Leading Lightly

At its core, Lomelda is a project about shyness – that it’s okay to feel it, how to embrace it, and laying it all out to be examined in its primary elements. Over the last few years, Hannah Read has sang about introversion in simple terms, and her latest album continues to showcase her no-fuss, contemplative songwriting. Fittingly named after herself, Hannah is taken straight from the mind of a wallflower, apprehensive and always low-key.

When Joshua Rifkin began recording Bach vocal works to demonstrate his one-singer-per-part thesis, he started not with the lightly scored early cantatas but rather with the Holy of Holies–the B-Minor Mass. (Don't accuse the man of starting small.) Predictably, outrage ensued: detractors far outnumbered supporters at the time (though this seems to be gradually changing). Musicology or not, Rifkin's approach works. Bach's florid vocal parts are far more negotiable for soloists than for chorus; period instruments never overwhelm the voices. Certainly the standard of baroque- instrument playing, particularly brass, has improved since 1980; but Rifkin's instrumentalists, especially woodwinds, are quite listenable.

The title of this compilation is a bit misleading, as Louis Armstrong only appears on seven of the CD's 20 tracks. All of them were recorded during a visit by the trumpeter to France in 1934 and were made on the sly, since he was under an exclusive contract to another label. The all-stars were primarily European musicians assembled for the session, though pianist Herman Chittison, a fellow American, makes his mark in "Super Tiger Rag," along with the leader's crisp, high-note solo. They compare favorably with some of Armstrong's later work back home with larger orchestras, but for the most part, the music is of minimal interest aside from his contributions. The other selections are a mixed bag…

ZAZ has been a household name in French music since her breakout 2010 hit "Je veux," a jazz-swinging folk ditty about doing things her way. More than a decade later, the singer-songwriter’s style of pop has only become more multifaceted. ZAZ peels away the layers on this fifth album, the title of which is an abbreviated nod to her real name, Isabelle Geffroy. On the peppy “Imagine," she dreams of a gentler world, brighter days, and the possibility of writing one's own future, her voice fluttering over strummed guitar with world-weary abandon. "Ce que tu es dans ma vie" is a heartfelt and hopeful ode to her young stepdaughter set against a backdrop of piano, lightly plucked guitars, and a minimal electronic beat. She shows her versatility on "Le jardin des larmes," teaming up with Rammstein singer Till Lindemann for an entrancingly theatrical waltz about a teary love affair. Isa may be ZAZ's most understated and vulnerable album, but it's uplifted by her irrepressible spirit.

Pet Shop Boys resume their exceptional late-period run with Hotspot, their third in a series of high quality collaborations with producer/engineer Stuart Price. Recorded at Berlin's legendary Hansa Studios, the acclaimed duo's 14th album finds them firmly in their element, delivering crisp electro-pop invocations, wry dance bangers, and melodic gems both sunny and stormy. Still more or less in the self-described "electronic purist" mode of 2013's Electric and 2016's Super, Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe make a few allowances here, particularly on the melancholic standout, "Beneath the Heather," which features some crafty psych-inspired guitar work from Suede guitarist Bernard Butler.

Arvo Pärt - Cantique
Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin & RIAS Kammerchor / Kristjan Järvi
EAC+LOG+CUE | FLAC: 205 MB | Artwork | 5% Recovery Info
Label/Cat#: Sony Classical # 88697753912 | Country/Year: Europe 2010
Genre: Classical | Style: Contemporary

Sony Classical release Cantique, their first from the dynamic conductor Kristjan Järvi, featuring the music of iconic composer Arvo Pärt in celebration of his 75th birthday. Järvi leads the Rundfunk Sinfonie-Orchester Berlin and the RIAS Kammerchor in performance of Pärt’s 1971 masterpiece, Symphony No. 3, plus the world premiere recordings of the orchestral and choral version of his Stabat mater and Cantique des degrès for choir and orchestra…

Scarab (1994). A new chapter in dub begins with the self-titled debut by Scarab, a revolving cast of inter-galactic citizens (not musicians) who have been known to beat on a drum, blow on a sax, cut-up records on the turntables, or just tap two empty Heineken bottles together when nothing else is handy. Over urgent primal polyrhythms, Scarab takes you on a journey into the future, stepping through the past lightly with a heavy dose of Middle Eastern mysticism. This is music for mind, body, and soul: so exotic and original that you can't even believe it's coming straight outta Brooklyn…

The Dunedin Consort, led by John Butt, has moved into the niche of recording original or obscure versions of Baroque choral masterworks using forces as close as possible to those of the original performances. Its 2006 performance of the Dublin version of Messiah is one of the liveliest and refreshingly intimate recordings of the work, and won a Gramophone Award for Best Baroque Vocal Album of the year. Here the group turns its attention to a much earlier Handel work, the 1718 pastoral oratorio Acis & Galatea. Through ingenious musical detective work, Butt has reconstructed the most likely constitution of the ensemble that originally performed the piece while the composer was employed at Cannons House in Middlesex.