Fairy of the Woods

AMG Review of Fairy of the Woods

Carol Wright
All Music Guide

Strong and compelling melodies and lovely synth orchestral settings make Gary Stadler's Fairy of the Woods a magical charmer, based upon the play The Goblin's Bride. Much of the album enchants with variations in three-quarter time: the romantic "Sometimes," which carries the heart like an anniversary waltz; the crystalline music box of "DreamSpell"; "Ring of Magic," which pirouettes over cloud tops; the almost comic lumbering of "Awakening"; and the stately progression of "Moonflight." Stadler's melodies and arrangements are classically structured, but his orchestrations offer a colorful imagination the opportunity to inhabit legendary Celtic realms of fairies and wizards with their colorful glens and caves, fireflies, and stardust. "Wings at Rest" ends the album with a kingly nobility, a courtly procession of fellowship and good will.