Personnel: Kitaro (keyboards, taiko drums, guitar, wooden flute, Tibetan long horn, vocals); Angus Clark (guitar); Lorenza Ponce (violin); Nawang Khechog (flute, percussion, vocals, Tibetan long horn, digeridoo); Diana Dentino, Keith Heffner (keyboards); Jeff McElroy (bass); Yoshi Shimada (drums); Derek Zimmerman (percussion).

All songs written by Kitaro.

AN ENCHANTED EVENING was nominated for a 1996 Grammy Award for Best New Age Album.

Recorded during Kitaro's supporting tour for Mandala, An Enchanted Evening draws heavily on that album, and his score for Oliver Stone's failed Vietnam epic Heaven & Earth, with a few old favorites thrown in for good measure. It's a strong performance that takes chances, making it worthwhile for longtime fans. ~ Rodney Batdorf

Released in the mid-'90s in conjunction with a video of the same name, AN ENCHANTED EVENING is a live recreation of most of Kitaro's 1994 guitar-heavy album, MANDALA. Sensitive renditions of "Silk Road" (Kitaro's most-record tune) and the sweeping "Heaven and Earth," from the soundtrack of Oliver Stone's film, round out the program.

The live ensemble (including a violinist, bassist, and didgeridoo player, in addition to Kitaro's keys, guitars and flutes) has the dynamic sense of a great jazz band, feeding off each other's inspiration and the excitement of the crowd. As always, the music shifts regularly from quiet, reflective passages to plosive thunder, usually within the same song, reminding us that there's no soft-volume requirement for spiritual music.

Q (8/96, pp.121-122) - 3 Stars - Good - "...mixes acoustic interludes with stadium belters, heavy on synthesizers and guitar. Occasional[ly] features...a more interesting side to Kitaro..."