Blended (2014)

Curtis Mayfield hit a stride during the '70s that was unparalleled among R&B/soul performers from an album standpoint. He was writing, producing, arranging, and performing on great album after great album, then distributing them on his own label as well. This one included the big hit "Kung Fu," plus the title song, and once more perfectly blended rigorous message tracks and steamy love songs.

The second installment in Sakari Oramo's superb hybrid SACD cycle of the symphonies of Carl Nielsen on BIS presents the Symphony No. 1 in G minor and the Symphony No. 3, "Sinfonia espansiva," two ruggedly independent works that reflect the composer's late Romantic style yet point to the modernism to come. While the Symphony No. 1 was influenced by Brahms and offers a rich harmonic language, propulsive rhythms, and a fairly homogenous orchestral palette, the Symphony No. 3 is striking for its reliance on unfolding counterpoint and long-breathed lines, and most notable for the use of wordless parts for soprano and baritone voices in the pastoral slow movement. These performances by Oramo and the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra are exceptional for their stunning power and spacious feeling, though the crisp details and focused sound quality will be the biggest draw for audiophiles.

From downbeat to jazz - Submotion Orchestra’s third album "Alium" delivers a diversified mixture of multiple genres and ideas.
If you've heard the first two long players you will know the seven-piece group are capable of plumbing emotional depths in their productions, largely through the voice of Ruby Wood. This isn’t something that should be taken for granted, as it is a level that a lot of electronically-based acts fail to reach, leaving their feelings at the door. Wood it is, though, who elevates these songs by singing right from her heart. The orchestration is consistently fine, with a sweeping string sound and a trumpet that always seems to be in the right place at the right time…

Light Coorporation were formed as a five-piece Polish experimental ensemble (featuring guitar, fretless bass, drums, violin, baritone and alto sax, with guest keyboard and electronics) for shooting progressive rock blended with freely-improvised/avantgarde jazz. They say their performance combines music with projection of visual clips. The combination of Progressive music of the 70's with the Free Jazz & Avant-garde, ushers the audience into a unique climate of the band's music. In 2011 they've launched their debut release "Rare Dialect" via a renowned RIO distributor ReR Megacorp.

This 2014 Hyperion collection of 22 hymns sung by the Choir of Westminster Abbey is a straightforward presentation of familiar versions for choir and organ. For the most part, the arrangements are conventional four-part settings, with occasional interpolations of seldom-heard harmonizations and descants, and the performances by the men and boys are appropriately reverent and joyous. The majority of selections are hymns of praise, including Praise, my soul, the king of heaven; Thine be the glory; and Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, though Drop, drop slow tears; I bind unto myself today; and Let all mortal flesh keep silence bring a more somber and penitential mood to the program. The recordings were made in late 2012 and early 2013 in Westminster Abbey, so the sound of the album is typically resonant and spacious, and the choir has a well-blended tone, though the trade-off for the glorious acoustics is a loss of clarity in some of the words.