Published on May 21, 2003
Loreena McKennitt rides the fine line between hopelessly
pedantic and richly intellectual on most releases; sometimes she
provides intelligent commentary and textured world music, and
sometimes she gets lost in a sea of liner notes and clever quotes.
Her 1998 CD,
The Book Of Secrets, contains the closest she’s had to a hit
so far in the States (“The Mummer’s Dance”), so often it’s the
first CD people know of hers. It’s also by far, in this reviewer’s
humble opinion, her best work.
McKennitt is a musical polymath whose influences are difficult
to trace. A native of Canada, she spends as much time traveling the
world setting up charitable and educational efforts and studying as
she does performing music; she has always produced, written and
recorded her own work. She calls her own genre ‘eclectic Celtic,’
but in my opinion that’s stretching it; she is doing whatever she
likes, and whatever sings to her.
On
Book of Secrets, this creates a powerful and coherent
musical statement. From the opening bars of “Prologue” to the dying
piano at the end of “Dante’s Prayer,”
Book of Secrets is brilliant — and McKennitt’s
comprehensive liner notes tell her inspirations for her work
(including powerful snapshots of rail trips across Siberia,
exploring Venice’s Jewish quarter, and tracking down myth and
legend in Ireland). “Skellig” is a heartbreaking tale of knowledge
being kept against the darkness, and “Mummer’s Dance” is a haunting
weaving of legend and mystery. McKennitt calls these songs a
mosaic, carefully fitted together — and indeed, they do make a
seamless whole.
The Book of Secrets is a modern classic. Don’t miss it.