Antony and the Johnsons' 'Cut The World' review: Beautiful live album

British singer Antony Hegarty of the American band Antony and... — British singer Antony Hegarty of the American band Antony and The Johnsons performs with the Et Incarnatus Orkestra during the 47th Heineken Jazzaldia in San Sebastian. (July 22, 2012) Credit: Getty Images

By STEVE KNOPPER. Special to NewsdayAugust 6, 2012

Nobody sings like Antony Hegarty -- he's both masculine and feminine, a little Roy Orbison and a little k.d. lang, equally comfortable backing Lou Reed on dissonant rock songs as he is fronting a symphony. For "Cut the World," a live collaboration with the Danish National Chamber Orchestra recorded in September in Copenhagen, Hegarty and his Johnsons are in full beauty mode; his voice shimmers on the marching "Kiss My Name," cries in the conflicted "Cripple and the Starfish" ("I am very, very happy, so please hit me") and soars on the lush "Cut the World." The only misstep is an indulgent, nearly eight-minute, momentum-stalling ramble about, among other things, the moon and gay marriage.