Celtic Treasure

Anything I have experienced by Haley has been fabulous. She has one of the clearest and purest soprano voices since Charlotte Church. I would highly recommend any of her CD's for anyone that enjoys beautiful singing.

This CD has a great selection of songs. As always Hayley performs beautifully on all of them with her amazing vocals.

I came across Hayley Westenra purely by accident, while flipping through classical CDs and suddenly seeing a picture of a beautiful young woman with the last name of one of Dracula's victims. My first thought was, "A pop CD in the wrong section,"; my second was, "I wonder if this is another one who when exiting her limo reveals her lack of underwear." But after reading the notes I decided to take a chance and buy "Odyssey," and the next day purchased "Pure" and "Celtic Treasure." So here's a quick overall review, from a classical aficionado, of this beautiful girl who commits herself so sincerely to her art:

Her voice is certainly heavenly. Whatever the song, and however schmaltzy the arrangement, her voice takes over and overwhelms any negatives. It's also apparent that there's nothing phony about her. When you're listening to her sing, you do NOT envision a wailing pop tart with a microphone a quarter inch from her mouth. You feel as if you're in the presence of an ingenuous young lady who loves what she's doing, respects the music she's performing, and is committed to applying her talent well. Her takes on these mostly well-known songs are quite refreshing. You can't help but like this girl.

I do feel that in one area she is not being well served. Her voice and talent and presence are such that she does not need the overstated accompaniment of many of the arrangements. Mediocrities need that kind of backup as camouflage, but Hayley Westenra definitely isn't in that category. In some of her songs, the accompaniment is properly understated, but in others it's gaudy and intrusive, suitable for Las Vegas crooners, not real artists. She doesn't need the thousand slithering strings or the bloated orchestrations. You often find yourself wishing that the instrumentalists would just SHUT UP and let the lady sing. (Remember that the best accompanists of the great classical singers are noted for their ability to support the artist while remaining unobtrusive.)

So I'm delighted to have discovered Hayley Westenra, and look forward to whatever she records next.

Literally, Hayley's voice reminds me of a violin. Beautiful phrasing, an art mostly lost on modern singers. If you could imagine what an elf from Lord of the Rings sounded like, it would probably sound like Hayley. (A serious compliment by the way.)

Now, although Hayley's is one of my favorite voices, I didn't give the cd 5 stars because it has a few notable flaws. One is the instrumentation is very poor. The beautiful song "One Fine Day," which Hayley performs well, is weakly backed instrumentally such that it sounds far too thin. Furthermore, the instrumentation choices (in terms of what instrument plays what and where) are not the best around.

Furthermore, Hayley's voice fits certain songs better than others. Her particular vocal style does not make some gentler songs, like "Last Rose of Summer," which she actually duets with Celtic Woman's Meav. The song does not actually sound that good with Hayley but certainly does with Meav (oh but when they sing the last chorus in harmony..kill me now that's so gorgeous.)

On the other hand, Hayley does own a monopoly on songs such as "Summer Rain" (which, for a change, has excellent instrumentation). I can't imagine another singer pulling off that song as well as she.

So you have a mixed bag; I could imagine a better CD with Hayley if she focused on certain songs and had better instrumentation, but I still say that the CD is worth it.

Hayley is a very beautiful talented young lady. Everything she does is always a oustanding production. Has a voice that is out of this world!