THE NEW YORK TIMES TUESDAY APRIL 13, 1976

In another concert Sunday, Musica Orbis, a vocal and instrumental quintet from the Philadelphia area, appeared at the Cubiculo. The group performs original music that virtually obliterates generic distinctions. Not content with hyphenated forms, such as folk-pop or jazz-rock, the group attempts an ambitious fusion of folk, pop, jazz, and rock with classical and contemporary music and various ethnic strains.

At the Cubiculo, Musica Orbis concentrated on a soft sound, with knee harp, pump organ and mallet instruments featured prominently. The lyrics of the lead vocalist, [and composer] Kitty Brazelton, were somewhat impenetrable, but the richness of her soprano made up for the occasional cognitive confusion.

Many of the group's tunes cast a mellifluous spell, but they were encased in set arrangements which ended all too soon...

ROBERT PALMER