Shine Bond

A sort of cross between Sex and the City and the Kronos Quartet as they might be remixed by Paul Oakenfold (actually Orion and the Beatmasters do most of the producing), Bond is a string quartet of toothsome beauties at least as concerned with their hair and makeup as their playing whose work on Shine is heavily augmented with dance beats. It's a formula that sits them atop the classical crossover charts, up there with Sarah Brightman and Josh Groban, and why not?

There is only a slight difference between a street-corner blues singer and a sanctified street singer, since both need to hold a crowd and make a few bucks (no matter what they do with the money when the day is done), and as this four-disc collection of so-called guitar evangelists from the 1920s, '30s, and early '50s makes clear, playing slide for the Lord sounds pretty much like playing slide for the other side. If anything, the guitar preachers represented here might be even more out there and eccentric than their secular counterparts, making this box set a delightful addition to the standard country blues record collection. Blind Willie Johnson, the apex of the guitar evangelists, is well represented here with classic late-'20s tracks…

The Philadelphia Orchestra and its Music and Artistic Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin continue their pioneering project to revive neglected music by Black American composers. Their latest recording, set for digital release on 15 September, presents Florence Price’s Symphony No. 4 and William Dawson’s Negro Folk Symphony, a work premiered by The Philadelphia Orchestra back in 1934.