State Of Grace

With the "Aria" albums, producer Paul Schwartz took operatic arias and set them to synthesizer arrangements and dance beats. On "State Of Grace," Schwartz turns his ear to more ecclesiastical sounds, largely inspired by the hymns of 12th-century composer Abbess Hildegard von Bingen. Sung by soprano Lisbeth Scott, Schwartz's original melodies on "Veni Redemptor Gentium" and "Miserere" sound like they echoed out of Hildegard's abbey and ricocheted into a computer. Scott, however, sings with more passion than the usual restrained eroticism underlying von Bingen's music. Schwartz also adapts a pair of American hymns, the classic "Amazing Grace" and the Shaker hymn "Simple Gifts," the latter turned into a Celtic reel. These, along with a trio of instrumentals, sound like facile filler. But the ethereal grace of Schwartz's "Angelica," with Scott singing over a gurgling flute-like loop and laced by Gavyn Wright's violin, creates a haunting 21st-century hymn.