This album by vocalist
Jacqui Dankworth
and
The Brodsky Quartet
was released in 2022 but has roots much earlier, in the early 2000s decade when the quartet invited
Dankworth
to become involved in a project where teenage musicians made arrangements of popular songs. That led to various performing collaborations between
and the
Brodsky
, but this is their first recorded collaboration, and one can only ask what took them so long. The appeal and power of
Rocking Horse Road
lies in the fact that while many pop-classical crossovers exploit the ability of a single performer to handle multiple styles, here, both
manage versatility that few other artists can offer.
is an old hand at this sort of thing, having worked with
Bjoerk
(represented here by
Play Dead
),
Elvis Costello
(
the title track
), and
Paul McCartney
in the past, but for this recording, the group is brought into fruitful collision with
and the musicians in her circle, who are just as catholic in their tastes. Some of the arrangements are by
, some are by members of the quartet, and some are by others.
is one of the few non-American musicians who can offer a convincing rendition of
Sittin' on Top of the World
, but that arrangement is not by
's Memphis-blues-musician husband,
Charlie Wood
, but by her father,
John Dankworth
, and it's a splendid, Hollywood-flavored interpretation.
Wood
, by contrast, sets a text by poet
Rabindranath Tagore
. Elsewhere, the quartet sounds like a sparse New Wave band in the
, a classical chamber group in
Britten
's rendition of the folk song
The Sally Gardens
(folk is another specialty of
's), an easy listening orchestra in
Like Someone in Love
(popularized by
Nelson Riddle
), a sort of rarefied salon ensemble in the trio of songs by
Harvey Brough
, and more. The elements are constantly shifting but held in perfect control, as in a kaleidoscope. One may like some of the pieces more than others; perhaps there is too much going on in
Diana Krall
's
Narrow Daylight
, which was well-nigh perfect the way it was, and it may be that
's own compositions are not on a level with the rest, but this is, in every way, a deeply absorbing release. ~ James Manheim