Bartók – Miraculous Mandarin; Concerto for Orchestra
Toronto Symphony Orchestra; Gustavo Gimeno
Harmonia Mundi HMM 905365 (store.harmoniamundi.com/format/1871527-bartk-the-miraculous-mandarin-concerto-for-orchestra)

This third issue of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra conducted by Gustavo Gimeno for French Harmonia Mundi is the best yet. Bartók is another 20th century giant whose masterpiece, the Concerto for Orchestra has been paired with one of his most imposing works, The Miraculous Mandarin in its seldom performed complete version. This includes some brief but telling choral elements, provided by the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir, and this is far preferable to the usually programmed Suite. The style of this ballet-pantomime is in Bartók’s most challenging Expressionistic vein, a constant and colourful, mostly atonal setting, with a stream of motives and musical events that are hard to fit into any sense of a narrative just from the volatile music. For me this piece is best taken as purely sonic experience, and in this production the TSO gives an overwhelming performance.

The famous Concerto for Orchestra is one of the more frequently done and recorded works of the 20th century, and always shows any orchestra at its best, being not only a challenge for countless solo instrumental turns, but also in ensemble and orchestral discipline. The competition is daunting on recordings, starting with the first great recording by the Chicago Symphony conducted by Fritz Reiner, who commissioned the piece from the dying Bartók in 1941 after he made it to the United States. The Concerto has since been recorded by most major orchestras and many aspiring conductors, and this new recording must be one of the best in recent times. Gimeno is competitive with Reiner.

There is a short, commissioned piece, the sediments, by TSO associate composer Emile Cecilia Lebel. This welcome work contrasts the event-packed Bartók pieces with calmer, sustained sonorities of complex overlaid chords later mixed with tam-tams. 

The sound has been perfectly captured with careful microphone placement in Roy Thompson Hall to create a resonant soundstage with a good sense of depth and uncluttered spatial openness. The annotations are especially informative.

Mahler – Symphony 9
London Philharmonic Orchestra, Vladimir Jurowski
LPO LPO-0139 (lpo.org.uk/recording/mahler-nine)

No composer ever expressed more turbulent inner demons in his music than Gustav Mahler. In his last completed symphony, the Ninth, he even confronted his own mortality, having been diagnosed with a life-threatening heart condition.

The symphony’s hesitant opening phrases, likened by Leonard Bernstein to Mahler’s irregular heartbeat, lead to nearly half-an-hour of musical angst, struggle, nostalgia and cataclysmic fortissimo climaxes before ending with serene resignation. The second movement sardonically parodies ländler folk dances using “wrong notes” and heavy-footed accents. The following Rondo-Burleske frames longing lyricism with music of angry aggression.

The extended Adagio has been called “a foreshadowing of eternity,” its tormented dissonances dissolving into a profoundly moving evocation of transfiguration, comparable to the sublime Adagios of two other Ninths, those by Beethoven and Bruckner.The extraordinarily drawn out closing minutes have always suggested to me a long series of faltering heartbeats, inexorably diminishing until the symphony’s final note, marked “ersterbend” (dying).

On December 3, 2022, Vladimir Jurowski returned to London’s Royal Festival Hall to conduct the London Philharmonic Orchestra, having served as its principal conductor from 2007 to 2021. In this “live” performance, Jurowski combined intense energy with generous rubatos, drawing superbly balanced, massive sonorities from Mahler’s huge orchestra, including an immense string section – 18 first violins, 16 seconds, 14 violas, 12 cellos and 10 double-basses – while carefully spotlighting the many beautifully played woodwind and brass solos. Bravi Jurowsky and the LPO!

Youth – Krása | Ancerl | Schulhoff
Krása Quartet
Supraphon ANI-145-2 (wearewarpedrecords.com/UPC/8594211850674)

The Prague-based Krása Quartet’s debut album honours three Czech-Jewish victims of the Nazis, including Hans Krása (1899-1944), the ensemble’s inspiration, who was murdered in Auschwitz. Influenced by Zemlinsky and Mahler, Krása’s early String Quartet, Op.2 (1921) mixes lyricism, harmonic instability and highly imaginative part-writing, juxtaposing sonorities from the violin’s highest register to the cello’s lowest. The opening Moderato features brooding, disquieted chromaticism; the whimsically titled Prestissimo-Molto Calmo-Volgare is a fantastical excursion through strident dissonances and kitschy clichés; the predominantly meditative Molto lento e tranqillo is interrupted by an intense, far-from-“tranquil” climax before slowly subsiding into silence. This youthfully audacious work contrasts markedly with Krása’s Theme with Variations (1935-1936) which tries too hard to please with its excessive sentimentality.

Karel Ančerl (1908-1973) survived internment in Auschwitz, albeit with permanently impaired health; his wife and son, however, died there. Ančerl, the Czech Philharmonic’s artistic director (1950-1968), emigrated after the Soviet invasion, becoming the Toronto Symphony’s music director from 1969 until his death. His robust Two Fugues (ca.1926-1927), brief student exercises, suggest Ančerl’s compositional potential before he opted instead for the baton.

Erwin Schulhoff (1894-1942), who died of tuberculosis while interned at Wälzburg, embraced diverse styles including jazz and musical Dadaism – his absurdist, silent piano piece In Futurum, consisting solely of rests, possibly inspired John Cage’s 4’33”. The young Schulhoff’s five-movement Divertimento (1914) alternates cheerful and melancholy folk-flavoured melodies. It’s an appealing work, but the real gem here is Krása’s boldly ingenious String Quartet.

The Korngold Collection
Pacifica Quartet; Orion Weiss; Milena Pajaro van de Stadt; Eric Kim
Cedille CDR 90000 240 (cedillerecords.org/albums/the-korngold-collection)

Having created a legacy of gorgeous operatic and instrumental works, including four of the five pieces in this two-CD set, Erich Wolfgang Korngold fled Austria in 1938, just ahead of the Nazi Anschluss, to flourish anew as a Hollywood film composer.

Beauties abound in this album’s nearly two-and-a-half hours of music. In the richly-textured String Sextet in D Major, Op.10 by the teenaged Korngold, two joyously surging movements frame the moody Adagio and the Intermezzo’s charming Viennese waltz. Korngold’s signature combination of long-lined, achingly beautiful melodies and jaunty cheerfulness illuminate his Piano Quintet in E Major, Op.15 (incorporating themes from his song cycle Lieder des Abschieds) and his pre-Hollywood string quartets, No.1 in A Major, Op.16 and No.2 in E-Flat Major, Op.26.

As with his other final masterworks – the much-loved Violin Concerto and still under-performed Symphony – Korngold drew from his film scores for his String Quartet No.3 in D Major, Op.34. The Trio of the spiky Scherzo uses a nostalgia-laden theme from Between Two Worlds, the tender slow movement is based on The Sea Wolf’s haunting love music, and the bumptious Finale features a lighthearted tune from Deception.

Strangely, despite their loveliness, these five works are seldom heard in the concert hall. Bravi, then, to the Pacifica Quartet, quartet-in-residence at Indiana University, pianist Orion Weiss, violist Milena Pájaro-van de Stadt and cellist Eric Kim for their stirring performances that should help bring these unjustly neglected works to a wider audience.

Tulevaisuus
Mackenzie Melemed
Bright Shiny Things BSTC-0227 (brightshiny.ninja/tulevaisuus)

Finnish for “future,” Tulevaisuus is the title of an engaging and moving recital of music from the 18th to the 21st centuries by American pianist Mackenzie Melemed. A disparate combination of music at first glance, Melemed pairs works from the classical canon by Bach, Liszt, and Brahms with contemporary works that respond to these older works.

Melemed employs a wide range of tone colour for Bach’s Prelude and Fugue in B-flat Minor (from book one of the Well-Tempered Clavier). His beautiful control of textures and contrasts in the following Prelude and Fugue by Stephen Hough is proof that this music is effective even in hands other than Hough’s own. Not linked by title alone, Hough’s fugue features a sudden re-appearance of the opening motif from Bach’s prelude at its climax. Liszt’s Funérailles is suitably dramatic and brooding, if lighter in texture than normally heard. Laura Kaminsky’s Threnody… October 2024 follows with dramatic use of sonority and a bell-like resonance which recalls Liszt’s own dramatically tolling work. 

In Brahms’ early Variations on a Theme by Schumann, Melemed gives a performance of sombre lyricism, a mood that continues in Avner Dorman’s Lament and Variations, which quotes directly from the Brahms in the course of an emotional arc that ranges from sorrow to resilience, and concludes in peaceful stillness. 

Drawing these works together is an overall mood of elegiac reflection. Liszt’s Funérailles was inspired by the failed Hungarian Revolution of 1848, Brahms’ variations were composed in the aftermath of Schumann’s attempted suicide by drowning, Dorman’s work is dedicated to the victims of the October 2023 attack in Israel, and Kaminsky’s Threnody was written in response to the incessant conflict of our present time.

Bow & Brush – 12 Scores of Nadina Tandy
Stefan Smulovitz
Redshift Records TK548 (stefansmulovitz.ca)

Vancouver multi-instrumentalist and technology artist Stefan Smulovitz is known throughout the west-coast as a diverse musician, collaborator and organiser, and founder of the ensemble Eye of Newt, a group creating live scores to enduring movies. Inspired by a series of painted images from visual artist Nadina Tandy designed to be interpreted musically, Smulovitz has released his first album Bow & Brush: 12 Scores of Nadina Tandy. Using his diverse experiences as a multi-disciplinary artist, violist, sound artist, electronic creator and improvisor, as well as the creator of his own software Kenaxis, Smulovitz gathers together a full album from what was originally a single commission from Vancouver New Music’s One Page Scores program (visual artists were invited to create a one-page visual score to be interpreted by a partnered musician). Smulovitz went on to commission 11 further visual scores from Tandy to create this album.

Suffused with electronic extensions and additional soundscapes, Smulovitz expands his colours and expressions into multitudes of hues and textures from various sources: playing acoustic violin, viola and bass, with the addition of Dvina, Enner, Lyra, Noon, Perkons, Waterphone, gongs, and layers of electronic treatments and instruments. The result is a cinematic audioscape one might describe as “ambient grunge.” The album comes with a booklet of Vancouver-born Tandy’s abstract paintings, which may enhance the listening experience and are worthy on their own. My favourite track is Maple Seed Pods, a slow, grounded course of water drifting out to a wide expanse of light.

From Dusk Till Dawn
Dobrochna Zubek; Caitlin Boyle
Redshift Records TK 570 (redshiftmusicsociety.bandcamp.com/album/from-dusk-till-dawn)

Hamilton-based violist Caitlin Boyle and Toronto-based cellist Dobrochna Zubek collaborate in 13 short pieces, most of them composed for this pairing of instruments.

Rebecca Clarke (1886-1979) was herself a virtuoso violist; her Viola Sonata ranks among today’s most-often performed, alongside the two by Brahms. Her Two Pieces, Lullaby and Grotesque, are respectively dreamy and mischievously brusque.

Before joining the modernist avant-garde, Witold Lutosławski (1913-1994) drew inspiration from traditional Polish folk melodies and dances, as heard in the five miniature pieces that make up his Bucolics for piano, here arranged by Boyle and Zubek. The fourth, a soulful, songful Andantino, is especially lovely.

The engaging pizzicato-dominated Limestone & Felt by American Caroline Shaw (b.1982) begins with unpredictable dancing syncopations before shifting to sustained, slow, pensive pulsations. (The title, writes Shaw, refers to hard and soft surfaces.)

In the duo’s arrangement, Song of Ophelia from Seven Verses of Alexander Blok, Op.127 by Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975), originally written for soprano Galina Vishnevskaya and her husband, cellist Mstislav Rostropovich, retains its haunting sense of sorrowful plaintiveness.

The Break of Dawn by the cellist’s father, Andrzej Zubek (b.1948), progresses gradually from darkness to light, encountering subtle touches of Gershwin and Viennese waltz along the way.

A moody Prelude, sprightly Gavotte and warm-hearted Berceuse from Eight Pieces, Op.39 by Reinhold Glière (1875-1956) end this entertaining disc. Lasting only 33 minutes, the CD left me wanting much more entertainment from this very talented pair of musicians.

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Thomas Adès – The Exterminating Angel Symphony; Violin Concerto
Leila Josefowicz; Minnesota Orchestra; Thomas Sondergard
Pentatone PCT 5187 487 (pentatonemusic.com/product/ades-the-exterminating-angel-symphony-violin-concerto)

Thomas Adès has had one of the more successful compositional careers in England for at least 25 years now, with compositions in all forms, including three operas. He has written many orchestral pieces in unconventional forms, and his style seems unpredictable, but always holds the attention with surprising musical gambits and constantly spectacular and very personal orchestration.

The Violin Concerto from 2005 has now been recorded at least three times, including an out-of-print EMI disc by violinist Anthony Marwood with the composer at the podium. This latest production, featuring the high-octane Canadian-born Leila Josephowicz accompanied by the under recorded Minnesota Orchestra with their new chef Thomas Søndergård, offers the most  compelling treatment. Slightly faster, this performance fulfills the stratospheric demands of the score which are handled with quicksilver dexterity and a deft expertise by both soloist and orchestra.

The main work here is the debut recording of the symphony Adès has extracted from his last, phantasmagorical opera, commissioned by the Met: The Exterminating Angel inspired by the eponymous surrealist film by Louis Buñuel. This symphony provides a sampling of some of the tumultuous music from the opera. The first two movements are derived from the restless orchestral background score which evades and overwhelms the listener. The last movement ends up as an almost wild waltz. The orchestral performance and recording here are focussed and very clear in the orchestra’s famous unobtrusive acoustic. This enterprising, very successful disc heralds Pentatone’s arrival to record this group and their new conductor in the cleanest most direct sound. May they continue with the enterprising repertoire.

Prophecy: Tüür; Korvits; Vasks
Ksenija Sidorova; Estonian Festival Orchestra; Paavo Järvi
Alpha Classics ALPHA1198 (outhere-music.com/en/albums/prophecy)

Prophecy, performed by renowned Estonian conductor Paavo Järvi and his Estonian Festival Orchestra comprised of his handpicked musicians, and Latvian solo accordion superstar Ksenija Sidorova, who has collaborated with Järvi for over ten years, pays tribute to Baltic Estonian and Latvian music.

Prophecy (2007) by Erkki-Sven Tüür for accordion and orchestra, a work in four movements played without pauses, explores the concept of the Seer, a person who can see the future but is often despised by the society in which they live. The opening has the orchestral holding slow soft notes and building in volume, then soft again,  blending with Sidorova’s virtuosic accordion playing. An accordion bellows shake creates dramatic rhythmic sense with loud orchestra playing.

Tõnu Kõrvits’ four movement Dances (2024) opens with I. Darkness containing quiet held notes on the accordion to short silence to contemporary dance flavoured full orchestral crescendo and upfront accordion. Closing full “band” decrescendo to soft accordion is breathtaking. II.Passacaglia is serious with big volume changes. Accessible sounds in III.Siciliana. Closing IV. Sarabande is loud with orchestra, percussion and accordion rhythmic lines to unexpected accented closing. Pēteris Vasks’ The Fruit of Silence (2007), inspired by a prayer by Mother Teresa, is arranged by George Morton for accordion, vibraphone and string orchestra. Sidorova’s beautiful musical high single note melody followed by vibraphone solo, and orchestral and accordion accompaniments are mellow, calming and reassuring. These two works were performed live in Toronto with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Järvi and Sidorova October 31 through November 2, 2025.

Järvi’s passionate conducting draws out tight orchestral and accordion performances in this clearly recorded release with contrasting blasting and subtle sounds. Hästi tehtud -- well done!

Arid Landscapes
Noah Franche-Nolan; Dan Pitt
Signal Chain Records SC001 (aridlandscapes.bandcamp.com/album/arid-landscapes)

As a fan of Toronto jazz guitarist Dan Pitt’s minimalist solo album Monochrome: Songs For Travel, I was richly rewarded by his new duo’s debut album Arid Landscapes with Vancouver pianist Noah Franche-Nolan. Ten tracks of deep explorations into expressive treatments of both instruments unfurl delicate nuances of artistry; the resulting partnership is so immersive I found myself at times forgetting I was listening. It’s not clear how much of the music is written vs improvised (my hunch is a lot of both). As with many creative partnerships during the COVID era the pair began by exchanging recordings online before meeting up in person, adding electronics both live and in post-production. The resulting project is a warm and enveloping creative journal leaning at times toward textural soundscapes, blossoming into a beautifully sparkling album I could not put down. 

I love the pairing of acoustic piano and guitar delays in the fantastical explorations of RTMK. Weathered could be a soundtrack for a moon-landing, feeling spontaneous yet grounded in harmonic notes and textures of the guitar’s reverse delays with acoustic piano. Summerhill‘s supremely subtle shifts in tones might be my favourite track of the album, along with the shimmering closer The Optimist. 

I’m inspired by players who have so much trust in each’s skill and alignment that it shows in their patience in each other, giving time for the development and refining of each idea. This was beautifully supported by the mastering by François Houle, keeping the authenticity of the duo’s intertwining electroacoustic rhythms and acoustic explorations perfectly balanced while ensuring the buoyancy and liveliness of this new project is clean and fresh.

Caity Gyorgy With Strings
Caity Gyorgy; various artists
La Reserve Records (caitygyorgy.bandcamp.com/album/caity-gyorgy-with-strings-arranged-and-conducted-by-mark-limacher)

Back in the heyday of popular singers like Frank Sinatra and Nat King Cole it was standard practice for record labels to release albums for their artists every year or even multiple times a year. (Fun fact: Doris Day recorded more than 650 songs from 1947 to 1967.) And these weren’t thrown together bare bones records – they were fully orchestrated and replete with horns, woodwinds and strings. Caity Gyorgy is throwing back to that time with this latest release (her sixth in about as many years) and she references that era in her liner notes, saying how labels used to “crank ‘em out.” 

But this sounds like anything but a rushed job, with its beautiful production and full orchestra on each track. All ten songs are original and penned by Gyorgy and Mark Limacher or by Gyorgy alone. Most of the songs clock in around the three-minute mark, and there’s no soloing to speak of, and that all adds to the nostalgic feel of the album and puts it more in the crooner category than jazz. Limacher’s gorgeous arrangements give the record a generally upbeat tone, despite some quite poignant lyrics from Gyorgy, and on several of the tunes the orchestrations really take centre stage. 

Standout tracks for me are Gyorgy’s own Next Time and There Goes, and the collaboration That Doesn’t Matter where the melody is the star and the arrangements complement and support it. Overall, this record is quite an accomplishment and Gyorgy and Limacher should be very proud. Bonus: the cocktail recipes included in the liner notes are a lot of fun!

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Murmurations
Kate Wyatt Trio
Independent (katewyatt.bandcamp.com/album/murmurations)

It’s truly beautiful when you can almost hear an artist’s thoughts unfolding within their compositions. Pianist and composer Kate Wyatt’s latest release takes influence from nature, specifically the murmuration of starlings, an elaborate, unifying behaviour. It unfolds like a living organism, constantly shifting shape while maintaining an inner logic. 

The album captures the beauty of collective motion – ideas circling, separating, and reconvening – without ever losing its sense of purpose. All pieces are penned by the members of the trio; Wyatt, bassist Adrian Vedady and drummer Louis-Vincent Hamel. 

Central to the album are Wyatt’s piano melodies, agile and conversational. She lets the phrases breathe and take on a life of their own. Vedady and Hamel round out the compositions perfectly, encouraging the music to soar to new heights. Instead of spotlighting virtuosity for its own sake, the record emphasizes interaction. 

Coming back to the concept of murmuration, the music has a communal feel to it, shaped by trust and a shared curiosity. The trio feels as if it’s truly breathing as one being, ebbing and flowing as nature does, progressing through the pieces together. Sonically, a satisfying balance between warmth and clarity is achieved, with each note and nuance crystal clear, bringing the emotion and feeling within the music to the forefront. 

Murmurations is thoughtful, elegant, and quietly adventurous, reflecting a mature artistic voice confident enough to let the music evolve naturally, on its own terms, with utmost grace.

Haunted Melody
Peter Campbell; Various artists (including Kevin Turcotte; Bill McBirnie; Adrean Farrugia et al)
Independent (petercampbellmusic.com/music)

A good album is characterized by many different elements, one of them being when it manages to transport us into the mind and deepest feelings of the musician. American Canadian vocalist and producer Peter Campbell’s fourth release is just that – an emotionally charged musical journey where all is bared to the listener. Built on introspection rather than spectacle, the record feels intimate and deliberately restrained, inviting the listener into a quiet, vulnerable space. It lingers long after the final note fades, like the echo of a song drifting down an empty hallway. 

Campbell has been influenced by Brazilian and Portuguese music on this album which featurest three pieces by Brazilian composers. This influence is especially prevalent in a tune like Lost in a Summer Night, where a soft, reverberant guitar melody is layered over bossa nova rhythms and keyboards shimmering faintly in the background. The arrangements throughout the record leave plenty of breathing room for the music and emotions to play out in their own ways, nothing feels rushed. One of the most satisfying aspects is the amount of warmth and space that are present, perfectly conveyed by Campbell’s emotionally direct, beautiful vocals, adding just the right amount of reflection to the tunes. 

This album is for late nights, quiet rooms and listeners willing to listen beginning to end. In embracing subtlety and sincerity, Campbell delivers a haunting, thoughtful work that resonates precisely because it refuses to shout.

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Grant Stewart – Next Spring
Grant Stewart; Tardo Hammer; Paul Sikivie; Phil Stewart
Cellar Music CMF110223 (grantstewartjazz.bandcamp.com/album/next-spring)

Toronto-born, New York City based Grant Stewart is a masterful tenor saxophonist, composer and producer. Additionally, he is the Director of the revolutionary and free-thinking Tribeca Jazz Institute. With over 20 CDs to his credit, this is Stewart’s fifth album for Cory Weeds and his impressive Cellar Live label. This well conceived project was beautifully recorded at the iconic and legendary Van Gelder Studios. Stewart’s collaborators here are three of the most refreshing and creative jazz artists on the scene today – pianist Tardo Hammer, bassist Paul Sikivie and (brother) Phil Stewart on drums.

The intriguing material on the recording includes rarely performed jazz standards, as well as five original compositions. Stewart was a student of the late, great Barry Harris, and although bop and post bop modalities are wonderfully present in Stewart’s writing and soloing, this is a cutting edge, technically thrilling, contemporary jazz album – rife with emotional depth and totally devoid of any over-trodden licks or trite modalities. 

First up is Next Spring by Marvin Jenkins. Stewart’s rich, warm tenor sound is a delight, and the quartet is tight. Hammer takes a dynamic solo here, not only displaying his technical chops, but also his superb choices and lush harmonic ideas. Sikivie and tasty, skilled drummer Stewart are deeply locked in, the bass solo fluid and facile. Wayne Shorter’s immortal, Nefartiti is also stirring, with the ensemble donning a sensual, languid and deeply swinging motif. 

A stand-out of this thoughtful programme is Harris’ composition, Father Flanagan, which was written in tribute to genius jazz pianist Tommy Flanagan. Stewart’s sonorous tenor sound, and the depth of sensitivity of the players here is stunning. This inspired recording is nothing short of a master class in the art of the jazz quartet. Every note has been created with skill, creative intention and taste.

Curtains of Light
Whitney Ross-Barris; various artists
Independent (whitneyrb.bandcamp.com/album/curtains-of-light)

Jazz vocalist, pianist and composer, Whitney Ross-Barris’ latest recording is a triumph of musical genre-blending and considerable artistic spelunking into the emotional depths of the things that make us human – including our innate ability to re-emerge into life following adversity through love, connection, creativity and community. A stellar cast was assembled for this project, including Amy Peck on saxophones, Rebecca Hennessy on trumpet, Drew Jurecka on violin and viola, Kevin Fox on cello, co-producer Michael Shand on keyboards/guitar, Eric St. Laurent on guitar, Lauren Falls on bass and Ben Wittman on drums/percussion. All 13 compelling tracks were composed by Ross-Barris and arranged by Shand and Jurecka. 

Every offering here is like a meticulously fashioned rare gem, but some clear highlights include the uplifting opener Bourgeois Reverie. Presented with a tasty horn arrangement, this song was inspired by punitive pandemic restrictions and is a reflective idyll on the little niceties of life and the personal connections that we were denied. An engaging and soulful blues, Up in the Night is a masterpiece of Ross-Barris’ technical skill, style, grace and understated elegance, supported by Shand’s B3 as well as supple, and pure backing vocals from Alex Samaras, Gavin Hope, Miku Graham, Mary van den Enden and Yvette Tollar. 

Other stand-outs on this unique and delightful recording include the breath-taking, a cappella Sunrise that boasts a superb vocal arrangement by Ross-Barris which seamlessly segues into There You Are, on which Jurecka’s inspired string arrangements are a thing of special, luminous beauty. The closing title track is another stunning ballad, fully realized with sumptuous strings, superb rhythm section and ensemble work, as well as superb and evocative vocals from Ross-Barris.

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