Album Reviews

Christine Tobin: Tapestry Unravelled (Trail Belle Records) £12.99

Tobin's one of the best, and most hard-to-categorise, singers around and this absorbing CD displays all her virtues as she reworks Carole King's classic album, Tapestry. Tobin adopts a stripped-down approach to the music, with only the splendid pianist Liam Noble for support. Tobin has never sounded better and she invests lots of emotion in the likes of You've Got A Friend. Noble's playing is impeccable.

At Harrrogate International Festival on July 19. Box Office: 085 130 8840 or www.harrogate-festival.org.uk. AV

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Georgia Mancio: Silhouette (Roomspin Records) via www.georgiamancio.com

Mancio is a young singer garnering an enviable reputation for her winsome, yet unsentimental, sound and inventive delivery, and her third album finds her making new strides. Her lyrics demonstrate a gift for the wry and perceptive, linked to some beguiling melodies by good contemporary jazz players. It's a rewarding recital of commendable variety, enlivened by a couple of good guest spots by Ian Shaw. An intricate treatment of a solitary standard, Just In Time, freshens up an old chestnut. AV

Poulenc: Music for Piano and Wind (Nimbus Alliance NI 6121) 13.99

The bitter-sweet melodies that were Francis Poulenc's trademark, are ideally suited to his little crop of works for wind instruments. Played with admirable relish and technical poise by six members of Sheffield's outstanding Ensemble 360, the three wind sonatas enjoy Tim Horton's perfectly balanced piano accompaniment, Guy Eshed's flute playing a particular delight. The group comes together in a boisterous account of the rather saucy and seductive Sextet. The recording is dry and rather close. Much recommended. DD

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Scott: Violin Sonata Nos. 1 & 3/Sonata Melodica (Naxos 8.572290) 5.99

Born in Lancashire in 1879, the more we hear of Cyril Scott's music, the more we come to recognise an appallingly neglected composer. Harmonies come from the French Impressionists, the musical language from the late romantics, and when his own melodic input is added it is music that proves readily attractive. Maybe Clare Howick overcooks the amount of vibrato, but she is a very persuasive advocate, while her partner, Sophia Rahman, is a sensitive and nimble pianist well attuned to the idiom. Good sound quality. DD