Part 3 : The difficult bit in the middle
Behind the Closed Eye - Full Feature Documentary
Behind the Closed Eye was released in 1997 with the assumption that it would not be commercially successful. In fact, the opposite was the case. The album sold 5000 copies in Ireland and went on to be licensed by Philips/Gimell. Inspired by the writing of the Irish poet Francis Ledwidge the album is a pastoral exploration of the Irish landscape with many pieces that went on to become very successful in their own right. The album features The Ulster Orchestra, Northern Ireland’s principal orchestra, led by Lesley Hatfield.
Hot Press wrote of the release “ Behind the Closed Eye is for lovers of nature and gentleness. Experienced re-inventors of Irish traditional music Anúna have joined in a cross-cultural production with the Ulster Orchestra to create a beautifully rounded album which carries the listener through a changing landscape of season, mood, history and lore.”
Anúna in Glendalough, January 1999. Image Julia Hember
“While we had begun to perform in Europe, it was pretty evidently on the basis of our association with Riverdance. It was wonderful to visit Poland, Italy, Norway, Germany and Canada over the next few years, but the most memorable concert we gave at this time was in Morocco where we were the first Irish group to participate in the World Sacred Music Festival at Fés. It was such a successful performance that we returned in 2002 and again in 2019 as part of their quarter century celebrations. I will never forget singing under an ancient tree in the Batha Palace garden with the sound of multitudes of birds accompanying the high notes of the women’s voices.”
In 1998 ANÚNA sang at the inauguration of President Mary McAleese, President of Ireland, and recorded two projects with The Chieftains in collaboration with Elvis Costello, Oscar winner Brenda Fricker and Chinese singer Dadawa for The Long Journey Home and Tears of Stone. The group signed an exclusive recording deal with the Gimell/Philips label, home of The Tallis Scholars and in January 1999 recorded a PBS TV special in Norway with Secret Garden, appearing on two of their albums as guests.
“Even in all this excitement, one event stood out above all the others. In August, 1999 we performed at the The Royal Albert Hall in London at the BBC Proms. As a young man I had spent many summers travelling over to see the Proms, sleeping on floors and sitting in the cheapest seats imaginable. For me this remains a very special moment, singing songs in the Irish language to a hugely attentive audience in the Royal Albert Hall. Magic.”
1999 proved to be a busy year with BBC2 TV filming a performance of Behind the Closed Eye at Belfast's Waterfront Hall with the Ulster Orchestra ( a performance repeated in January 2000 at the opening of Celtic Connections at the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall with the Orchestra of Scottish Opera). Rather surprisingly ANÚNA’s first release on their new label for Polygram/Gimell Deep Dead Blue was nominated for a Classical Brit Award which resulted in a very special evening for the award ceremony that included a short and awe-struck conversation with Michael’s hero György Ligeti.
‘While all eyes were on Paul McCartney at the next table to ours, mine were firmly fixed on Ligeti who had long been my musical inspiration. I clumsily stumbled over to him at the end of the evening and blabbered out how much his work meant to me. His minders calmed down somewhat when they realised that I was just a fan and not a lunatic (I hope). He was gracious and kind and funny.
I don’t remember anything else about the evening other than I owe a huge debt to Steve Smith of Gimell Records who was never less than positive in our dealings and a pleasure to interact with at a time that I probably was not so easy going as I thought I was. Polygram was taken over and the writing was on the wall for our relationship with Gimell. The industry was beginning to change radically and we, like so many others, were among the last groups to get the opportunity to experience the old-fashioned Record Company ethos. It was a blast I have to say.
1999 gave rise to album six, Cynara, which was released in November. The disc featured far-less solo vocal performances on it to previous albums and the mood was restless, without a clear view of where it was going even though reviews were excellent. It contained the earliest choral piece written by McGlynn “Incantations” among a rather eclectic selection of songs that included the sensual title track.
“I remember bringing this into our new bosses in London and getting a stony reception. To be honest, Cynara was a very odd disc for many reasons. If I had been in their position I wouldn’t have taken it, and I was somewhat relieved when they passed on it and we were, once again, independent. The title track “Cynara” probably scared them off to be honest, and while there are some beautiful things on the record it was the last album I released that would be so diverse in content.”
Hot Press wrote “Perhaps the best thing about Cynara is that it sets this music in its proper place in the global picture…and it reclaims it from the godawful world of Celtic New Ageism. And in their own quiet way, Anúna are just as radical a band as the likes of At The Drive In and Atari Teenage Riot” while CDNow wrote “…the choir's smooth blend and McGlynn's lovely harmonies combine for a most attractive sound that's captured well in an atmospheric recording. It would not be surprising for McGlynn's work to start showing up in the repertoire of other choirs, such is its quality, but it's hard to imagine any other group singing it better”.
2000 also marked the first solo performance by the group at Dublin's National Concert Hall and the release of the award-winning film The Work of Angels featuring a score by Michael performed by ANÚNA. Another highlight of this time was performing with The Ulster Orchestra to 14,000 people in Belfast as part of the BBC Proms.
Images : 2002 : Proms in the Park | 2003 : with the Chieftains at the Gaiety, Dublin | 2004 : With President Mary MacAleese & Martin MacAleese, Buenos Aries | 2004 : The Iveagh Gardens, Dublin | 2005 : Lippoldsberg, Germany | 2005 : Boston | 2006 : Switzerland | 2007 : Mile One, St. John’s, Newfoundland | 2009 : The Electric Picnic, Ireland
Essential ANÚNA was released on Universal Classics in the UK and USA on Koch/E1 in 2003 resulting in a placing at number 6 in the U.K. Classical Charts. This compilation was followed by Christmas Songs in 2004 on Koch International. ANÚNA undertook its first UK Tour that year and visited Chile and Argentina as guests of President Mary McAleese, President of Ireland.
“At this time we paid our first visits to the Netherlands and Japan, two hugely contrasting cultures that have embraced ANÚNA. Both our Dutch agent Peter Boone and our Japanese agent Plankton have carved out unique paths for us and we have been embraced and accepted as part of those cultures, something we will be forever grateful for.
By the time 2006 arrived I think I believed that I had said most of what I wanted to with ANÚNA. I was very wrong. Sensation was unrelated to everything we had done before. Dark, moody and atmospheric, there is nothing uptempo on the record. I had become increasingly aware that my music was being performed all over the world by other choirs and ensembles. Maybe I wrote this record with the intention of stretching the classic sound of the group. Nothing should remain static.”
Guest artists included Breton singer Gilles Servat who took a narration role on the title track “Sensation”. All Music Guide said of the release “McGlynn’s sophistication as a composer accounts for much of the album's appeal. …His “O Maria” is harmonically and texturally complex, but never sounds "difficult," and conveys an otherworldly and enveloping serenity…The other factor in making this album so sensually appealing and rewarding is the extraordinary technical prowess and secure musicianship of the singers. The ease and precision and musicality of their performances of extremely demanding music puts them in the ranks of the very finest chamber choirs. It would be a pleasure to hear them bring their formidable strength to the broader repertoire of exceptional (and exceptionally difficult to perform) choral music that is being written today.”
From Sensation “Whispers of Paradise”
From the album Sensation “O Maria”
Anúna, Dublin 2007. Image John McGlynn
The appetite for all things Celtic continued unabated and besides contributing so many of the singers to Riverdance over the years, the advent of the US phenomenon Celtic Woman showed the enormous influence the group had yielded on that genre of music. As of 2019, six ANÚNA singers have appeared in leading roles fronting the show - Tara McNeill, Méav Ní Mhaolchatha, Lynn Hilary, Deirdre Shannon, Orla Fallon and Éabha McMahon.
In the meantime ANÚNA continued to tour the world and were Artists in Residence at Festival 500, Newfoundland in 2007. That same year marked the recording of the hugely successful PBS TV special ANÚNA - Celtic Origins in Cleveland USA for the Elevation Group. The programme was carried by over 220 PBS Channels and the album titled Anúna : Celtic Origins hit number one on Soundscan in the World Music category.
From Celtic Origins “Scarborough Fair/Greensleeves”
From Celtic Origins “Shining Water”
The year ended with a nine-week tour across the USA with special guest classical violinist Linda Lampenius, who subsequently has recorded and performed with the ensemble as recently as 2017. Venues included New York Town Hall, Orchestra Hall Minneapolis and Berklee Performance Centre, Boston.
Recording began in June 2008 on a second Elevation collaboration Christmas Memories with Maryland Public Television for PBS. The programme achieves 80% coverage on PBS Channels, and the CD peaked at number 95 on the Billboard Hot 100 Album Charts. "Ding Dong Merrily on High" reached number 26 on the Billboard Hot Adult Contemporary Charts. Anúna - Celtic Origins won four Telly Awards.
“This special was probably the most surreal project we ever got involved in, with improvised script and set pieces in costume. We recorded it at MPR Studios in Maryland on a baking hot June week. The album that resulted from it has all the hallmarks of ANÚNA, but not necessarily what our audience at the time expected as this was actually a very joyous and positive experience that reflected in the lightness of the subsequent music. A huge contrast to the moody Sensation. It harkens back to the classic TV Christmas specials. Classic it may not be, but it was a lot of fun to make.”
From Christmas Memories “Jingle Bells”
From Christmas Memories “Noel Nouvelet”
The Netherlands, December 2010. Image Michael McGlynn
Since 2008 ANÚNA have maintained a busy performance schedule, but the biggest single event of the period was the creation of the ANÚNA Education Programme led by Lucy Champion.
“At the time many ensembles and institutions were seeing the value of running Education programmes. It became a buzz word, a new marketing tool. For myself and Lucy Champion it was different. It helped us define and change the ethos of the group fundamentally, informing us about the uniqueness of what we do and helping us to explain the techniques that we used in performance to others.”
From Invocations of Ireland “August”
2010 marked the recording of a DVD and CD with Australian group The Wiggles, the most successful children's entertainers in the world.
Anúna with The Wiggles, 2010
2011 began with an invitation from Clannad to be their special guests for their Dublin performances at Christ Church Cathedral, celebrating forty years in the music industry.
Performing at the Shanghai Oriental Arts Centre, 2011
“This was an interesting week. Not only did I get a chance to perform with Clannad, a seminal influence on my own music in the 1980s, but I was astonished that no one in the audience at Dublin’s TradFest had actually heard us before. We processed up the centre aisle of the cathedral and people literally were blown away as their only experience of the group was as a distant memory”
It also marked ANÚNA’s first tour of China where they receive a rapturous welcome. Other performances that year included Tours des Sites in Belgium in front of an audience of 7,000 people. ANÚNA recorded the soundtrack to the video game Diablo III in 2011 representing the voices of Hell. The video game subsequently went on to be massively successful in 2012, selling 3.5 million units on its first day of release and 12 million units in its first year. ANÚNA’s contribution earned them a Game Audio Network Guild nomination. Russell Brower, music co-ordinator and composer of much of the music for the game, was hugely impressed with the contribution of the group saying "Working somewhat against conventional expectations, Hell is a beautiful and seductive sound, provided by Dublin’s uniquely astounding choral group ANÚNA".
The most significant event that year occured when ANÚNA visited Iwake, Fukushima just after the tsunami and gave a workshop 40km from the stricken reactor. The group returned to the area in 2014 to a revitalised and renewed prefecture.
2012 : Image John McGlynn
Anúna in Fukushima 2011
2011 marked a significant turning point. The first Anúna International Choral Summer School took place with delegates coming from five countries. By 2018 delegates came from 16 countries. That same year Michael paid his first visit to the American Choral Directors Association National Conference in Chicago thus opening up an enduring connection with the choral music fraternity in the USA for the first time.
These events began a process that took some years to complete - the creation of definitions for The Anúna Technique of choral performance. This new methodology is based on the unique history and performance practices of Anúna. It continues to develop and expand with each passing year.
The Netherlands, 2013. Image Jasper Van Gheluwe
2012 marked the release of the album Illumination to celebrate the 25th Anniversary of Anúna. The disc features the solo voice of Andrew Hozier Byrne on the opening track. Hozier, as he is better known, performed with Anúna first at Christmas 2007.
To celebrate the 25th anniversary Anúna featured in a solo performance at Dublin's National Concert Hall. Repertoire included material spanning the entire catalogue of Anúna including the "Chanson de Mardi Gras" (1991) and a performance of excerpts from the soundtrack of Diablo III. When that video was posted online it crashed the Anúna website.
PART 1 : 1987 to 1994, An Uaithne to ANÚNA