David Sanchez – Coral (2004)
SACD Rip | SACD ISO | DST64 2.0 / 5.1 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 57:15 minutes | 3,8 GB
Genre: Jazz | Publisher (label): SME Columbia – COL 517368 6
This is not jazz, this is not classical, this is not Afro-Cuban. This is music; the true test of a music lover.
David Sanchez, a Puerto Rican by birth 1st came to prominence in Dizzy Gellespie’s United Nations Orchestra. Dizzy brought many aspiring musicians to the attention of the public during his long & distinguished career; David Sanchez was 1 of the last. He has a most beautiful tone on the saxophone & a technique 2nd to none. I would rate him 1 of the best tenor players in the world at this time. I find it refreshing that he is able to be modern & different, without the use of the ugly sounds, which for me mar the work of so many contemporary musicians.
The arrangements for the Prague Symphony by Carlos Frenzetti are also remarkable. Most jazz player with Symphony backing discs have failed due to a total lack of empathy between the players. This is not present here, what we have is superb melodies, excellently played by all concerned. The recording was in fact made in Prague, at Smechy Studios; the mixing however took place at Sony Music Studio, New York City. Wherever the work was done, the overall result is near perfection, so near, that I could not point to anything needing improvement. Perhaps the sleeve note could have spent more time on the background to the music & a less on David thanking his butcher, baker & candlestick maker!
The 1st 2 tracks are based on compositions of Jobim, which gives a guarantee of quality. Tracks 6 & 9 are Sanchez compositions & track 6 is from Franzetti. Track 6 has some double tracking with Sanchez stating his own theme before continuing with more delicious improvisations.
This is music to relax & enjoy; David Sanchez takes the listener on a musical journey of great quality & inventiveness. It is 1 of the very best new releases in a long time & should be in everyone’s collection.
~Don Mather
Erling Sunnarvik – Excursion (2013)
SACD Rip | SACD ISO | DST64 2.0 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 59:39 minutes | 833 MB
Genre: Classical | Publisher (label): Lawo Classics LWC1052
This inventive programme results from a chamber recital of players of the Oslo Philharmonic, led in this case by bassist Erling Sunnarvik. The double bass has a relative dearth of original pieces, so we must expect some arrangements, done skilfully in this case by pianist Nils Lundstrцm. Add a string quintet & the guest mezzo of world renowned Annika Skoglund, & we have the makings of a sort of Philharmonic “Schubertiad” chamber concert.
Ever since the landmark recordings of the Eccles Sonata by Gary Karr (a former teacher of Sunnarvik), this work stirred audiences who liked the similarly false Adagio in G minor for strings (not!) by Albinoni. Henry Eccles (c.1670-c.1742) was an English Baroque composer & violinist, 1 of a family of musicians from the generation following Henry Purcell. He was a Musician to William & Queen Mary, then Musician to Queen Anne (1701-1714), after which he moved to Paris & became a member of the band of Louis XIV. Eccles was a bold plagiarist, a not uncommon artistic habit in the Baroque – Handel frequently borrowed material from other composers. In 1720 Eccles published 12 Solos for the Violin in 2 books of which 18 movements are actually from Giuseppe Valentini’s Allettamenti per camera Op. 8 & 1 movement is from F.A. Bonporti’s Invenzioni Op. 10; the rest are composed by Eccles. In the case of the G minor sonata, only the fast movements are by Eccles. It is now frequently transcribed for other strings, but mostly the bass as here.
Erling Sunnarvik largely dispenses with Baroque playing practice & invests the Sonata with full-blooded Romanticism of the “noblemente” style, particularly in the 2 slow movements where we find ample vibrato, discreet rubato & slowing before cadences. The Allegro & Vivace, however, are crisply articulated; the former is amusingly gruff & the latter scurries along with bravura.
Singing Russian art songs accompanied by a double bass might seem to be an oddity, but the pairs of Glinka’s & Tchaikovsky’s songs are delightfully rendered by international mezzo-soprano Annika ‘Skogland. Most listeners will be familiar with Tchaikovsky’s ‘None but the lonely heart’, delivered sympathetically with a nicely-paired mellow mezzo voice & the rich resonance of the double bass.
Franz Anton Hoffmeister (1754-1812) is hardly a household name these days. In 1785, he established 1 of Vienna’s 1st music publishing businesses, where he, for a number of years, would publish music by the most prominent Viennese composers. His own copious list of compositions includes at least 8 operas (composed during the 1790s), over 60 symphonies, numerous concertos (many for the flute, probably due to his friendship with the Flautist Franz Thurner), more than 40 flute quartets, a large amount of string chamber music, piano music, & several collections of songs.
Hoffmeister’s Solo Quartet #2 stretches the classical sonata form by granting leadership to the double bass, accompanied by violin, viola & cello. The Oslo players give a very stylish Viennese sound to this inventive piece, despite their notably slower pace in each movement, compared to Gerhard Dzwiza & friend’s recording for Christophorus (RBCD).
Returning to the Romantic era, Lundstrцm’s adroit arrangement of Ernst Bloch’s ‘Prayer’ from his Suite ‘From Jewish Life’ for 5 strings & double bass is presented. This intense & passionate movement could well be considered as the apex of the Oslo “Schubertiad”.
The recital’s finale is clearly of significance to Sunnarvik. Arne Hellan (1963-2002) began his career as a bassoonist, then a full-time composer. ‘Excursion for double bass & piano’ was commissioned from him by Sunnarvik & is a significant modern addition to the repertoire of the double bass. There are 3 movements, called ‘Promenade’ 1,2 & 3. The music is discursive, & suggests (to me) 2 companions talking to one another about journeys they have had. There are subtle changes in mood & interactive energy, with plenty of Webern-like dissonance. One feels like one is eves-dropping on quite intimate conversations, such is the rapport between Sunnarvik & Lundstrцm.
It’s a pity that the recording doesn’t stretch to a Mch format, where the different acoustics of the Sofienburg & Ris Churches in Oslo would be more obvious. The 2ch sound stage is more or less 2-dimensional, but the instrumental & vocal timbres are very well captured in a recording which carefully takes consideration of the number of instruments.
Arrayed in its attractively-produced Digipak (confusingly without any visible mention of SA-CD, Hybrid or Stereo), the slip-booklet is in Norwegian & English in parallel columns. The programme brings some unusual instrumental/vocal mixes, & little-known music mixed with devoted favourites. There is no doubt that Sunnarvik & his double bass are the stars. Orchestral bassists are well used to making jokes referring to the perennial problems of tuning (suggesting that a few cm each way doesn’t matter). However, be assured that Sunnarvik is, for a bassist, very good at tuning his notes – apart from the inevitable slight bending into or out of a note from time to time.
Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Peter Oundjian – John Adams: Harmonielehre, Doctor Atomic Symphony, Short Ride in a Fast Machine (2013)
SACD Rip | SACD ISO | DST64 2.0 / 5.0 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 1:10:15 minutes | 3,43 GB
Genre: Classical | Publisher (label): Chandos CHSA 5129
In this new release Peter Oundjian and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra tackle two seminal works by the American composer John Adams. Harmonielehre, a symphony in all but name, is an expansive, richly expressive, and often breathtaking work. It takes its title from a 1911 text by Arnold Schoenberg on harmonic theory and evokes the lush soundworld of that composer’s early tonal period. Also heard throughout the score are echoes of Mahler, Wagner, Strauss, Sibelius, Debussy, Ravel, and Stravinsky. The piece also takes inspiration from some of Adams’s own strange and surreal dreams. The Doctor Atomic Symphony, based on Adams’s controversial opera Doctor Atomic, focuses on the character of the physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer as preparations are made for the first test of the atomic bomb. Although played without a break, the symphony falls into three distinct sections: ‘The Laboratory’, ‘Panic’, and ‘Trinity’. The symphony’s concluding section takes its title from the name given to the bomb test site by Oppenheimer himself, with reference to a deeply spiritual John Donne sonnet. This poem is set to music at the end of Act I of the opera and here in the symphony the aria’s intense vocal line is performed by solo trumpet. Also featured on the disc is John Adams’s energetic fanfare Short Ride in a Fast Machine.
Read more
Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Stephane Deneve – Connesson: Cosmic Trilogy, The Shining One (2010)
SACD Rip | SACD ISO | DST64 2.0 / 5.0 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 52:13 minutes | 2,5 GB
Genre: Classical | Publisher (label): Chandos – CHSA 5076
CONNESSON – ORCHESTRAL WORKS (Disc of the Month)
Recognised as one of the youngest and most gifted contemporary composers, Guillaume Connessan brings together an imaginatively diffuse range of influences, from the riches of the musical traditions of his native France to John Adams, Steve Reich and the funk of James Brown. During the composition of the works making up the Cosmic Trilogy Connesson also drew inspiration from such sources as the paintings of Kandinsky and the physics of Stephen Hawking. After first discovering Connesson’s music in 2001, conductor Stéphane Denève remarked on its amazing orchestration.. ‘the quality of writing for large orchestration the level of a Ravel or Stravinsky’. During his tenure at the Royal Scottish National Orchestra Denève has regularly championed Connesson’s works and two parts of the Cosmic Trilogy were commissioned by the RSNO and dedicated to Denève. The symphonic dance “Aleph” was actually a wedding gift.
Recognised as one of the youngest and most gifted contemporary composers, Guillaume Connesson brings together an imaginatively diffuse range of influences, from the riches of the musical traditions of his native France to John Adams, Steve Reich and the funk of James Brown. During the composition of the works making up the Cosmic Trilogy Connesson also drew inspiration from such sources as the paintings of Kandinsky and the physics of Stephen Hawking.
After first discovering Connesson’s music in 2001, Stéphane Denève remarked on its ‘amazing orchestration… the quality of writing for large orchestra on the level of a Ravel or Stravinsky!’ During his tenure at the Royal Scottish National Orchestra Denève has regularly championed Connesson’s works and two parts of the Cosmic Trilogy, ‘Aleph’ and ‘Une lueur dans l’âge sombre’, were commissioned by the RSNO. These are dedicated to Denève; in fact, the symphonic dance ‘Aleph’ was a marriage gift.
The Cosmic Trilogy evokes three moments in the history of the universe: the Big Bang in ‘Aleph’, the appearance of light and the stars in ‘Une lueur dans l’âge sombre’, and finally the explosion and death of a star in ‘Supernova’.
Connesson’s works have been quickly appreciated by music lovers and performers for the exciting vitality they imbue, and the easy-going tonal strains that permeate them. The Guardian described the work as ‘bright-toned and imaginatively scored… crowd-pleasing, colourful music’. Chandos is delighted to present the first recording of the complete trilogy.
Guillaume Connesson studied piano, history of music, choir analysis and direction at the Conservatoire National de Région de Boulogne-Billancourt, as well as orchestration at the Conservatoire National de Paris. He is currently professor of orchestration at the Conservatoire National de Région d’Aubervilliers.
Polish Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra, Daniel Gaede – Antonio Vivaldi: The Four Seasons, Concerto Op. 12 No 1 RV314 in G minor, Concerto RV 257 In E Flat Major (2008)
SACD Rip | SACD ISO | DST64 2.0 / 6.0 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 60:02 minutes | 3,44 GB
Genre: Classical | Publisher (label): Tacet – TACET S 163
“The sensation of this recording is the extremely clear, direct, warm and spacious sound. Thanks to the transistor-free tube technology which documents a musical delicacy we can rediscover this much-worn piece. Violinist Gaede and his Polish colleagues play not only with utmost precision and finely discerning dynamics, but also with bite and expression. […]” (Audio)
Read more
Miles Davis – ‘Round About Midnight (2001)
SACD Rip | SACD ISO | DST64 2.0 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 57:47 minutes | 2,33 GB
Genre: Jazz | Publisher (label): Columbia/Legacy 85201
‘Round About Midnight is an album by jazz musician Miles Davis. It was his debut on Columbia Records, and was originally released in March 1957 (CL 949). The album took its name from the Thelonious Monk song “‘Round Midnight”.
Recording sessions took place at Columbia Studio D on October 26, 1955, and at Columbia’s 30th Street Studio on June 5 and September 10, 1956. ‘Round About Midnight is widely recognized by jazz critics as a landmark album in hard bop and one of the greatest jazz albums of all time.
Read more
Miles Davis – E.S.P (2000)
SACD Rip | SACD ISO | DST64 2.0 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 48:04 minutes | 2,04 GB
Genre: Jazz | Publisher (label): SME Records SRGS 4561
A landmark recording and masterful symphony of performance, composition, and execution, Miles Davis’ E.S.P. established the template jazz would follow for the following decade. The 1965 record splits the gap between accessible hard-bop and the cutting-edge approach Davis increasingly pursued into the 1970s. Adventurous, sophisticated, and yet altogether cohesive, E.S.P. stands out not only due to its elastic compositions but via its chemistry, interplay, and feeling attained by the instrumentalists. The first album Davis’ classic second quintet made together, it’s also very arguably the group’s best. Never before has the effort been experienced in such transformational sound.
This meticulously restored audiophile version renders the music’s dynamics, pitch, colors, and textures with lifelike realism and proper scale. Reference-caliber separation, wall-to-wall soundstages, and distinct images magnify the intensity and beauty of Davis and Co.’s creations. Whether it’s the distinctive snap of Tony Williams’ drum sticks against the snare head, air moving through Davis’ trumpet, acoustic thrum of Ron Carter’s bass, or upper register of Herbie Hancock’s piano, the sound is better than you’d even hear in the most intimate jazz clubs. Prepare to be swayed on every level.
For many, E.S.P. looms among the decade’s best albums if only because of the significance of Davis’ lineup. While Hancock, Williams, and Carter are holdovers that began playing with one another on 1963’s Seven Steps to Heaven, Wayne Shorter functions as the secret weapon and key addition responsible for this ensemble hitting a new peak. Indeed, the saxophonist helped pen two of the seven compositions here – notably, E.S.P. is entirely comprised originals and clocked in as one of the longest-running jazz LPs issued at the time – and, more importantly, grants Davis the confidence and leeway necessary for the eruption of enigma, steadiness, and tension.
As he did with John Coltrane year earlier, Davis hangs back and picks his moments to solo, with Shorter stepping up to supply the churn. Their bandmates respond in kind, itching to take off into new stratospheres all the while keeping their improvisations grounded and connected to the piece at hand. Guided by Davis’ visions and inspired by current boundary-pushing works by the likes of Ornette Coleman, Cecil Taylor, and Coltrane, the magnificent results spark with variation, harmony, emotion, energy, and brilliant movement.
Interlocking lines drive “Little One,” alternating rhythms pulse through the funky “Eighty-One,” melodies soar on the balladic “Iris,” the aptly titled “Mood” broods over minor-key structures, and “Agitation” – goosed by a two-minute percussive introduction by Williams – delivers on its promise. No record – and no group of musicians – have ever balanced coherent themes and exploratory playing in better fashion than Davis’ quintet on E.S.P. It’s the avant-garde record even jazz traditionalists love, and essential on every level.
Read more
Ray Charles – At The Olympia (Concert of November 22nd, 2000) (2004)
SACD Rip | SACD ISO | DST64 5.1 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 01:09:42 minutes | 3,74 GB
Genre: Jazz, Soul | Publisher (label): XIII BIS Records 640546 2
Live release recorded on the late legend’s 70th birthday in 2000, his first appearance at the Olympia in 40 years, performing on this mythical stage with his trio. 13 tracks in all including ‘Just the Way You Look Tonight’, ‘Route 66’, ‘Song for You’, ‘Hallelujah I Love Her So’, ‘Georgia on My Mind’, ‘I’ve Got a Woman’, ‘Almost Like Being in Love Again’, ‘It Had to Be You’ and more. XIII Bis. 2004.
Read more
Leonard Slatkin, Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra – Bizet: Carmen, Grieg: Peer Gynt, Rimsky-Korsakov, Satie, Borodin (2005)
SACD Rip | SACD ISO | DST64 2.0 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 01:18:34 minutes | 1,38 GB
Genre: Classical | Publisher (label): Telarc SACD-60655
This album of orchestral favorites, compiled from a variety of prior releases, showcases Telarc’s celebrated recording technique as much as Leonard Slatkin’s and the St. Louis Symphony’s performance prowess. The 20-plus-year-old recordings originally were made at a 50 kHz sampling rate, the full measure of which is finally available in the home thanks to SACD, bringing with it enhanced clarity and presence, as well as slightly increased dynamic impact. However, it also exposes the acoustic limitations of St. Louis’ Powell Hall, which tends to dampen high frequencies and make strings sound thin-bodied and distant. (This orchestra makes a far bolder impression in Carnegie Hall). Slatkin’s readings are consistently colorful and energetic, with Grieg’s Peer Gynt particularly impressive (highlighted by a rousing Hall of the Mountain King). Although Stokowski and Temirkanov bring more grit and gusto to Russian Easter Overture, and Bizet’s Carmen Suite has been done with more atmosphere by Karajan and López-Cobos, overall this disc makes for a nicely varied, musically enjoyable, and sonically impressive 80-minute program.
Read more
Carol Rosenberger – Beethoven: Piano Sonatas Opp. 57 & 111 (2002)
SACD Rip | SACD ISO | DST64 2.0 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 51:00 minutes | 2,05 GB
Genre: Classical | Publisher (label): Top Music International TM-SACD8001.2
“Dynamic Piano” Beethoven: Piano Sonata “Appassionata” Op. 57, Op. 111
Read more
Erich Kunzel, Cincinnati Pops Orchestra – Scary Music (2002)
SACD Rip | SACD ISO | DST64 2.0 / 5.1 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 00:49:52 minutes | 3,2 GB
Genre: Soundtrack | Publisher (label): Telarc Surround SACD-60580
Telarc celebrates Halloween a few weeks early with the release of Scary Music, the highly anticipated follow-up to conductor Erich Kunzel and the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra’s Chiller recording. This imaginative gathering of haunted pop favourites is sure to send a shiver down the spine.
Scary Music features an eerie collection of sound effects and frighteningly memorable performances of theme music from such well-known Hollywood horror films as Ghostbusters, The Blob, Attack of the Killer Tomatoes, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Beetlejuice, The Haunting, Sleepy Hollow and The Shining. Also included are themes from television series Tales from the Crypt, Dark Shadows, The Munsters, and Addams Family.
Popular songs provide yet another source for Scary Music. Two of the biggest singles of the early 1960s were one-hit wonders: the Ran-Dells’ “Martian Hop” and Bobby Pickett’s “Monster Mash”. Chilling pop music of a different sort is represented by Rod Temperton’s title song for Michael Jackson’s Thriller, the best-selling album of all time, and Michael Oldfield’s “Tubular Bells”, which was used in the movie The Exorcist.
Read more
Erich Kunzel, Cincinnati Pops Orchestra – Vintage Cinema (2008)
SACD Rip | SACD ISO | DST64 2.0 / 5.1 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 00:53:13 minutes | 3,17 GB
Genre: Soundtrack | Publisher (label): Telarc SACD-60708
This disc showcases developing musical styles used in films spanning nearly 30 years, beginning with Max Steiner’s theme to the original King Kong (1933) and moving on to merry old England for Eric Wolfgang Korngold’s theme to the spectacular 1938 film, The Adventures of Robin Hood. Alfred Hitchcock understood the vital role music plays in film. Miklós Rózsa’s suite from the 1945 thriller Spellbound captures the psychological suspense with the unique timbre of a theremin – Rózsa won his first Oscar for this score. Legendary film composer Bernard Herrmann’s overture to Hitchcock’s “wrong man” thriller, North by Northwest (1959) is next in the tracklist.
Aaron Copland lent his considerable talents to Hollywood on several occasions, including the 1947 screen adaptation of John Steinbeck’s The Red Pony, selections from the folk-like score are included here. Two Oscar-winning scores by Franz Waxman, one from Billy Wilder’s 1950 classic Sunset Boulevard, as well as A Place in the Sun the following year, deliver quintessential 50’s film music. Next is Alex North’s New Orleans-spiced 1951 score for A Streetcar Named Desire, the first important Hollywood score to incorporate jazz. The great Leonard Bernstein scored only one film, but On the Waterfront (1954) is widely regarded as cinematic classic.
‘Vintage Cinema’ then turns to the 1960s in its three final tracks: Rózsa’s Spanish-flavoured overture to the lavish Charlton Heston epic, El Cid (1961), Elmer Bernstein’s main title theme from To Kill a Mockingbird (1962), and the rousing “Ride of the Cossacks” from Taras Bulba, a 1962 film scored again by the inimitable Franz Waxman.
Read more
Sonny Rollins – Way Out West (2003)
SACD Rip | SACD ISO | DST64 2.0 / 5.0 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 01:10:28 minutes | 4,45 GB
Genre: Jazz | Publisher (label): Naxos CCD-7530SACD
Over his long and distinguished career, Sonny Rollins has made many dozens of albums. Among those recorded during the 50’s, Prestige’s Movin’s Out and Saxophone Colossus, Blue Note’s A Night at the Village Vanguard, Riverside’s The Sound of Sonny, and Way Out West on Contemporary qualify as all-time Rollins classics. The session for Way Out West, Rollins’ first ever in California, was called for 3 a.m. to accommodate everyone’s busy schedules. Sonny, who could never be accused of overstatement, announced after four hours of recording: “I’m Hot Now”.
Recorded in 1957.
Read more