Review Corner

Category: Singers

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    State Choir Latvija: Sempiterna, Choral music by Rhona Clarke

    The works on this album range over 30 years of composing for Clarke. The sleeve notes say that Clarke was 15 when she joined the Lindsay Singers, a female-voice choir in Dublin and sang during her time as student in University College Dublin and her PhD studies at Queen’s University Belfast. “This long engagement with […]

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    Georgie: At Home

    We like Georgie in the Review Corner. With that name and her appearance, she could be one of those X Factor clones (that type of voice, that mild RnB) but she’s not. She can really sing, needs no Auto-tunes and her rich, soulful voice is at home singing pop, jazz or blues. If you like […]

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    Basia Bulat: Are You In Love?

    This is a decent pop album that, without being great, manages to wriggle its way into your affections. The chief appeal is her voice, which manages to be throaty and powerful without being too dominant, and while sounding calming. She’s got deep-ish vocals and the sound is slightly wistful, while also being bold. Wistful is […]

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    Natacha Atlas: Strange Days

    Atlas is from Egypt and this album sees her meld her roots with jazz. It’s a beautifully recorded selection of tracks that drifts into easy listening — the gentlest it goes is a bit late night, with an interesting fusion of sounds and instrumentation. Atlas began her career as part of the world fusion group […]

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    Georgie: Live!

    Georgie is new to us; we guess she has a devoted fanbase who love her bluesy vocals. This is an acoustic set, recorded live at Trinity Church, Nottingham — she’s from Mansfield so it’s practically a home-coming gig. It’s all about the music. Georgie delivers minimal and deadpan chat between the songs. “This is a […]

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    Neil Young and Crazy Horse: Colorado

    Colorado is not one of Young’s great albums but it’s a grower and could go down as one of his later-career highlights. There’s a film with it; Young’s films are best avoided but someone who did watch said he comments in it to his band: “It doesn’t have to be good, just feel good.” That’s […]

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    Echoes Of Swing: Winter Days at Schloss Elmau

    Echoes of Swing are in top form for this festive album, the quartet of Bernd Lhotzky (piano), Colin T Dawson (trumpet), Chris Hopkins (alto saxophone) and Oliver Mewes (drums) joined for this by US jazz singer Rebecca Kilgore (“one of the best interpreters of the Great American Songbook” says Wikipedia). The premise of the album […]

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    Cipriano de Rore: Missa Vivat Felix Hercules / Motets

    If your idea of heaven is male vocalists singing religious Renaissance music as you ponder the meaning of life, this beautiful CD is for you. Cipriano of Rore (1516-1565) composed the Mass in honour of his patron, Ercole II d’Este, the sound meant to convey the latter’s Godliness. The sleeve notes are interesting; the tenor […]

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    Francisco de Peñalosa: Lamentations

    This is a beautiful collection of religious music from the Renaissance. If you like religious vocal music that errs towards the sombre — the album title gives it away— this is a must. The singing is fantastic and the acoustics of wherever it was recorded only add to the experience. Peñalosa’s music is redolent of […]

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    Various: Folk Music of China, Vol II: Folk Songs of Inner Mongolia and Heilongjiang

    This is part of Naxos’s newly-launched world music catalogue, and it’s more interesting than some of the modern rock/pop releases we listen to; admittedly it won’t shift so many copies. The songs featured are the folk songs of five minority ethnic groups of Inner Mongolia and Heilongjiang — Mongol, Daur, Oroqen, Evenki and Hezhen. They’re […]