| Songs From The Heart |  | Director: Alex Coletti
Actor: Celtic Woman
Studio: Manhattan Records
Category: DVD
List Price: $19.98
Buy New: $10.91
as of 9/2/2010 22:33 CDT details
You Save: $9.07 (45%)
New (32) Used (4) from $9.44
Seller: moviemars
Rating:  102 reviews
Sales Rank: 1,550
Format: Color, DVD, NTSC, Surround Sound
Language: English (Original Language)
Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Autographed: No
Memorabilia: No
Region: 1
Discs: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Running Time: 104 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5.3 x 0.6
EAN: 5099945836190
ASIN: B002UZXJAG
Theatrical Release Date: 2010
Release Date: January 26, 2010
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
The international Irish music phenomenon Celtic Woman is renowned for singing inspirational melodies and heartwarming songs that stir fans of all ages and cultures. This PBS concert was filmed in HD in the lush Irish country setting of the Powerscourt House & Gardens. Under a dramatic evening summer sky with the backdrop of the historic estate, Celtic Woman is supported by a 27-member film orchestra, the 20-member Discovery Gospel choir, 12-member Aontas Choir, 10 Extreme Rhythm drummers, and an 11-piece bag pipe ensemble. Musical director David Downes's new program showcases the beauty and ethereal presence of the vocalistsChlod, Lisa, Lynn, and Alexalong with the energetic inventiveness of Celtic violinist MirTad. The group's signature style can be heard on the popular "Fields of Gold," "When You Believe," the lullaby "Goodnight My Angel," the patriotic "O, America!," as well as the Irish classics "Galway Bay," "My Lagan Love," and "Nfl STn L."
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Showing reviews 1-5 of 102
 EMI's answer re: Missing Tracks December 5, 2009
David A. Henderson (Saint Louis, MO USA)
46 out of 48 found this review helpful
Like some other Celtic Woman fans I noticed that Alex's rendition of 'You'll Be In My Heart' (apparently some other numbers also) are not listed on the DVD to be released in January and that's a crying shame because she really lights up the venue. It is one of the very best numbers on the PBS version. I would suggest that everyone who feels the entire concert should be included do what I did and send EMI an email voicing your concern over some music mogul cutting tracks from the DVD. They won't listen to one complaint but a few thousand (or million) might change their minds. This show is Celtic Woman's best to date and EMI shouldn't snip dingle it to death by giving Lynn and Alex the short end on solos.
David A. Henderson
Saint Louis, MO
EMI says the reason some tracks are deleted from the DVD is they don't have publishing clearances(Lawyers!...ya gotta love 'em.)Others were cleared for TV broadcast only. Great!! That really makes me feel better...Heh.
Jan 31 UPDATE: Having now received the DVD I must eat some crow which will, no doubt, delight Tim Bowen. It appears the DVD may have actually been processed by Elmer Fudd since the video quality is really poor for a digital product, especially as the camera pulls back, AND is not on a par with the Other 4 CW DVDs. I am in agreement with other reviewers on this point. It may be my tin ear but the audio was fine once I set it to the 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround option. The sound on all 5 CW DVDs will threaten to shake the paint off your walls if you don't back the volume off a bit before turning them on. Once I got the volume balanced between what was coming out of my TV's speakers (a big screen Samsung HDTV) and what was coming through my Sony Surround system the audio was fine. The performance is still a 5+ but the DVD itself is about a 1 because of the poor video quality.
An awesome show! December 2, 2009
deora ar mo chroi (MI United States)
22 out of 23 found this review helpful
I saw this on PBS today and just when I thought the girls couldn't get any better, they did! The concert was shot in an excellent location and the girls' voices are in top form. I don't even know where to begin because this concert is amazing and probably one of the best they have ever done. The songs really show off their voices, good choices were made.
Some of the highlights are Lisa's gorgeous renditions of Fields of Gold and The Moon's A Harsh Mistress, Mairead's energetic performances of The Coast of Galiçia and Slumber My Darling/The Mason's Apron, the fun, upbeat cover of Nil Sé'n Lá, Chloe's version of When You Believe, the group performance of O, America! (I can't get through this song without shedding a tear), and Lynn's beautiful My Lagan Love. One of Alex's songs that I like, You'll Be In My Heart, was on the show, but is not on the song list here. It's a shame that's not on the DVD. I think there are a few other omissions from what I've been reading. The Call is a good opening number and You Raise Me Up was a great closer. I have nothing but good things to say about this show, I would recommend it to all fans of Celtic Woman and this could possibly gain some new fans for the girls. I would also recommend the CD to go along with it, there's a standard and deluxe version of that.
None Better December 5, 2009
John Madigan (WPB, Fl., USA)
11 out of 13 found this review helpful
I just ordered two of these videos. This is on PBS as I write this, it is one of the best videos I have every seen or heard.
Not only are these women beautiful with voices to match but they are prove positive that angles do exist.
I'm an old guy but I'm watching this with tears in my eyes, not because I don't like it but because they touch your sole. Amazing Grace being played on the bagpipes really started the flood because all I could think of was The World Trade Center and family members lost.
I'm American of Irish decent who someday hopes to make it to Ireland before I leave this earth and with a little luck Celtic Women will be in concert somewhere there.
Familiar but different: "must have" for fans! January 30, 2010
Mark E. Chapman (Columbia, South Carolina)
8 out of 9 found this review helpful
A New Journey: Live at Slane Castle
I am a recent convert to Celtic Woman, and write with the zeal of a convert. I inadvertently ran across this live concert, "Songs from the Heart," airing during the pledge drive of my local PBS station, and despite the pledge drive annoyances, I was captured by Celtic Woman in the first five minutes. This DVD had not been released yet, so I immediately purchased the previous live concert DVD, "A New Journey." The two are distinctively different; for a fan of Celtic Woman, though, this is actually a good thing. It showcases the group in two almost entirely different styles of music and performance, with two largely different groups of vocalists.
"Songs from the Heart" is still the musical extravanganza, pyrotechnic (literally), exhibition of orchestral brilliance, vocal talent, virtuosity, vitality and diversity as the previous "A New Journey." The golden-haired Irish pixie from County Tipperary, Mairead, flashes with boundless energy dancing while playing the fiddle simultaneously without missing a step or a beat, appearing to be paying no attention to either the dance or the violin but simply alive with the music; she is the show-stopping scene stealer, if not the true star of Celtic Woman. But there is another dimension to Mairead as a performer: the classically trained violinist, the child prodigee who was playing Irish fiddle music at age 6, rapidly ascending through the finest music schools and academies of music to private masters instruction. In "Songs from the Heart," Mairead exhibits much more extensively this classical training, and she could just as well have made a career as a classical concert soloist of the first caliber.
"Songs from the Heart" could be called the "Thank you, United States!" concert (touring the U.S. gave Celtic Woman international recognition as they hit the "big time" here) -- acknowleged on stage to introduce the powerful song, "O! America!" No patriotic citizen of the U.S. who has lived through the decade following Sept. 11, 2001 could fail to be moved by this praise of America in the face of adversity, a stirring "pledge of allegiance" anew in music that truly did reduce me to tears and still does everytime I listen to it. It is ironic I suppose that it took a composer and musicians from Ireland -- a land all too familiar with terrorism, the politics of violence, ethnic and religious divsions and even hatred -- to find words and music that speak so eloquently and deeply to post-9/11 America.
In the same way, an American of Irish immigrant descent would have a heart of stone not to be moved (for me, again, consistently to tears) by "Isle of Hope, Isle of Tears," a tribute to the courage and heartbreak of the millions of Irish who entered the U.S. through Elis Island -- noting in its opening words that the first immigrant to set foot on Elis Island was Annie Moore, a 15-year-old girl on her own from Ireland. The other heart-breaker song is what seems at first like a pleasant lullaby sung by a mother to her child, "Goodnight, My Angel;" you have to pay close attention to the lyrics to realize the mother is dead, and sings this lullaby as she remains nearby her grieving child.
What sets "Songs from the Heart" apart from "A New Journey" is the virtual absence of traditional Irish music. There are a few rare exceptions in the vocal selections, most commanding among them the haunting "My Lagan Love." "Songs from the Heart" is mostly musical-theatre, jazz, popular contemporary, and Christain contemporary ("You Raise Me Up"). Some are familiar, only arranged for orchestra and a more light-classical style: "Fields of Gold;" "True Colors" (you will instantly recognize this as once used in a TV commercial, but I cannot remember for what product); the blues ballad, "The Moon's A Harsh Mistress;" and what sounds for all the world as if it came from a Disney soundtrack, "When You Believe." "Amazing Grace" is here, complete with bagpipes (just because you play it on bagpipes does not make it Celtic). Mairead's fiddle playing carries the weight of Irish folk music -- and carries it away, to be sure! And there are a few Irish songs: "Galway Bay;" "My Lagan Love;" and of course, the Irish-American "Danny Boy." There is also a brief instrumental played on the Uilleann Pipes -- the indiginous Irish version of the indiginously Scottish bagpipes, and a quite different instrument from its Scots cousin. (My guess is that Irish affinity for the bagpipes is a result of the settlement of Scots in Northern Ireland by England in the 17th-18th centuries, hoping that by seeding Ireland with Presbyterian Scots the Irish would give up their Catholic Church and faith; that failed, but apparently the bagpipes caught on.) But mostly this is contemporary music of various styles.
The reason for this is the major change in the vocalists of Celtic Woman between the earlier "A New Journey" concert and "Songs from the Heart," a critical change that I think in a way weakened the group. Of the five vocalists, three left the group. One, Hayley Westenra, joined Celtic Woman as an already established performance and recording star in opera, classical, and classical-crossover music, and returned to that venue. The loss of her operatic-trained voice has been replaced by Mairead's violin. The other two were losses to the core Celtic/Irish tradition, Orla and Meav. For Meav, a lawyer by vocation, music was a hobby, and she stepped down to become a full-time stay at home mom to her recently-born child. Orla, a virtuoso on the Celtic Harp as well as a trained vocalist, moved on to a solo recording and performing career.
Meav and Orla were the only two fluent Gaelic-speakers, and the absence of anything sung in Gaelic on "Songs from the Heart" is very noticeable. The marked switch to popular contemporary music and a minimum of mostly standard Irish fare is likely attributable to the loss of these two devoted advocates of traditional Irish folk music and the preservation of the Gaelic language. Hayley Westenra's departure left a gap in the "name recognition" area; though not as well known in the U.S., Hayley commands a very popular reputation as operatic and concert performer in the British Isles, Australia, her homeland of New Zealand, and strikingly, a large fan base in Japan and South Korea. Her place has been taken by the two remaining vocalists, Chloe and Lisa, both of whom have successful recordings but in pop and musical theatre. Lisa Kelly is a professional stage actress in musical theatre in Ireland and England and a successful jazz/blues singer there, and she was originally tapped for Celtic Woman precisely to bring that balance to a group that seemed at the time overly-classical. Chloe Agnew is another Wunderkind, who joined Celtic Woman as a 15-year-old high school student with a rare, bell-clear voice; she has performed since she was 6, and has a large fan base in Europe and America, but her preference is toward soft-rock and pop-contemporary music -- even though her performance of Rutter's "Pie Jesu" on "Songs from the Heart" is angelic. It is hard to judge from this one concert DVD what will be the place and shape taken by the two new-comers, Lynn Hillary, another classically-trained soprano with a love for traditional Irish music; and Alex, another musical-theatre professional.
Make no mistake though, even in this new configuration, Celtic Woman is a pulse-racing, joyous, musical extravangaza in which all the performers are at the top of the scales, both as soloists and in ensemble. My advice: By BOTH of the DVD concerts and enjoy the variety!
Celtic Woman "Songs From The Heart" February 3, 2010
Shelby Schull (Minnesota)
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
I finally got my dvd in the mail yesterday, and watched it last night. I have to say that I was relieved by how this dvd looked; being that it's not in high definition. Not too bad; but, it's true, it needed improving.
That said, I think the women outdid themselves once again. Mairead was spectacular as she danced and skipped across the stage while playing the fiddle. How she does it, I don't know. She was the highlight of the show. Really a joy to see!!
Lisa was beautiful as always and the songs she sang suited her to a T. I really loved "Fields of Gold" and "The Moon's a Harsh Mistress". What a voice she has!!
Chloe, enchanting in how she moves and sings her songs. She really does come alive on stage. It was also fun to hear Chloe speak when she introduces the song "O America"; or, when Lisa thanked the audience during the song "You raise Me Up" for being such a 'wonderful audience'. To me, it gives them more charm...
The two new women, Lynn and Alec, well, they sure captured my heart, as they sang their songs. I did see the PBS show, and I do wish Alec's song "You'll be in my Heart" was on this dvd and Lynn's "Carolina Rue". They performed these songs so beautifully that it's really shocking that these songs were not included.
"True Colours" sung by Alec, and "When You Believe" sung by Chloe were favorites of mine. Lynn's "My Lagan Love", even though it was a very slow song, is another favorite. The opening song "The Call" was beautifully done by all. "Nil se'n La was performed charmingly by the girls as they danced and sang across the stage, a welcome change after the slower songs.
I also loved the background piece they included, cluing us in on how the show was made, what went wrong etc. It also showed how the girls interacted with each other and how they practiced their songs etc.
Weren't the green dresses on the choir eye-catching?? Loved the bag pipes!! This whole show was a delight to see. The backdrop of Powerscourt Gardens was really, really beautiful and I wish I was there live to see it. It must of been breathtaking!!
No, you cannot go wrong purchasing this dvd, you'll love every minute of it. I sure did!
Showing reviews 1-5 of 102
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