Hayley Westenra : 'Treasure' and 'Celtic Treasure' Album Review.

* This Post Re-Written on : Saturday 9th June, 2007, and Re-Posted on : Sunday 10th June, 2007.



Following on from her two earlier studio albums ' Pure ' and ' Odyssey ', Beautiful New Zealand Soprano Hayley Westenra ( pictured Left ) is back in 2007 with a third studio production titled " Treasure " in the UK, and " Celtic Treasure " Internationally.



" Treasure / Celtic Treasure " was recorded in Dublin, Ireland. It's a very personal collection of Classical Arias, along with some Irish and New Zealand Traditional Maori Folk Songs representing treasured people and places in Hayley's remarkable musical journey. For the first time, the album also includes several original tracks written by Hayley herself. UK Edition " Treasure " was released on sale to the public on February 26th, 2007, while US and International Edition " Celtic Treasure " was was released on sale to the public on 13th March, 2007 ( US ) / 17th March, 2007 ( Australia / International ).

The final album covers and track-listings for both editions as at time of album-release :

Treasure ( The UK Import Edition ) _1. Let Me Lie _2. Le Notte Del Silenzio _3. Santa Lucia _4. Shenandoah _5. Whispering Hope _6. Summer Rain _7. Danny Boy _8. One Fine Day _9. The Heart Worships 10. E Pari Ra 11. Sonny 12. Summer Fly 13. Melancholy Interlude 14. Bist Du Bei Mir 15. Abide With Me

As at time of writing this, I still have Not seen the UK edition available anywhere locally in Australia, hence I still believe it's still pretty much an import product.

Celtic Treasure ( US / Australia / International Edition ) _1. Let Me Lie _2. Scarborough Fair _3. Shenandoah _4. Summer Fly _5. Whispering Hope _6. Danny Boy _7. Summer Rain _8. The Last Rose Of Summer _9. One Fine Day 10. Sonny 11. The Water Is Wide 12. Melancholy Interlude 13. Abide With Me

" Treasure / Celtic Treasure " is a Tribute to Hayley's Celtic ancestry, a collection of songs whose " theme " is laced with the eerie sounds of traditional Irish Folk music.; Amazon.com : " Treasure / Celtic Treasure is a celebration of Hayley's family roots, and her grandparent's journey across the World on the first boat that left Ireland for New Zealand in the 1880s - taking with them a rich musical heritage. ".;
If you haven't yet heard anything off either editions of Treasure / Celtic Treasure, then be prepared to experience something a little different. If you're used to all the songs from Pure and Odyssey, then for the new 'Treasure' and 'Celtic Treasure', you might find they take some getting-use-to. The sounds of traditional Irish heritage may make it sound a little not-so-simple as you may intially expect.; The UK Edition 'Treasure' contains 5 extra tracks which aren't on the US edition ( Track #s 2,3,9,10, and 14 ), and the US edition has 2 tracks which are already on the UK edition of 'Odyssey' ( Track # 2 : Scarborough Fair, and Track # 11 : The Water Is Wide ), and 1 unique track not on UK's 'Treasure' ( Track # 8 : The Last Rose Of Summer ). Personally, I believe that both 'Scarborough Fair' and 'The Water Is Wide' could have been completely omitted from the US edition altogether, and replaced with a couple of newer songs, preferably something from the UK edition 'Treasure'. 'The Last Rose Of Summer' on the other hand, whilst being the only unique track on Celtic Treasure, it's a song worth-the-while to have been ( and should-have-been ) included on the UK edition Treasure.; The Clarity and Precision of Hayley's singing voice remains as Beautiful and Clear as ever ! Again, Hayley's beautiful voice is harmoniously supported by a full backing orchestra. Amazon.com : " The orchestrations are lush, with sighing phalanxes of strings and woodwinds. But in keeping with the avowed theme, there are also soft touches of soulful, wavering tin whistles and vaguely fiddle-like violin vamps. The program is more varied than the album's title might lead one to expect. There are even a couple of more pop-oriented songs penned by Hayley herself. "; As on her earlier two albums ' Pure ' and ' Odyssey ', I have since taken a liking to her Maori Folk songs, tracks sung in New Zealand's traditional Mauri. They sound so beautiful ! And they sound a bit more classical, and a bit more traditional than the songs sung in English. So on ' Treasure / Celtic Treasure ', I take some particular interest in the Maori folk songs on this album, my favourite of which would have to be track # 10 on the UK edition " E Pari Ra " - also my favourite song on the album.; The quality of audio reproduction on this album is brilliant, shows no sign of any distortion whatsoever at ordinary volume levels, and the backing orchestra on this recording sounds naturallly encompassing on any good sound system.; This album is generally thematic, centered around Hayley's family and Celtic ancestry, carefully blended with her New Zealand Maori / Folk culture.; Hayley's songs really have to be heard to be truly appreciated, and words are really not enough to adequately describe the unprecendented beauty and clarity of Hayley's wonderful and captivating music.;

This album may seem like a bit to take in the first time around, if you haven't heard it yet, but play it in its entirety, several times over, let it grow on you, and you will soon get use to it.; If you like music with traditional Irish/Celtic sounds, then you will like this album.;

Verdict : 'Treasure / Celtic Treasure' may take a little bit of getting-use-to, but once you have gotten use to it, I think you'll agree with me that this particular album is probably the Best Hayley studio album of the three most recent studio album productions. The UK edition I believe is slightly better than the US edition by a small margin, but having BOTH editions is really the way to go.
I'd just like to state for the record that ALL the songs on Both editions are really good.
Both Editions are a 'MUST-Have' for any and all dedicated Hayley Fans ! If you don't already have them, then Go and Buy them, and add them to your Hayley music collection.
My Scores :
Treasure ( UK ) : 9 out of 10.
Celtic Treasure ( US ) : 8 out of 10.

If you have a state-of-the-art audio sound system with full surround-sound, really good base and all, then set your sound system to optimum clarity and quality, put this CD in the CD Player, Press Play, Sit back, relax, and just appreciate the amazing beauty of Treasure/Celtic Treasure.

Another fan once described Hayley as a " Pinnacle of a Generation... ", and I totally agree with that. I have never heard anything [ i.e. Hayley's Music ] so Beautiful in my life.

Even though we're only just about half-way through the year, I already get the feeling that Treasure / Celtic Treasure is going to be my pick for 'Album-of-the-year ( 2007 )'. At the moment, There's a significant probability that it will be, and I think most-likely, it's going to be !

* My Ratings :

Treasure ( UK Import Edition ) :

Celtic Treasure ( US / Australia / International Edition ) :

Treasure Trailer Video Clip : Watch a preview video clip of Hayley Westenra introducing the new 'Treasure' album. This video clip also shows brief excerpts of Hayley singing some of the songs from 'Treasure', and also correctly exhibits the album cover image from the UK Import edition of 'Treasure'.



* After I wrote my Andrea Ross Moon River Album Review Article, and compared it to the original version of this post, I made the decision to re write this post, with the structure and content a little more similar to the layout I used for the Andrea Ross Article.; Having already found it difficult to provide adequate and meaningful descriptions for each track, I decided to remove the track by-track descriptions, and provide a more generalised description of the album as a whole, rather than each track individually.

Hayley Westenra : " Treasure " - The UK Import Edition. .Buy This Product On-Line at DVD.co.uk

Hayley Westenra : " Celtic Treasure " - The US / AU / International Edition. * This Product easily availabe in-store locally everywhere around Australia. .Buy This Product On-Line at Sanity (AU)

Related Articles :
* Hayley Westenra : ' Prayer ' Album - The Exclusive Japanese Import Edition ( 2007 ).
* Hayley Westenra Featured on Soundtrack of New British Movie " FLOOD ".
* Hayley Westenra in the 50th Anniversary Audio Recording of " West Side Story ".

---

* Hayley Westenra's Official Web Site.