Naomi de Bruyn penned this review.
Loreena was born and raised in Morden, Manitoba, a small prairie community in central Canada. In 1978, she won the Du Maurier Search For Talent and represented Canada at UNESCO in Paris that year, and again in 1985 in Japan at the Expo. This spring (2001) finds Loreena involved with Stratford, Ontario’s renowned Shakespeare Festival as a composer for Richard Monette’s production of The Merchant of Venice. She has been the recipient of a Juno Award twice and received Billboard’s International Achievement Award in 1997. Loreena has gained gold, platinum, and multi-platinum certifications in ten countries, proving her talent and popularity beyond a shadow of a doubt with the sale of roughly ten million albums world-wide.
Not only is Loreena self-managed and self-produced, she is the head of her own record label and a successful composer. Loreena has composed music for a number of films, from Highlander III to The Santa Clause. Her music has also been in such television shows as Northern Exposure, Due South, and Boston Public. There is also a short documentary on Loreena and her music: entitled No Journey’s End, it has been televised in North America and abroad.
Live in Paris and Toronto is a two-disc release and was recorded with her band at the Salle Pleyel in Paris and at Massey Hall in Toronto, during a 1998 tour in support of the Book of Secrets CD release. This new release is a charitable project, raising funds for the Cook-Rees Memorial Fund For Water Search and Safety. It is a Canadian-based organization founded by Loreena and the families of Ronald and Richard Rees and Greg Cook, three men who perished in a tragic 1998 boating mishap on Georgian Bay — one of whom was Loreena’s fiancé.
Originally, this set was released as a mail-order only item via Loreena’s Quinlan Road Productions. It is still available from them as a collector’s edition item in hand-assembled, book-bound packaging. Due to overwhelming consumer response, however, Loreena decided to make this release available at regular retail outlets. This allows for more money to be raised for the charity as well.
There is a song which was regularly requested on our local radio station — unusual for a song that is Celtic and not top twenty rock or pop. This song received an incredible amount of airtime and shows that we Canadians can be really eclectic in our tastes! “The Mummer’s Dance” is that very special song. Through it, Loreena transports us to another time and place with her haunting lyrics and very intense and passionate music. Hearing it performed live on this disc only intensifies the experience and sends shivers up and down the spine.
I was delighted by Loreena’s arrangement of a poem I dearly loved when I was quite young. A book filled with poetry and short tales was a personal treasure; and although I still have it, it is packed safely away for the moment and I cannot retrieve it to gain the book’s title. There was one particular poem which struck an internal chord for me, and for Loreena as well apparently. Alfred Noyes’ “The Highwayman” has never sounded better to me; working her magic, Loreena has given this old poem a new and wonderful existence. The music she has composed for this piece is stately and full of life and love, with a hint of medieval stateliness. Her voice holds all the passion which one could hope for when reciting the tale of the Highwayman and Bess, the landlord’s daughter. A very powerful piece, which will not easily be set aside or forgotten.
Difficult it is to pick only a tune or two of Loreena’s crafting, for she is truly a master of conducting her audience’s passion and thoughts. However, I do believe that the final song on the second disc warrants a mention. William Shakespeare’s “Cymbeline” has also been set to a haunting melody, and Loreena again captivates with her wonderful vocal ability as she sings Shakespeare’s work.
The accompanying booklet is filled with facts and photos, and Loreena has included a page on the tour in both English and French. Even in the photos Loreena seems to stand out, as alive in them as her voice is on the discs, a rather disconcerting but appreciated touch. The immensity of the project is apparent in the center photo of the cast on stage. The ‘cast’ includes: Loreena McKennitt (vocals, piano, keyboards, harp, accordion), Nigel Easton (hurdy-gurdy), Brian Hughes (guitars, oud, bouzouki), Caroline Lavelle (cello), Rick Lazar (percussion), Hugh Marsh (violin), Rob Piltch (guitars, keyboards), Donald Quan (keyboards), and Danny Thompson (acoustic bass).
Loreena is an extremely gifted and talented performer, and if you only purchase one of her releases, this one ought to be it. Not only because the proceeds are going to a very good one, but this gem of music is treasurable and will provide a lengthy listening experience that you will want to repeat a number of times. More on Loreena can be found at her web site.
(Quinlan Road, 1999)
