Judd Apataw

Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958) may not have begun the trend toward English pastoral music in the early twentieth century, but he was certainly one of the movement’s leading practitioners. Starting as early as 1900 with his aptly named Bucolic Suite, the man continued to produce charming, serene, idyllic tunes for full orchestra, strings, and chorus right up until the time of his death. In this Naxos collection, English conductor James Judd leads the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra in some of the composer’s most famous short works.

What the World Needs Now Is Love may be titled after a Burt Bacharach and Hal David song, but it as far away from that song musically as one can get and still remain popular music. On her alleged return to her country roots, Wynonna Judd cannot resist the temptation to allow many forms of pop and rock into her sound. But that's fine; just fine. On her first studio outing in three years, Judd turns in a performance that is consistent all the way through, and one that seamlessly blends that astonishing voice of hers with banjos, strings, electric guitars, mandolins, pedal steels, pianos, and lots of drums.

Contrary to what the title of Her Story: Scenes from a Lifetime suggests, this double-disc set is not an anthology, yet it is an overview of Wynonna Judd's career, finding her live in concert sifting through her back pages. To be exact, it captures her live at the Grand Ole Opry House on February 1, 2005, singing hits that she had as a member of the Judds and hits she had as a solo artist, covering a few songs along the way. All the songs follow roughly in chronological order, so the 27-track album functions as something like a musical autobiography.