natalie interprets that air on this CD as "Get Me Through December" with the assistance of Alison Krauss on vocals. The lyrics and Krauss' voice complement perfectly Natalie's fiddle to capture the mood of the air without slavishly following the tune. Niel Gow would have been proud.
There are some traditional jigs and reels, as well as the aforementioned airs, on this CD, but most of the tunes are "fusion" type recordings with non-Celtic genres of music. Some of the tunes will grow on you, and some won't, but Natalie's playing is impressive, as always, on everything.
great listening
Album Rating: (5 of 5 stars)
Review Comments: MacMaster's violin can be rollicking, tender, and everything in between. A special treat is "Get Me Through December," sung by Alison Krauss.
Natalie spreads herself too thin
Album Rating: (2 of 5 stars)
Review Comments: I enjoy Natalie's playing and have all of her albums. I eagerly anticipated this album when it came out. Unfortunately I was sorely disappointed with the overall package. This over-produced album tries to demonstrate to the listener that Natalie is capable of more than "just" Cape Breton-style fiddle music, and that she is in fact capable of authentically playing other styles. Just as one speaking another language, though, Natalie's Cape Breton accent is audible in all of the tunes she plays, making them sound odd and unbalanced. I think that the producers knew this at the time, because often the tracks are way over-produced, as if to make you not notice the fiddle! As for her whisper-singing, this half-hearted jaunt into a quasi-pop genre is an utter failiure, although to hear her sing along with the tune does salvage it to some degree. The best tracks, in my opinion, are the more simple tracks, most notably the tracks featuring Sharron Shannon (accordion goddess) and Alison Krauss (bluegrass goddess), where the more understated sounds compliment and support the fiddle in a much more relaxed manner.
It is worth puchasing the album for those tracks alone, but beware of "flamenco fling" and "olympic reel", which make Natalie look less than competent.
Purchases
1 In My Hands: The Drunken Lady - Natalie MacMaster, Gordie Sampson, Amy Sky
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