''Songs from a Secret Garden'' is the first international album by Secret Garden. Released in 1996, it includes the Norwegian winning song of the

Eurovision Song Contest 1995 The Eurovision Song Contest 1995 was the 40th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest, held on 13 May 1995 at the Point Theatre in Dublin, Ireland. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster (RTÉ), and presented by ...

, "

Nocturne A nocturne is a musical composition that is inspired by, or evocative of, the night. History The term ''nocturne'' (from French '' nocturne'' "of the night") was first applied to musical pieces in the 18th century, when it indicated an ensembl ...

Reception

The

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

reviewer Carol Wright awarded the album 4 stars, and it achieved platinum awards in

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

and

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

. It stayed on the Billboard New Age chart for 101 weeks. The track "Song from a Secret Garden" became famous in Korea by being featured in the drama 젊은이의 양지 (which means "Sunny Spots (or Places) of the Young") in 1995 and was also used in the 2018 Italian drama film ''Vittima della mia libertà'' ("Victim of my freedom") by Davide Guida. Another track from the album, "Adagio", was featured in the 2004

Wong Kar-wai Wong Kar-wai (born 17 July 1958) is a Hong Kong film director, screenwriter, and producer. His films are characterised by nonlinear narratives, atmospheric music, and vivid cinematography involving bold, saturated colours. A pivotal figure o ...

film ''

2046 In contemporary history, the third millennium is the current millennium in the ''Anno Domini'' or Common Era, under the Gregorian calendar. It began on 1 January 2001 ( MMI) and will end on 31 December 3000 ( MMM), spanning the 21st to 30 ...

''. Another 1997 Hong Kong ATV drama 天長地久("Fated Love") also featured several tracks from this album, including "Song from a Secret Garden", "Adagio", "Serenade to Spring" and "Papillon". The title track was covered by Greek

melodic death metal Melodic death metal (also referred to as melodeath) is a subgenre of death metal that employs highly melodic guitar riffs, often borrowing from traditional heavy metal (including New Wave of British Heavy Metal). The genre features the heavines ...

band

Nightrage Nightrage is a Greek/Swedish melodic death metal band originally from Thessaloniki. They later re-located to Gothenburg, Sweden. History Formation and ''Sweet Vengeance'' (2000–2003) Nightrage was founded by Marios Iliopoulos and his cl ...

in 2019 and included as a Japanese bonus track on '' Wolf to Man''.

Track listing

All songs and arrangements by

Rolf Løvland Rolf Undsæt Løvland (born 19 April 1955) is a Norwegian composer, lyricist, arranger, and pianist. Together with Fionnuala Sherry, he formed the Celtic-Nordic group Secret Garden, in which he was the composer, producer, and keyboardist. He be ...

, except where noted

In Korea

In Korea, "Serenade to Spring" was given a lyric and is sung under the name of "10월의 어느 멋진 날에" which means "One Fine Day in October". A popular baritone in Korea, Kim Dong-kyu sang the song on TV and a few professional singers sung in duo.

Republish

In December 2010, Universal Music Group started to publish this album again in K2HD CD format by technology of K2HD by JVC. Since 100 kHz 24bit sound signal is processed during remastering by K2HD technology, high frequency is highlighted, especially in the better sound quality of violin.

Remaster

A remastered version of the album was released in 2025 to mark the album's 30th anniversary. The remastered version includes a Norwegian version of Nocturne as a 14th track.

Personnel

* Fionnuala Sherry – Violin *

– Piano & keyboards * Des Moore – Guitar & mandolin *Andrea Marlish – Harp *

Bjørn Ole Rasch Bjørn Ole Rasch (born 28 July 1959) is a Norwegian artist (keyboards performer), composer, arranger and producer. He is a professor of popular music at the Agder University College. With his wife, Annbjørg Lien, he runs the Kongshavn Studios i ...

& Jon Kjell Seljeseth – Additional keyboards *

Davy Spillane Davy Spillane (born 1959 in Dublin, Ireland) is an Irish musician, songwriter and a player of uilleann pipes and low whistle. Biography Irish music At the age of 12, Spillane started playing the uilleann pipes. His father encouraged him ...

– Bagpipes (Uilleann pipe) & low whistle (tracks: 2, 4, 7, 10 & 11) * Hans Fredrik Jacobsen – Whistle & Norwegian whistle (tracks: 1, 6, 7 & 10) * Asa Jinder – Keyfiddle & keyharp (tracks: 1, 7 & 10) *

David Agnew "David Agnew" is a pen name that was employed on BBC television drama programmes of the 1970s as a scriptwriting credit. Conditions of use The pseudonym "David Agnew" was most often used when the original freelance scriptwriter was unable to ...

– Oboe, English Horn (tracks: 3, 9 & 11) *Rhonan Sugrue – Soprano Vocals (boy) (track: 4) * Gunnhild Tvinnereim – Vocals (track: 1) *Deirdre Brady – Flute (track: 5) *Jean Lechmar – Clarinet (track: 12) *Noel Eccles – Percussion (track: 10) *Irish National Chamber Choir – Choir (track: 4) *

RTÉ Concert Orchestra The RTÉ Concert Orchestra is a professional radio orchestra in Ireland and is part of RTÉ, the national broadcaster. Since its formation as the Radio Éireann Light Orchestra in 1948, the RTÉ Concert Orchestra has grown from a small studio-bas ...

– Orchestra

Credits

*Scott Townsend – Cover design *Conal Markey & Conan Doyle – Assistant engineer *Andrew Boland – Recording engineer *Oskar P. Sveinsson – Recording engineer & mixing *David Agnew (track: 4) & Petter Skavlan (track: 1) – Lyrics *Erik Avnskog &

Jan Erik Kongshaug Jan Erik Kongshaug (4 July 1944 – 5 November 2019) was a Norwegian sound engineer, jazz guitarist, and composer. Career Kongshaug was born in Trondheim, the son of guitarist John Kongshaug. Store Norske Leksikon (in Norwegian) During his ch ...

– Mixing *John Tate – Additional Orchestra Conductor *Mick Hales – Cover photography – Mick Hales *Rolf Løvland – Producer, arranger, conductor & mixing

Notes

℗ 1995 PolyGram A/S Norway

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

External links

Listen demo album ''Songs from a Secret Garden''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Songs from a Secret Garden 1995 albums Secret Garden (duo) albums