Secret Garden - Songs from a Secret Garden (1996)

Songs from a Secret Garden is the debut album from Secret Garden, released in 1996. It consists of 13 tracks. I find the songwriting to be proficient, the musicianship to be skillful, and the sound quality to be satisfying. Secret Garden is made up of duo Rolf Lovland (piano/keyboards) and Fionnuala Sherry (violin). Except for the upbeat "The Rap," the rest of the compositions are somber, yet beautiful and soothing.
The album, however, offers much more than this duo; it is awash in orchestral strings (real ones), a choir (real one), and as many percussionists, harps, fiddles, keyboards, and whistles as are needed. Songs from a Secret Garden, a chart-topper in Europe, is unabashedly romantic, absolutely gorgeous.. "Sigma," featuring boy soprano Rhonan Sugrue and the Irish National Choir, is very pensive, like dried flowers left, an expected return disappointed. Romantic themes of true depth, played full out. ~ Carol Wright

Tracklisting:

1. Nocturne
2. Pastorale
3. Song from a Secret Garden
4. Sigma
5. Papillon
6. Serenade to Spring
7. Atlantia
8. Heartstrings
9. Adagio
10. The Rap
11. Chaconne
12. Cantoluna
13. Ode to Simplicity

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