Lisa Gerrard and Patrick Cassidy - Immortal Memory
(4AD)
For over a dozen years, Gerrard was one half of the Gothic chamber ensemble, Dead Can Dance, combining pop music sensibilities with Medieval and Renaissance folk music on such classics as Serpent's Egg (1988) and Into The Labyrinth (1993). Following that band's dissolution in the mid-90s, she went into a prolific, profitable and award-winning career writing film music (not surprising, considering the cinematic breadth of much of DCD's music - in fact, several of their songs have been used in film (Baraka), TV (Miami Vice) and commercials), garnering several Oscar and Grammy nominations and a Golden Globe (Gladiator) in the process. Cassidy is widely hailed as Ireland's top classical composer, the recipient of many awards, who has also recently turned to film composition (Broken Harvest). In 2001, he was specially commissioned to compose an aria for the opera scene in Hannibal ("Vide Cor Meum"). So what happens when two award-winning film composers with distinguished backgrounds in classical and medieval folk music get together? Nothing short of a masterpiece.
Gerrard has always been possessed of one of the world's most emotionally expressive voices, and here she delivers stunningly unforgettable tales in ancient Gaelic ("The Song of Amergin") and Aramaic ("Abwoon" and "Maranatha," a meditative piece that borders on religious ecstasy). Even the occasional foray into wordless vocals (the title track and the jaw-droppingly gorgeous "Sailing To Byzantium") demonstrate the power of her pipes and sets the bar for future attempts at this often overlooked (and much-maligned) cinematic technique at audience manipulation.
"Amergin's Invocation" is one of the most powerful solo performances since Edda dell'Orso's groundbreaking pyrotechnics in the "Finale" of Once Upon A Time In The West, and if there's a dry eye in the house after the emotionally draining "I Asked For Love" or the heartbreaking "Psallit In Aure Dei" (composed by Cassidy in honor of his recently-deceased father), then you just don't have a heart.
Only the aimless meandering of "Paradise Lost" (based on a project Gerrard was developing with Gladiator star Russell Crowe) seems out of place. But the remaining pieces, with their accompanying romantic, predominantly string-driven orchestrations, place Immortal Memory amongst the finest "imaginary soundtracks" ever composed. Fans of Morricone's film scores, particularly those featuring the enigmatic Ms. Dell'Orso, as well as followers of female soloists such as Enya, Anneli Marian Drecker (Bel Canto), Liz Fraser (Cocteau Twins), Anna Nacher (Magic Carpathians) and This Mortal Coil's Rutkowski sisters (Deirdre and Louise) are well advised to pick this up immediately. Others shouldn't be far behind.
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