Search - Noa, Solis String Quartet :: Live in Israel

Overwhelming Orchestration Ruins a Perfect Night

Cabir Davis | 04/07/2009

(2 out of 5 stars)

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All of Noa's recordings, be it her obscure Hebrew releases from the early 1990s to her current English language albums, are essential to any serious collector of world music. The woman single-handedly reinvigorated the Israeli music scene, with her soaring vocals winning new listeners in Europe, and despite being Israel's leading vocalist for years, hardly anyone in the West know of her existence. Which is just as well, because it gives you so much more music to actually discover.



Noa's two major label albums (both in the 1990s) were gigantic flops, despite containing some of her best work (including her greatest achievement, "Mishaela"), and her attempts at injecting some extra punch into her career have often met with mixed results. I would recommend her "Blue Touches Blue" album, which is a Joni Mitchell-ish record, with a few Hebrew tracks thrown into the mix. Despite having flawless English diction, Noa does best at Hebrew tracks, and this is especially evident when she does live shows.



And that's where the bad news trickles in - Noa, a consummate live performer, does not need an elaborate band behind her to make her sound bigger than she is. Indeed, her small entourage have always ensured a warm, intimate feel that compliment the folksy roots of the music shes singing. That said, this album, which has Noa singing in Israel along with the Solis String Quartet, is packed with all her essentials and `greatest hits', but all featuring a soaring orchestra - violins to the hundred - and the results are not quite what you'd expect. For example, songs that should be quiet burners, such as the aforementioned "Mishaela", are reduced to sweeping epic-like arrangements, which totally render Noa's vocals useless. Many times during the performance, the singers' vocal key seems totally out of sync with the orchestra's sync. It sounds almost as if they were playing to totally different songs - I don't get it.



Of course, for years, Noa's "Ave Maria" has received standing ovations all across Europe whenever shes performed it, but here it seems almost like some Mylene Farmer show, where every bit of emotion is heightened and expanded (not in a good way) - so much so that the power of the track is totally lost. Even a ballad that should remain sweet and simple, such as "Beautiful that Way" is given the orchestra treatment. The end result is that while Noa has always sounded really good live, she does not do well with a full band behind her as this sort of Cirque de Soleil setup only distracts from her beautiful music.



Stick with her studio albums, and her hard to find "Osef Rishon", which collects all her best Hebrew language tracks. Also, try to get your hands on "Calling", her second English language album.



Two Stars.

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