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Ocean Orchestra cover

JENNIFER CUTTING'S OCEAN ORCHESTRA: OCEAN: SONGS FOR THE NIGHT SEA JOURNEY, 2006

Celtic Music for Ancient Moderns

"It's simply breathtaking in its beauty and richness, full of exoticism but also simplicity, the sumptuous keys and synths and strings standing next to the familiarity of guitars, harp, whistle and more, held together by the most fluid of rhythm sections while the icing on the cake is provided by three main female vocalists, including a guest appearance from Maddy Prior.

In terms of songs, and the occasional instrumental, the quality is staggering as the sheer emotion and beauty of the songs stands head and shoulders above anything else in this vein. This is an album that makes Clannad sound like second-raters, so incredibly constructed, played and arranged that forty-four minutes goes by in the blink of an eye, while all you're left with at the ends is an overwhelming desire to put the whole thing on again.

Transcending any categorization, this is a symphonic-orchestral-folk-olde-worlde music and song at a wide-eyed quality level that you simply can't fault. No matter what you're in to - prog, electronic, folk, heavenly vocals, whatever – if you want something where songs and female voices and rich arrangements and gorgeously melodic instrumentation stand side by side in shining splendour, you simply have to get this album.

Andy Garibaldi – CD Services/Dead Earnest



musicians | tracklist | versions | reviews

Musicians

Jennifer Cutting - Composer, Arranger, Director (piano, organ, electronic keyboards, button & piano accordions)

Vocalists:
Polly Bolton - lead vocals (England)
Grace Griffith - lead vocals (U.S.)
Lisa Moscatiello - lead vocals (U.S.)
Maddy Prior - lead vocals (England)
Tatiana Sarbinska - lead vocals (Bulgaria)

Sylvie Berger - harmony vocals (France)
Dominick Murray - harmony vocals (U.S.)
Chris Noyes - harmony vocals (U.S.)
Gabriel Yacoub - harmony vocals (France)
Slaveya - choral vocals (U.S.)
    Tatiana Sarbinska, Artistic Director
    Theadocia Austen
    Karen Chittenden
    Anne Harrison
    Andrea Loewenwarter
    Diane Weinroth

Instrumentalists:
Blake Althen - samples, loops programming, electric guitar (U.S.)
Tony Cuffe - acoustic guitar, clarsach (Scottish harp), whistles (Scotland)
Troy Donockley - uilleann pipes, whistles, electric guitar, E-bow (England)
John Jennings - electric guitar (U.S.)
Peter Knight - fiddle (England)
Zan McLeod - bouzouki, electric & acoustic guitar (U.S.)
Sue Richards - Celtic Harp (U.S.)

String Section:
Kim Miller - violin (U.S.)
Peter Wilson - violin (U.S.)
Lisa Ponton - viola (U.S.)
Marcio Botelho - cello (U.S.)
Eliot Davis - cello (England)

Rhythm Section:
Rico Petruccelli - bass (U.S.)
Myron Bretholz - bodhran, bones (U.S.)
Marco Delmar - percussion (U.S.)
Andy Hamburger - drums (U.S.)
Larry Kolota - percussion, programming (U.S.)
Steve Loecher - drums (U.S.)
Dave Mattacks - drums (England)
Steve Missal - drums, congas (U.S.)

Track listing

  1. Call of the siren
  2. Out on the ocean/Rolling waves
  3. The gladdest breeze
  4. My grief on the sea
  5. Dissolving/King Neptune
  6. The sands of time
  7. Sleep (On the deep)
  8. Song for the night sea journey
  9. Forgiveness
  10. Neptune reel/Woman of the house
  11. If you are near
  12. The siren's farewell

Versions

CD: SCD2004 (SunSign, 2004). Original version, produced in the US.

CD: WMCD 2027 (Witchwood Media, 2006).

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