Songs from the Heart

Songs from the Heart is the fifth offering from the Celtic Woman quintet. With some alternating membership, it sticks close to producer and arranger David Downes' (of Riverdance fame) vision/formula: these women sing contemporary and traditional Celtic songs and well-known standards backed by a choir, Celtic folk instruments — bodhran, fiddle, Uilleann pipes, and bagpipes — a full backing band, and an orchestra. Lisa Kelly does a tender reading of of Sting’s “Fields of Gold,” as an opener, while the entire group participates in an overblown version of “Amazing Grace,” complete with bagpipes. There is a lovely version of the traditional ballad “Nil Sé’n Lá” once more sung by the quintet with killer bodhran playing by Ray Fean. The song selection here is somewhat more eclectic than on previous albums, as evidenced by a complex, spit-shined and polished take on the Phil Collins-penned Disney tune “You’ll Be in My Heart” for an Alex Sharpe solo, the British Isles standard “My Lagan Love,” and even Dvorák’s “Non C’è Più.”