Lucassen (really) the idea

The previous reviewer said it all about the excellence of this album. I will complete noting that the large (2m10 anyway!) Arjen Lucassen still finds a way to innovate 20 years after the first Ayreon album, the transcendent "The Final Experiment". This time, it's not an impressive cast of singers as The Gentle Storm is characterized, but the brilliant idea to present two discs each containing the same pieces (11 in all) but orchestrated differently. The first (Gentle) offers a sweet and great baroque instrumentation reinforcements strings, flutes, various percussion. The second (Storm) offers the same securities orchestrated more powerful way, epic and symphonic with big guitars, synths and drum support. To my knowledge, it had never been suggested before. It was therefore felt to listen to two distinct and different discs that can each find their audience. It's like if you had a Blackmore's Night disk and another Within Temptation in the same scabbard! What is the best version? Impossible to say for Arjen and Anneke Van Giesbergen (since she sings on "The Diary") are on top of their talent on both versions. Arjen completed a titanic work on the arrangements (on the acoustic version, he even achieved a tour de force in stirring up a slew of talented musicians) and Anneke successfully the challenge of providing all facets of her vocal qualities (softness on 1st pane, virtuosity on the second). Second good idea for the couple this album pays tribute to their country - the Holland- by ​​telling the love story of a couple in the 17th century (the Golden Age of the Netherlands) at the time of merchant shipping . Personally, I was skeptical at first listen (I found it all very soft), but in the second I realized that "The Diary" would become one of the must of 2015. The Gentle Storm gets better over the tapping and declination in two opposite versions allow "The Diary" to live longer. Congratulations!