"At long last, Anuna returns with an album of all-new compositions by choirmaster Michael McGlynn. If you're viewing this item, chances are you're already familiar with Anuna's work, and this new album is definitely another masterpiece. The overall mood is quiet, meditative and enchanting. Some fans may miss the more energetic sound of songs like 'Salve Rex Gloriae' or 'Dicant Nunc' from past albums but the mystic mood throughout gives the album a cohesive sound which works perfectly. Top recommendation!"
Musical Perfection...
Jeanette L. Ponder | NJ | 01/02/2007
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Anuna could sing the phone book and it would make me cry. Michael McGlynn is BRILLIANT; his arrangements are so, so rich and full...there's nothing like it."
Better than ever!
Benjamin L. Filippone | Pittsburgh, PA United States | 05/05/2007
(5 out of 5 stars)
"This long-awaited new addition to Anuna's discography is a major treat. The ensemble sounds better than ever, and the album's name "Sensation" is particularly apt for the selections on this recording. As always, Michael McGlynn's compositions and arrangements here are breathtaking and extraordinarily atmospheric as performed by this unique choral group. "Shining Water" is one of the most intoxicating tracks, with its hypnotic 5/4 motion and inclusion of recorded Cetlic harp played backwards in the background. "The Road Of Passage" is another major highlight, which has a soaring soprano solo and overlapping chords. The disk comes to a truly stunning close with "O Maria", a densely layered piece with a goosebump-raising repeating progression and electrifying embiance."
All Music Guide Review
Graarg | Ireland | 04/23/2007
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Sensation, the 10th album by Irish choral ensemble Anúna, brings together a wide assortment of music, all of it arranged or composed by its conductor, Michael McGlynn. While McGlynn's treatments may rankle purists, who, for instance, only want to hear Hildegard von Bingen performed by unaccompanied women's voices, when taken on its own terms, his cross-pollination of musical styles is never less than intriguing and is most often beguiling.
McGlynn's sophistication as a composer accounts for much of the album's appeal. The title track, featuring a speaker reciting an idyllic Rimbaud poem, accompanied by violin, harp, and women's chorus singing a sensual, impressionistic setting of the same text, vividly captures the serenity and eroticism of Rimbaud's imagery. McGlynn's setting of the medieval text Maid in the Moor Lay is disarming in its folk-like simplicity and purity. His O Maria is harmonically and texturally complex, but never sounds "difficult," and conveys an otherworldly and enveloping serenity. Other pieces, such as Silver River and Shining Water, bring a new age sensibility to the Irish folk tradition.
The other factor in making this album so sensually appealing and rewarding is the extraordinary technical prowess and secure musicianship of the singers. The ease and precision and musicality of their performances of extremely demanding music puts them in the ranks of the very finest chamber choirs. It would be a pleasure to hear them bring their formidable strength to the broader repertoire of exceptional (and exceptionally difficult to perform) choral music that is being written today.