Nóirín ní Riain: Caoineadh na Maighdine
Hauntingly beautiful Irish religious music, sung in English, Gaelic, and Latin by vocalist Nóirín ní Riain and the monks of Glenstal Abbey.
This is really gorgeous, ethereal stuff. Riain's voice is pure and measured, and her performance perfectly balances studied technique with delicate, nuanced delivery. Against the backdrop of stark, serene piety in the monks' choral accompaniment, the depth of emotion in her achingly understated performances becomes even more vivid.
While Enya is the obvious comparison for those of us who don't know much about Gaelic music-- certainly, she was the first one I thought of-- that comparison short-changes this recording. There is a deeply moving quality to genuine sacred music that is largely absent from other forms, and as Riain observes in the liner notes, this quality is often lost in multitrack production. Sacred music is deeply preoccupied with place-- specifically, with places of worship-- and with the very act of performance, which itself is deeply cathartic; listener and performer are meant to partake in a shared experience in which both are active participants. When listening to recorded music, the listener is disconnected from both performer and place, so perhaps the relationship is best approximated by live recordings that are as concerned with capturing the sound of a room or a hall as with the music itself.
So, rather than Enya, if I was going to compare this tape to something secular, it would be Cowboy Junkies' The Trinity Sessions.
(ps I LOVE HOW IT SOUNDS LIKE ELVISH)
From liner notes:
The actual performance of these songs in Glenstal Abbey has meant more to me than just making the kind of record which normally marks one's musical progress and area of interest at a particular time. Stereotyped studios, seas of microphones, time pressures, and endless 'takes' had no part in this setting of religious music. The absence of such features, which inevitably accompany the average recording, opened up the possibility of making this performance the most personalised and sincere outcry of the performer, for whom each phrase of a song is a constant confession or expression of being.
For the twelve monks who accompany me on this recording, singing is a powerful medium of prayer inextricably bound up with their life-style. Such a background has had an indelible influence on my own singing. None of these songs will ever again exist for me as an isolated piece of music.
Woman speaks strongly through the religious songs of Ireland. She comes alive and breathes forth an antithesis: sometimes overpoweringly christian, sometimes dramatically pagan; sometimes lulling the child of God to sleep within her life, sometimes bitterly questioning the right of this same God to claim her child.
Such emotions have immeasurably transformed not only my approach to singing, but also something within me which goes far deeper and defies articulation.
- Nóirín ní Riain
Side A:
Caoineadh Mhuire
Gol na dTrí Muire
The Darkest Midnight
Seacht nDólás an Maighdine Muire
An Bhainis Phósta a Bhí i gCáns
Seacht nDólás na Maighdine Muire
Side B:
An Caoineadh
Caoineadh na hAoine
Pósadh Naofa Cána
Dextera Domini
Caoineadh na Maighdine
© Gael Linn, 1980
About this album on Nóirín ní Riain's website.