By Ann Marie Foley - 21 April, 2014
Renowned Irish singer and song writer, Fr Liam Lawton, has just released a new album of orchestral recordings called Lumina which includes some of his best-known songs in orchestral form as arranged by Mark Cahill.
Songs like The Clouds Veil, Voice of an Angel and There is a Place are performed by the Prague FILMharmonic Orchestra.
“I love film scores and I would listen to them all day if I could… listening to how you paint images with music,” he said on iCatholic.ie. “One of the dreams I had was that some day I would be able to record an album of my own with an orchestra.”
Now Lumina has been released and the various songs include a solo by Nigel Davey on the traditional box accordion in The Hiding Place.
The popular Kildare & Leighlin musician has chosen songs with a range of themes and emotions, such as the meditative piece, In The Quiet, which is about Glendalough and finding a quiet space in our lives.
Remaining faithful to the original is also important for Liam Lawton. Of the concluding song on the album – The Cloud’s Veil – he said he did not radically change what is a song that means a lot to him and others.
“You don’t tamper with a piece like this, so it becomes so obscure that people can’t recognise it,” he said.
“It is a bridge into people’s own memories – maybe they used it in sadder circumstances or maybe for their own wedding. Music is a bridge into peoples’ emotions.”
The release of this new album comes after a very busy period.
He also recorded a new Christmas album as well as touring in November and December 2013 in the UK and Ireland.
Previously, he filmed a new TV special to be aired at a later date. Some of his music is to be recorded by a leading international artist and he has also finished writing some new music for the Disney Corporation.
Liam Lawton is a priest of the Diocese of Kildare & Leighlin and director of Sacred Music in the diocese.
He is based in Carlow, where he works as a composer/performer and facilitates workshops while performing his own music which is sung by choirs and individuals across the globe.
He has 15 albums to date with several achieving Platinum status.
His work and performances have brought him to many world stages such as Carnegie Hall, New York; Chicago Symphony Hall; Annahiem Convention Centre, Los Angeles; National Concert Hall, Dublin; the Paul VI Auditorium, the Vatican; the White House; and many of the world’s sacred sites.
His works have been narrated by famous actors and authors such as Gregory Peck, Frank McCourt, Joan Cusack, John Malkovitch and Mick Lally.
He has also written two books – one currently reprinted and the other a bestseller.
