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Rating:
In 1995 Loreena McKennitt released "A Winter Garden," a Christmas EP with 5 songs. This year she decided to expand it with 8 new tracks, turning it into an album featuring traditional songs and compositions by the Canadian musician.
"A Midwinter Night's Dream" is an album with pleasant winter atmospheres, without falling into the stereotype of reindeer and jingle bells.
The cover image, depicting animals in a forest, is curious. To me, personally, it reminds me of the cartoon "The Adventures of the Little Forest."
I'll say right away what the album's flaw is: there's only one true new track, and it's the song "The Holly & The Ivy", which isn't even the most interesting track. The other pieces composed by McKennitt had already appeared in "A Winter Garden," while the remaining tracks are reinterpretations of traditionals.
The tracks do not differ from the sounds of the artist's previous works, it almost seems like a summary of all the albums produced so far. Two of the most interesting tracks are: "Un Flambeau, Jeannette, Isabelle" and "Snow".
This album might go unnoticed, also because it's being released just before Enya's album "A Winter Came," the Irish singer to whom McKennitt is often compared. It's notable that both albums feature the same traditional track, "Emmanuel", but the sounds will surely differ.
Tracklist and Lyrics
05 Good King Wenceslas (03:16)
Good King Wenceslas looked out
On the Feast of Stephen
When the snow lay 'round about
Deep and crisp and even
Brightly shone the moon that night
Though the frost was cruel
When a poor man came in sight
Gath'ring winter fuel
"Hither, page, and stand by me,
If thou know'st it, telling
Yonder peasant, who is he?
Where and what his dwelling?"
"Sire, he lives a good league hence,
Underneath the mountain
Right against the forest fence
By Saint Agnes' fountain."
"Bring me flesh and bring me wine
Bring me pine-logs hither
Thou and I shall see him dine
When we bear them thither."
Page and monarch, forth they went
Forth they went together
Through the rude wind's wild lament
And the bitter weather.
"Sire, the night is darker now
And the wind blows stronger
Fails my heart, I know not how
I can go no longer."
"Mark my footsteps, good my page
Tread thou in them boldly
Thou shall find the winter's rage
Freeze thy blood less coldly."
In his master's step he trod
Where the snow lay dinted
Heat was in the very sod
Which the Saint had printed
Therefore, Christian men, be sure
Wealth or rank possessing
Ye, who now will bless the poor
Shall yourselves find blessing.
06 Coventry Carol (02:18)
Lully, lulla, thou little tiny child
By by, lully, lullay, thou little tiny child
By by, lully lullay
O sisters too, how may we do
For to preserve this day
This poor youngling
For whom we do sing
By by, lully lullay?
Herod, the king
In his raging
Chargèd he hath this day
His men of might
In his own sight,
All young children to slay
That woe is me
Poor child for thee!
And ever morn and day,
For thy parting
Neither say nor sing
By by, lully lullay!
08 Snow (05:05)
White are the far-off plains,
And white the fading forests grow;
The wind dies out amongst the tides
And denser still the snow,
A gathering weight on roof and tree
Falls down scarce audibly.
The meadows and far-sheeted streams
Lie still without a sound;
Like some soft minister of dreams
The snowfall hoods me around;
In wood and water, earth and air,
A silence is everywhere.
Save when at lonely spells
Some farmer's sleigh is urged on,
With rustling runner and sharp bells,
Swings by me and is gone;
Or from the empty waste I hear
A sound remote and clear;
The barking of a dog,
To cattle, is sharply pued,
Borne, echoing from some wayside stall
Or barnyard far afield;
Then all is silent and the snow
Falls settling soft and slow
The evening deepens and the grey
Folds closer Earth to sky
The world seems shrouded, so far away.
Its noises sleep, and I
As secret as yon buried stream
Plod dumbly on and dream.
And dream
And dream
I dream
And I dream…
10 Seeds of Love (04:54)
I sowed the seeds of love
I sowed them in the spring
I gathered them up in the morning so clear
When the small birds so sweetly sing
When the small birds so sweetly sing
The gardener was standing by
I asked him to choose for me
He chose for me the violet, the lily and the pink
But those I refused all three
But those I refused all three
The violet I did not like
Because it bloomed so soon
The lily and the pink I really over-think
So I thought I would wait till June
So I thought I would wait till June
In June there was a red rose bud
That is the flower for me
I often times have plucked that red rose bud
Till I gained the willow tree
Till I gained the willow tree
The willow tree will twist
The willow tree will twine
I often have wished I was in the young man's arms
Who once had the heart of mine
Who once had the heart of mine
I sowed the seeds of love
I sowed them in the spring
I gathered them up in the morning so soon
When the small birds so sweetly sing
When the small birds so sweetly sing
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Other reviews
By Hell
Loreena could live to be a hundred years old, but her voice would remain as it always has been.
'A Midwinter Night's Dream' is an enormously enjoyable, multi-colored work delicately crafted in the McKennitt home.
